Barra Classic 2026: Tackle World Coolalinga Breaks Its Own Record

The 2026 Barra Classic was the smallest field the event has ever seen. Floods tore up access to the Daly, the dates moved, and only 21 teams made it to the start line. It also turned into one of the best weeks of barra fishing the river has produced in over a decade. Shane Compain, who owns Tackle World Coolalinga, and his team finished on 10,200 points and first place, beating the record they set themselves three years earlier.

Ask most anglers about a comp with a third of the usual field and they will tell you something was lost. Shane will tell you the opposite.

"It was the smallest Barra Classic I've ever fished, with only 21 teams because of the damage caused by this year's floods and the late date changes. But holy, was it an enjoyable week with an amazing bunch of people who love the sport of catching barramundi."

That is the Barra Classic. It is a hard tournament on a hard river, and the people who keep coming back do it because of the week, not the trophy.

A new boat and a river that had moved

The Daly reshapes itself after every wet. Sandbars migrate, timber shifts, and the line you ran last year can put a hole in your hull this year. Shane brought a new boat down for the first time.

"This was the first time I've taken my new boat to the Daly, so I was a tad nervous with the river being shallow and dangerous and not wanting to hurt the big rig."

So the pre-fish days went slowly. Marking, navigating, learning the river again before thinking about a single cast. And somewhere in that careful, unglamorous work, the sounder started telling a story nobody expected. More fish than he had ever seen on the Daly, and he put it alongside 2011, the season Territory anglers still measure everything else against.

Old school and new school in the same week

The comp fell over neap tides building into bigger water, which kept the river clean. Clean water meant the team could fish two completely different ways, and they ran both.

The old-school half was casting soft plastics rigged weedless, firing them deep into standing timber and letting them fall through structure where fish were sitting tight. The kind of fishing that costs you gear and rewards accuracy.

The new-school half was pushing out to the middle of the river, running 180 degree sonar coverage to find travelling fish before they came into range, then casting to them directly. Precision work, and at times almost too much of it.

"It got overwhelming at times with how many fish were on the screen, which rarely happens."

Lure selection barely moved across five days. When a pattern is working on the Daly, you leave it alone.

Breaking their own record

The team finished on 10,200 points and first place, beating the mark they set themselves three years earlier. Shane took Champion Angler. Terry Ryan finished second and Cameron Briscoe fourth, which means all three of them landed inside the top four individually. Monsoons and Polar Bears filled out the podium.

For Shane it caps a run that has been building. In 2025 he led the Champion Team and finished Runner-Up Local Angler. This year he went one better in both.

The gear that got them there

Fuze Bazza Baits and Seaducer Mullets

The timber work was Fuze Bazza Baits and Seaducer Mullets rigged weedless, and the Seaducer Mullet was the one lure that crossed over into the mid-river rotation as well. Five days, barely a change to the pattern.

Panic Stations

Panic Stations is Shane's own design, built out of years of watching how barra behave and what makes them commit. It ran in the mid-river rotation through the week, working travelling fish in open water alongside the Seaducer Mullets.

The soft plastic carries a sonar-friendly profile, an adjustable sink rate and multiple rigging options. On fish spotted on the screen and cast to directly, that combination is the entire point of it. Available in 4, 5, 6 and 8 inch across 10 colours, from $22.99.

Abu Garcia VoltIQ

The VoltIQ is a digitally controlled baitcaster that manages spool speed electronically, taking the guesswork out of braking when you are firing casts into structure all day. Five days of accurate casting into timber is exactly the job it was built for. Shane's long-time favourite, the Revo Rocket, stayed in the rotation alongside it.

Simrad XL Active 2

The XL Active 2 gives a full 180 degree view around the boat with no blind spots on the screen. On a river where the difference between a good session and a great one is seeing a travelling fish before it moves past you, that coverage is the whole game. It is what turned the mid-river approach from guesswork into targeting.

The people who made it happen

A flood year is brutal on the people who run these events. Access gets cut, dates get moved, entries drop away, and someone still has to hold it all together.

"Big thank you to the Darwin Game Fishing Club and the Banyan Farm for pushing through everything that's been thrown at you this year to hold a special, fun, enjoyable week down the Daly."

Twenty-one teams turned up. The river fished like 2011. Records fell. Not a bad result for a year that nearly did not happen.

Regulations and conservation

Barramundi are managed closely across the Top End, with seasonal closures and size and possession limits that vary between regions. The Barra Classic runs entirely as a catch, measure, tag and release event, which is a large part of why the Daly still fishes the way it does. Check the current Northern Territory recreational fishing rules before you head out. Northern Territory recreational fishing rules

Get Geared Up

Congratulations to Shane, Terry and Cameron on a well-earned win.

Shane owns the store, designed one of the lures in the boat, and then went and proved it in the toughest barra tournament in the country. That is the level of experience sitting behind the counter at a Tackle World store, and it is there every day of the week, not just comp week.

Go and have the conversation in person. See Tackle World Coolalinga, or find your closest store below and ask them what is working on your local water.

Find your nearest Tackle World

Barra Classic 2026: Coolalinga Team Breaks Its Own Record

A new boat and a river that had moved

Old school and new school in the same week

Breaking their own record