No fish but two new lures.

Hi there,

Today I had another go at fishing for no fish.
And it is not for the lack of trying.
In fact there was 5 of us, all regular in this spot, and none of us landed a single fish.

Why?

Well I would love to know.
The weather was perfect without wind, and the water flat as a marble tombstone.
And no life was taken from it.

I did see and this is the first time that I saw that, a stingray being hooked on a popper.
But it unhooked 1 meter from the land...

In fact the weather was so good, that I took the opportunity to make a few photos.
And lucky you, here they are:

Sun rise at East Point.

Fishing just after dawn.

Seano hooked on a stingray with a popper.

Like in the olden days.

Yes no fish but as you can see still a beautiful morning.

And what about the two lures I hear you asking...

Well, Seano gave them to me. He said that he had these old lures that he is not using any more, so I could have them for my little fishing lure collection.

When I saw them, I was so happy that I gave him an Iron Hide lure made by Rupe.

I had receive this lure just the precedent day and really liked it, but was also very grateful for the two lure so I gave him this beautiful little lure.

In a few days, I might do a post about this lure, stay tuned.

So what are these two lures?

Well the first one is my second Classic Barra +10 with no rattle inside.

Same lure than in this post, but in a different colour.

The colour of this one is called Elton On Chrome, and here it comes:

Elton On Chrome, Classic Barra circa 1996. 

View from above.

And the second one is another Australian lure, but the body of this one is made of wood.

It is a Willo Lures, made by Craig Wilson from Brisbane, in Australia.

I am not absolutely sure of that, but I fear that the company does not exist any more.

Let me introduce you to a little part of the Australian recreational fishing history in images:

My first ever Willo Lures.

Battered like a well used fishing lure.

With it's name on the lower belly.

The summary of the morning was that we did not land a single scale, but had a few good laugh between friends, and as a bonus I got two new very cool old fishing lures.

The only problems being that if things continue like this, I will need more room to store all my lures. And Coming back home without a fish start to turn into a bad habit... 

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

The Coca Cola fishing lure, final chapter.

Hi there,

Here comes what should be the final chapter of the Coca Cola fishing lure saga, that you may have followed on this very blog. We are talking here about the Coca Cola fishing lures made by Reidy's in Australia,

The story started with a lure given to me as a present by Geoff Corry, and you can read all about it just there.
Then I got some more information about the lure, and wrote it in this post.
Everything seemed to be settled by then but something happened...
And this to me resounded like the end of the Coca Cola fishing lure epic.

Then out of nowhere a member of the FFF forum (http://fishingterritory.com/) pointed to me an auction on Ebay where someone was selling the same lure, in all the different depths it had been made.
Well you guess it, I was quick to check it out.
And yes I got them...
This was the first time and probably the last time that I was trying to buy something on Ebay. And I was very lucky as I got them at a very good price, very close to the retail price of these lures when sold in their catalogue's colours.

Enough reading lets look at the images:

The Taipan in 2m.

The Taipan in 3,5m.

The Goulburn Jack in 5m.

And out of the boxes just for a few quick photos:

In the same order from top to bottom.

And from above to look at the bibs.

You may notice that the Goulburn Jack has a slightly different pattern than the Taipan. The bubbles on the back of the lure are not exactly the same.

I went form not having a single one of them anymore, to finally have the full set.

The boxes are not in as good a condition as my previous one was, but they are still ok.

And yes these ones will stay at the office, and not swim for as long as they are mine.

They did arrive to me in a different way than my usual secondhand shop find, and cost nearly the same as regular retail price for this type of lure. So I guess that we could say that I went one more step in the fishing lures collection mania, and some could see it as a dangerous path...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

My oldest Classic Barra

Hi there,

I now have more information on my oldest Classic Barra.
This is a fishing lure designed by Rob Gaden, the very famous and successful Australian lure designer.
(Rob Gaden has designed over 100 fishing lures in his career, and is still working today.)

So first I should say that my lure is not that old, it is only from 1996.
Still not bad for a Barra lure, and specially in the Guns N'Roses colours, a very popular colours to fish for Barramundi in the Top End of Australia.

I was helped in my research about this lure by the web site Lure and More, a site which as you might have guessed is dedicated to the Lure Culture, if I may say. Based in Australia, this site has a lot of information about Aussie lures, and more importantly, has given me the opportunity to enter in contact with Rob Gaden through their PM system.
I wrote the the man himself and asked him if he knew when this lure was made?
And here is his reply:

           "G'day Mate...it is one of the first "Classic-barra's". Made of Urathane ( similar to surf-board foam ). It was made in 1996 , the first year of the classic-barra. They were the only ones with the depth printed on the back. I converted from Urathane to 2 piece ABS plastic construction in 2000 and they have been that way ever since. Hope that helps...Rob"

Could I get a better answer? No I don't think so...
And yes I was happy to be able to learn so much and so quickly about this little lure.
And don't you want to see it?
There it is:

Classic Barra circa 1996.

With the print on the back.

Now you may ask where did I find this lure, and how much did it cost me?

Well, I just got it at my local second-hand shop, for AU$4.00 ...

How good is that!

