Time for a break.

Hi there,

I am off today for a few weeks of travel overseas to the old country.
Where I will not partake in any fishing...
Because the water will be way too cold for my liking!

So wishing every one who happens to stumble on this blog while I am away a very happy festive season!

And see you next year!

I know your going to miss me...

But hey, it could be worse.
Have a good day,
Me.

And one more fishing lure for the collection!

Hi there,

Yes one new fishing lure has entered my little collection today.
How come you may ask...
Here is the story about it.

It began with a thread that I had started on the FFF forum about two of my Reidy's lures.
Many keen anglers participated to the thread, and some of them posted a number of photographs of some very nice lures on the thread.
This was an interesting discussion for people who like fishing lures...

Then  Geoff Corry of BarraBase said that he had a lure with the marking of Coke on it, and that I could have it if I wanted it...
Ho yes I wanted it!

So we started to swap a few PMs on the FFF web site to see how this lure could end up in my hands. During this exchange came up the fact that I still doesn't have a car, as I am still waiting for the insurance to pay since my car accident.
So Geoff simply proposed to deliver the lure at my work place. This conversation took part on a Friday, and on the following Monday morning he was in my office lure in hand.
This is what I would call a man of his words.

He also offered to help me with my car problems which I declined, but nonetheless this was a very generous offer on his part.

Ok so here are some pics of the Coke lure:

Brand new still in the box!

Yes it's a Taipan from Reidy's.

Some information about it.

Out of the box for a second.

Just so we can see it better.

And yes I did put it back in the box just after the photos were made.

I already had in my office at work a lure that look like a hamburger, this new one will sit next to it: they are the perfect match!

And yes it made me happy.

Ok, so I want it to be clear, that I do not own any share in Geoff's business, and that I don't get any rewards for mentioning him on my blog.

But you have to admit that for a guy who is one of the most famous and talented Barramundi fishing guide in Darwin, with over 25 years of experience in the Northern Territory of Australia, and who had never meet me before, to make the effort to drive to my work place, to give me a brand new fishing lure for my modest collection without asking for anything in return, is a pretty good and generous attitude.

I have never used the service of a fishing guide (Maybe if I had, I would have learnt how to catch some fishes and would not be fishless on such a frequency)

But if I was to use one of them in the Top End of Australia, it would be the guys from BarraBase.

This lure made my day.

So I have not been able to fish yet since the accident, and it sometimes makes me a bit frustrated.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

The yellow Halco Trembler.

Hi there,

Here is another lure that has quietly entered my little fishing lure collection.
I found this one high and dry on the rock, one day as I was fishing during my lunch break.

I love fishing during my lunch breaks.
I am yet to catch anything on these very short fishing session.
But to spend 25 to 35 minutes on the water edge, flicking a lure and looking at the sea and the sky usually help me to come back to work a lot more focused and performant for the rest of the day.
Also, to be in the sun for a little while is good, as I work in a room with no windows.
Basically this help to keep me happy...

So what does this lure look like you may say...
Ok, here it is:

The Halco Trembler 110

Halco is another Australian brand of lures. (I find their  lure called Twisty very efficient when I fish for Queenfish).

The Trembler 110 is a fairly small lure, 110mm, sinking lure with two trebles. 

Yes a lure that needs to be retrieved at a rather fast pace.

I have tried it and it is quite nice to see this yellow little fish swim in the water at speed.

After fishing with it for a few times I started to notice that I was not seeing this very colour for this type of lure in any tackle shop.

So I looked at the online catalogue from Halco, and this colour was missing from there too...

Ha, this was beginning to be interesting.

Was it an export or overseas model?

Was it a fake one?

(Yes like with fashion items, there is some fake lures coming from unscrupulous places...)

Was it a prototype for colour testing?

So I made this quick photo and emailed it to the guys at Halco.

And the reply was that this colour had been abandoned probably over 8 years ago.

I don't fish with it any more...

To think that I could have lost it...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

The white cars.

Hi there,

So this morning walking down my street, I passed in front of this block of units.
And I looked at the cars...

