A lure in the mailbox

Hi there,

Today the post delivered a little box at work for me.
The security guy called me on the phone and said: "Hey mate, a parcel just arrived for you".
Having an idea of what it might be, I rushed to the source of the call, and saw a nice little cardboard box with my name on it... I said to the man who had called me: Guess what is in this box? He looked at me and in a very calm voice said: A fishing lure...
And he was right!
But I immediately asked myself if that was bad, when people start to assume that every time that I got a parcel, it is a fishing lure...

Any way I was too happy and excited to ponder on the matter for too long, and went back to my office to open this little box. Just a few days prior to this event I got a private message on the Lure and More forum, from a well known and respected Australian fishing legend, asking me for my postal address so he could send me a lure... That was a great surprise, and since then I was waiting for the postman like a kid on  Christmas Eve...

The parcel was from the famous Australian fishing lure designer Rob Gaden.
An artisan who has already designed over one hundred fishing lures...
And the lure he sent me has quite an history.

I will write here exactly what (and how) Mr. Gaden wrote on the letter that came with the lure, enjoy a piece of Australiana fishing:

"R,
      This lure was given back to me by Alex Julius .... Owner of 'NAFA' magazine & well known T.V & media fishing presenter.
He returned it to me in 2004 while I was living in Darwin. He had caught more than 150 Barramundi on this lure in 3 days, and joked that he wanted warranty... ... As the paint had come off.
  Another noted N.T. fishing guide & legendary fisherman, Rowan 'Shorty' Short, a good mate of mine, saw the lure hanging in my workshop. He reckon's I dragged it behind my car for 100 km's to make it look like this. He was also joking, and is a big fan of the "Classic-Barra 120" lures.
  It is yours to keep for your display, if you want
                                                                  Rob Gaden
                                                                     12/8/11"

And you bet that I want! I can tell you now, that this lure is not going to swim any more, it is not going close to the water, not on my watch. It will stay at the office, even if I too am a big fan of the Classic Barra.

So you may have suspected by now that the lure in question is a Classic Barra, once again a +10, but this one with a rattle. I am not too sure of the original colour but I am inclined to think that it may have been the Coward Dazzler. A colour that has worked for me in the past, albeit not yet with such success. If you think of another colour, you are more than welcome to leave a comment about it.

So do you want to see it?
Ha!
Here it is, and you are spoiled as I will show you 5 images of it:

Left side.

Right side.

From above.

From under.

Close-up and leader's knot.

Now that's a lure that has been catching some fishes, and has the scares to prove it.

This is a lure that I will cherish and take care of. This is not often that you can come across a lure like this one, with so much information about it's past, by the man who designed it himself. This is a very generous present, thanks again to Rob Gaden.

So does any of the fishing lures that I personally use has ever caught that many fishes?

Of course not!

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.