Recreational fishers will have the opportunity to explore regional Victoria and land a tagged fish worth up to $10,000 as part of an expanded Golden Tag competition, which is set to boost tourism and participation in fishing across the state. Minister for Fishing and Boating Melissa Horne said the revamped Golden Tag competition will see an influx of recreational fishers and their families to regional towns and businesses – filling hotel rooms, cafes and restaurants.
The competition started in February to encourage people to visit Gippsland and the state’s north east as communities recovered from bushfires. It was later paused due to travel restrictions as Victoria tackled the Coronavirus pandemic. More than 20 new tagged fish worth $10,000 each will be released around the state and there will be an extra 50 fish worth $2,000 added to waterways.
Approximately 950 fish worth $2,000 each have already been released, bringing the state-wide total of tagged fish to more than 1,000.
The relaunched competition will see tagged fish released throughout Gippsland into places like Marlo, Tamboon, Lake Tyers, the Gippsland lakes and Mallacoota, as well as throughout the North East and Alpine regions. The far west coast around Portland will score tagged southern bluefin tuna, Rocklands Reservoir will be bolstered with tagged fish, and trout in South West Victoria’s famous crater lakes of Purrumbete and Bullen Merri will also sport some of the prized catch.
In northern Victoria, Murray cod and golden perch will be tagged in Sunraysia’s Lindsay River and Kings Billabong and the fishing mecca of Lake Eildon will also boast a valuable catch of cod and yellow belly.
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