It is of 12cm long (4.7244094 inches) and has no rattle, as opposed to the more recent ones which are very noisy fishing lures. It dives to a depth of +10 (Around the 3 meters mark). The colours of the lure presented here is as already noted in this post, Guns N'Roses. A very effective colour,  favourite of many anglers around Darwin.

So yes I have this lure in one colour only, when I know that they have made quite a few different of them.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

Eating somebody's else fish, once again.

Hi there,

Yes, once again, I had a feast on someone else catch...

This could be a long and very embarrassing post about how I went fishing with some friends, and was the only one not catching anything...
Or even worse, on how I got a major bird nest on Sarrge overhead reel, while trying to help him...
Or I could write about how Seano got the hook of one of his own lure stuck just above his left eye, the barb well into the skin. And how he got it out himself while we were all looking at him.

But no, I will just tell you that after all this was still a very good morning, under a very big sky and a very flat sea. The weather was just beautiful, and the air full of expectation, especially for Sarrge who wanted to try his new rod and reel.

When we all arrived at East-Point the scenery was once again for a city boy like me, at it's best. And just after a few cast Seano who was using a small popper was on.

At the first lights of the day, Seano is on.

And he got a nice Queenfish which he gave to Dan.

Seano and his catch under the full moon.

Not long after that he got a nice little Grey Mac on a soft plastic, and kept it for his lunch.

Mac on soft plastic.

About at the same time, Sarrge finally christened his new rod and reel with a nice Queenfish.

Reeling it in.

Happy as a man who just caught a fish.

And that was on a soft plastic too.

Queenfish on soft plastic.

Then Seano got two other little Macs, on chrome slice, and gave them to me. They made a delicious lunch.

The lunch that was offered to me.

Not long after that, just as I finished, with Sarrge help to untangle the mess that I had made on his own reel, the wind started to pick up, and we decided to go back home, for a proper breakfast.

So yes, I totally stuffed up with my mate's reel which made him miss a fish, and I was not even able to catch a single fish despite the near perfect conditions...

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

The Reservoir Dogs Fishing Lures

Hi there,

Yes I still have a full set of the Reservoir Dogs fishing lures, despite fishing with them on a regular basis.
These lures were made a few year ago by Relic Lures, a company based in America, and they were produced in reference to the gangster movie Reservoir Dogs made by Quentin Tarantino.

And here they are:

The full set.

The set is from top to bottom: Mr. White, Mr. Pink, Mr. Orange and Mr. Blond.

And yes they can give your terminal tackle a gangsta look with the bullet holes and black sunglasses.

Your talking to me?

They have the Reservoir Dogs logo tattooed on their bellies:

Bearing it on the stomach like a Yakusa tattoo.

And their individual name on the tail:

Introducing Mr. Orange

And Mr. Blond.

Ho yes I can hear you asking: "But do they catch any fish?"

To this I will be pleased to tell you that yes they are efficient in the fishy business:

A Little Trevally from the Vernon Islands.

(This image is copyrighted by a great photographer so please don't lift it, thanks.)

Because yes, all this fishing can make you hungry...

So here comes another lure, also made by Relic Lures, the Hamburger!

Everybody likes a bit of junk food now and then...

These ones were made for the restaurants Maragaritaville in the USA.

With the restaurants logo under the belly.

As you can see I got these lures before I even started to think about having a collection of fishing lures. And they have been in the water more than once.

In fact I had the double set of the Reservoir Dogs ones, I only have one full set now.

I know this is a bit silly as they would have been great in the collection...

And I still use them...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

Two very collectible fishing lures

Hi there,

Today I am going to introduce you to my two most collectible fishing lures.
They are Mepps lures that were designed by the Franco-Belgian artist Francois Curlet and produced with the help of the Editions Piace Le Radieux in 2009.

The first one is the V.I.P, and here it comes:

The boxed V.I.P

Out of the box.

The V.I.P has the black feathers and chrome to symbolise the V.I.P imagery. 

Printed on the lure a pair of black lips embodies the kiss of death, as the fish that will take this lure in its mouth is destined to a very uncertain fate, in the best of case.

Silence ...

The little card that comes with the lure says silence and is a reminder of the Do Not Disturb that we can find on the handles of hotel doors. So the angler who hang it on a tree branch close to him/her while fishing should be left at peace.

The back of the box.

And yes as with all good collector items, it is signed and number on the back of the card.

This is and edition of 100 only.

And now comes my favourite, for its simplicity, the La Corbu.

In reference to the famous architect Le Corbusier.

La Corbu.

With a logotype of a plan of the farm Radieuse printed on an Aglia Classique #5.

And a single hook to keep the retro feel.

It comes attached to a reproduction of a page of one of the architect's notebooks.

The back of the card.

It is also signed and numbered on the back of the card.

I have known Francois Curlet for many year, in fact as old teenager and young adult we use to go fishing together as often as we could. 

When I received my first lot of Relic Lures, I sent him one as a present. 

Later on he sent me these two lures as a present, and they have become the most treasured lures in my small collection of fishing lures.

Thanks again Francois.

It is true to say that these two ones will never be used to fish, that I will never make them swim. They stay in my office at work, well preserved of any liquid form.

The absolut opposite of what a fishing lure is intended for...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.