It’s not often that you come across something that instantly sounds like a great idea, but the Magical Mark range of ports is just that.

The Magical Mark idea was born in 2004 after distributors Tony and Vanessa Bennett returned from a two month fishing trip to the Northern Territory and Queensland chasing the elusive meter-plus barra. Every time Vanessa and Tony went out, they would take a celebration drink to help celebrate when they achieved their goal. Needless to say, at the end of the trip, the celebration drink remained unopened.

The Magical Mark is a bottle of fine port with a great looking artist impression label of varying fish on the front. The label depicts what is generally considered the trophy size or magic mark for that species in Australia. Depending on where you fish and the species you target, these marks are attainable but, in a lot of cases, that once in a lifetime trip may be needed to help conquer your quest.

The bottle comes in a display worthy stained timber box with a Perspex lid. The neck of the bottle is dipped in wax and the bottle is finished with a catch card that is tied around the neck so you can record the details of your Magical Mark catch. The fish pictures on the labels are all fine artists impressions of the species they depict. The labels are finished with 24crt gold leaf script and the bottle lies on a bed of wood wool. Hidden in the box behind the bottle is an A4 sheet for you to fill in the complete history and details of your catch. Send this in to the team at The Magical Mark and the details, history, pictures of your catch will be added to their website for posterity.

All in all, this comes as a fine looking package any angler would be proud to own and display, even more when they have achieved their goals.

The Magical Mark covers the 7 main target species within Australia. These include:

Barramundi: Metre+ and 1st;

Trout: 10lb+;

Marlin: Grander and 1st;

Snapper: 20lb+;

Bream: 1.5kg+;

Bass: 50cm+;

Murray Cod: Metre+.

Tony and Vanessa assure me that as the concept grows numerous other species will be added to the list so that all anglers will have a memory of attaining their magical mark.

I currently own a metre-plus barra and a metre-plus cod with the idea being that I open them when the goal is reached. Just recently I achieved this on barra, yet I haven’t opened the bottle as the display case, bottle of port and catch card are worth more to me whole as a memory of the first barra over a metre than the headache the next day.

As for the cod, well the bottle is a subtle reminder to me every year that I really need to do more cod fishing with the aim of catching a big metre-plus version. It is an inspiration to make me get of my lazy bum and get on the water, because you can’t get to your goals unless you take steps to get there. Just for the records I currently sit on 96cm – yep that close!

So who should buy the Magical Mark? Anyone who fishes and has a goal for starters. Since the bottles arrived at work we’ve bought two more barra and a cod for staff members and we have bought another barra metre-plus bottle for a trip to Lake Monduran with a bunch of keen, metre-plus barra virgins. This bottle will be a prize for the first angler to land a metre-plus barra on that trip.

And that is the beauty of the Magical Mark. It makes great prizes for Father’s Day, Christmas and birthdays, fishing clubs can use them as prizes, clued-in guides who want to offer that little bit extra can look at the Magical Mark and of course they would be a hit at corporate functions.

It’s unlikely I’ll ever open my bottles of Magical Mark, but I look forward to celebrating the coming of age of some of mates in the near future with their own bottle of Magical Mark. At only $35 per bottle (postage varies across Australia) it is a really cheap price to pay for a lifetime memory.

To order or find out more information, log onto www.magicalmark.com.au .