It’s not every day that you get to launch a comprehensive range of hard-bodied lures and semi-soft topwaters onto the Australian market, knowing that each lure will retail for $10 or less, yet still be an excellent fish catcher, with a classy finish and better-than-average hardware. However, that’s what I’m happy to say I’ve been able to do with my new STARLO PRO Lures range, designed and selected by me exclusively for the BCF chain of stores here in Australia. Now, I realise from past comments here and elsewhere that not every Aussie angler is necessarily a huge fan of BCF. There’s no doubt that the big chains (including BCF) have led to the demise of some small independent tackle stores, just as the competition from Coles and Woolworths has resulted in a reduction in numbers of local grocery outlets, butcher shops and so on. Nonetheless, for better or worse, I suspect there’s a certain inevitability to this sort of evolution in the world of retail. It’s also true that the better independents (in all fields, including fishing tackle) will not only survive but thrive in the face of such competition. They achieve this by providing the sort of expert advice, individualised customer service and “value adding” that most chains simply can’t or won’t offer. Meanwhile, BCF and their ilk do provide an excellent service to a great many customers, employ a heap of Aussie workers in the process, and don’t, in my experience, indulge in the sort of “crazy, crazy, crazy!” unsustainable discounting that could damage the industry. So, I’m more than happy to be involved with sourcing and designing exclusive lines of tackle for them, just as I have on occasion for other companies.         Anyway, if you’d like...

Check out this great clip produced by the guys at “The Offroad Adventure Show”! [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBrTANhJZMQ&w=420&h=315]  

Most modern fishing reels, regardless of their style or type, are equipped with a drag or “slipping clutch” mechanism of some sort that allows line to be pulled from the reel’s spool under a pre-set tension. On a threadline or spinning reel, drag pressure is usually adjusted via a knob located on the front of the spool or (more rarely) under the rear of the reel’s body. Overheads and baitcasters either have a star wheel under the handle or a lever on the side of the reel for adjusting the drag, while sidecasts and centrepins typically feature a nut or star in the centre of the spool. This drag is intended to prevent the line from breaking should excessive force be placed upon it. Instead of snapping, line slips from the spool against the pre-set drag tension. When a large or powerful fish is hooked, it usually needs to be “played” using a combination of drag resistance and rod work. The term “playing a fish” means taking your time and bringing the fish in more slowly and smoothly while using the flex of the rod as a shock absorber. If necessary, you will also need to allow the hooked fish to “run”: in other words, to pull line from the spool against the reel’s pre-set drag or slipping clutch. This may happen many times during a fight with a strong adversary, especially on lighter line. A big, strong fish can easily pull the rod tip down and rip line off the spool against the resistance of the reel’s drag. However, if the drag has been set too tightly, the line can possibly snap, or the hook might bend or straighten and rip out of the fish’s mouth. On the other hand, if the drag...

In mid-September, 2012, my wife Jo and I were lucky enough to sample the extraordinary fishing on offer around the remote Cobourg Peninsula, north east of Darwin, as guests of a wonderful operation called Venture North Australia. Owned and run by affable brothers Aaron and Hugh Gange, Venture North has historically been an eco-tourism, wildlife and cultural-experience guiding operation offering a little casual fishing on the side (usually aimed at catching dinner). However, earlier in 2012, all that changed with their purchase of a Darwin-built, 7-metre CustomWorks Eliminator plate alloy sportfishing boat powered by a 225 HP Yamaha four-stroke. To say the boys have made a decision to take the fishing side of their business a lot more seriously would be something of an understatement! Interestingly, my good lady Jo was partly instrumental in this significant upgrading of Venture North’s fishing focus. While looking at the Gange brothers’ website in her role as a marketing consultant, Jo noticed quite a few photos of big fish. She asked why they didn’t place more prominence on this aspect of their operation, and her comments obviously got the guys thinking! Less than a year later they’d bitten the bullet, bought the big boat and significantly ramped up the angling side of the business. As something of a thank-you to Jo for her advice, Aaron and Hugh invited her up to Cobourg for a few days, and mentioned that she might as well bring her old man along, as apparently he didn’t mind a spot of fishing, either! Back to Cobourg As our light plane banked in over the broad, sparkling expanse of Cobourg’s Port Essington, I reflected that it had been at least 25 years since my last visit to this fantastic part of the world… Far...

I began rock fishing when I was just 12 or 13, casting my line from the wave-washed ledges around Tathra, on the far south coast of NSW, along Australia’s eastern seaboard. From the very first fish landed, I was hooked… I guess you could say it was love at first bite! I moved to the Nowra/Bomaderry area of southern NSW with my family early in 1973, not long before my 15thbirthday. My first visit to the famous rock ledges of Jervis Bay (places I’d already heard so much about) involved a walk into the Outer Tubes with my father one weekend that summer. It was a busy day on the rocks with a good number of anglers in attendance. From memory, we saw a nice mackerel tuna (kawa kawa) landed and a couple of good fish lost, and I marvelled at the quality and calibre of tackle in use, quickly realising that my own very basic gear fell well short of the mark necessary to take on serious land based game (LBG) fishing… But I also knew that was I wanted to do!   By autumn 1974 I was regularly visiting the rock ledges on the south side of the Bay, between Bowen Island and Steamers Beach. My favourite was a location we called “The Pimple”. Reaching it to fish at first light required a pre-dawn walk of nearly an hour and a strenuous rope-assisted climb down some crumbling ledges. We enjoyed fantastic sport there (and at nearby St Georges Head or “Corangamite”, as we knew it), mostly lure casting for salmon, tailor, kingfish, smaller tuna, bonito, trevally and juvenile Samson fish. I caught my first “big” fish here in autumn 1974… an 18 pound (8 kilo) mack’ tuna spun up on an old...

U.S. president Barack Obama, recently visited Darwin in Australia‘s Top End and media headlines were made when the Northern Territory’s Chief Minister gave the President “crocodile insurance” for the duration of his stay! It may have been something of a publicity stunt, but the fact remains that crocodiles do present a clear and present danger for those of us who spend time on the water fishing and boating in this part of the world… Saltwater crocodiles are a fact of life when fishing in most parts of Australia’s tropical north. Despite their misleading name, these often large and potentially very dangerous reptiles are certainly not confined to our tidal saltwater environments. In fact, they frequently find their way into completely fresh water, and will move inland, even along intermittent water courses, for considerable distances: all the way to the base of waterfalls and escarpments. There’s an old saying in Australia’s Northern Territory that crocs can be found anywhere that barramundi also occur, and it is one well worth remembering! Since their protection by law in 1971 (in the Northern Territory — different dates applied elsewhere), saltwater crocodile numbers have definitely increased across the Top End. Even more importantly, apart from a few really big old-timers, all of the crocs living in North Queensland, the Territory and northern West Australia today have grown up with little to fear from man. This makes them especially bold and therefore dangerous, and a handful of attacks on humans occur every year, some of them fatal. Every now and again (but especially on the heels of another fatal attack on a human) a call goes out to “cull” growing crocodile numbers by introducing a hunting season or allowing well-heeled big game shooters to take selected trophy crocs in return...