Parking lot for color-blind?

And then I asked myself if the people who live in there loved white cars?
What do you think?

After all it is maybe just that this is the most popular car colour in Tropical Australia?
Not much surprise there.

But hey, it could be worse.
Have a good day,
Me.

Visit of the BOM

Hi there,

A few days ago, I was lucky enough to be able to attend with some works colleagues a visit of the Bureau of Meteorology also known as BOM .
In fact as a very keen fisherman, I have the link saved on my personal computer, so I can alway check the forecast before ridding my push bike to go fishing in the early hours of the morning.
No point to start pedaling in the dark, if it is going to rain hard and long in the next hour.

I had checked their web site so many time, and now I was going to be able to see where the information came from, and how it was collated.
So you can guess my excitement when the proposition to visit their local office was offered to me.

This year is a La Nina year which might bring lot of heavy rain and maybe even a cyclone... Lets hope not...
But I can only guess that this is one of the reason that we had the luck to get invited to see the place.

So as we arrived we were given a tour of the offices, and were told that a balloon was going to be released and we were going to see that.
The place where the balloon is launched, made me think of a Dalek factory...

Daleks could be made in there...

Then one of my work mate had the honour of launching the balloon...

This may seems a bit of an anti climax to some of you, but really, how many of you have ever released a balloon knowing it was going to go more than a few kilometres straight up in the blue sky. 

And expand as it rise, to be as big as a building before blowing up and falling back to the ground.

And be tracked by a radar, and send back information from up there?

...

I would have loved to do it, but I also wanted to get a few snaps of it happening...

So no surprise there, I choose the snaps.

So here is just a little pic of it.

It shows the ballon, the reflective material under the ballon so the radar can track it, hanging to a piece of string, the little box that transmit information back to the guys in the BOM, and a moon crescent, in a blue sky.

And this is what I liked about it, the moon crescent is mirrored on the side of the balloon, by the morning light.

It is like if it was a text book image to explain why at time, we only see a moon crescent and not a full moon, like in a book for dummies.

Maybe it is just me, but it worked for me.

Balloon and moon crescent.

After that we saw many other things, and I am sure that all the people on the tour had a great morning, as it was very interesting.

Sorry for such a small amount of images, and the fact that they are just quick snaps, but my back was still a bit too sore for lugging around a full camera bag so I had just one camera and one single short and light lenses with me.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

Two new fishing lures for the collection.

Hi there,

Ok, the secret is out, I do collect fishing lures.
Mine is a very small collection of fishing lures, I am more like an absolute beginner than like an expert.
Firstly, I do not go and buy expensive lures at fishing lure auction or specialised dealers.
I get most of my interesting lures from the second hand shop, or even some time find them while fishing.
I have some marked with some beer brands, insurance company, hostel, or what ever.

In fact I do not buy brand new lures for the collection. I only collect lures that have been used, or if new given to me as addition to the collection. But I do buy some new lures (and sometimes funny ones), for my fishing.

And yes it is still fair to say that I am first a fisherman,before being a lure collector.
I still prefer to look at my lures swimming in the water than look at them on a shelf.

So back to the topic, not long ago, I was in a charity shop and found these two lures.
To me they looked like Reidy's lures (An Australian brand of lure from Darwin in the NT) one of my favourite brands of hard bodies lures, as they are the local boys.
But I could not find them in their catalogue...
So I made some quick snap of them and emailed the images to the guys at the lure factory in Darwin, asking if they knew what lures they were.
And the boss of Reidy's answered me back the next business day with all the good oil.

So here they are, first the Aqua Rat:

This lure is discontinued, and was replaced by The Judge, which is still produced today.

And an old Taipan:

The Taipan is still produced, but the bib of the lure is now different, and the eyes have changed too.

I do not know when the Aqua Rat was discontinued or when the bib and eyes of the Taipan changed. If you know or have fished with these lures, you are more than welcome to leave a comment about it.

So this is my new little addition to my fishing lures collection.

I do understand that this is not some sort of incredible archeological treasure...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.