The Wedding Lure.

Hi there,

It is not often that a fishing lure is found on a wedding table.
But when half of the party is coming from the family of one of the most famous Australian fishing lure designer's, no one should be surprised to see a few lures invited to the marriage banquet.

Not long ago, as I was packing up an office in which I worked for many years, I decided to send back to Rob Gaden two lures that he had graciously lent for an exhibition project I had worked on.
Messages were sent to Mr. Gaden, asking him where I should mail the lures.
His reply was that I could keep one of them for myself, and send him the other one.
That in itself was already a great present, thanks Rob.
But it doesn't stop there.
He told me to call his daughter and to give her the lure in Darwin, instead of sending it interstate.
So I called her...

A few days later, she came to pick up the lure, and had a present for me.
And what a present!

Her dad had asked her if she could give me one of the lures he had done for her wedding guest, the previous year.
This might seem not much to some of you, but to me, it was an absolutely great present.

Taryn had married Phil in July 2012, and her dad had a series of the famous Classic Barra +10 in a special colour, with a special packaging made for the occasion.
Want to see it?

The Wedding Lure.

The writing on the back of the lure says: Taryn & Phil - July 2012.

The back of the packaging says that it is to celebrate their marriage, has some short information about both of the families, and the exact date of the wedding.

I will be honest with you, when Taryn gave me the lure, it was such a surprise that I got some goose bump and the hairs of my arms started to stand straight. 

This to me was a very nice present, from a very personal moment in her life.

I now feel really privileged to have one in my collection, and you can be sure that this one will never be taken out of it's packaging.

Thank you Taryn and Rob, this will be a very precious addition to what my partner call my addiction.

I know some of you might say, that a lure is made for fishing and that I should try it, but I will not.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

My First Richo Lures.

Hi there,

One day Ronj, a member of the FFF forum contacted me and said that he had a Richo Lures for me, with the advertising for a fishing competition on its back.
Ronj knew that I love fishing lure with advertising on them.

Not long after that I received in the mail a fishing lure from a brand that I was yet to have in my little collection, a Richo Lures.
Richo Lures are handmade in Queensland (Australia), by a man going by the name of Ken Richardson.

Here is what it looks like:

My first Richo Lures.

A nice long profile, made of white beech this model is named The Extractor. Presented here in the colour number 10 in the Richo range and called Fluro Yellow.

With some advertising on the back.

The Rocky Barra Bounty is a fishing competition taking place on the Fitzroy River, you have guessed it, in Queensland. It is a catch and release competition.

The belly of the lure.

The lure is very well finished, and seems robust enough to target some angry Barramundy. A pin under the chin is used to secure the bib, a nice touch on a bib towed lure.

If I had to, I would have now problem to fish this lure with confidence. Yet I have to be honest, it will stay dry and in the collection, no way I am going to take any risk with this one.

And knowing my liking of fishing lures with advertising,  Ronj also sent me two Classic Barra with the same advertising on them.

Two Classic Barra.

These two Classic Barra are in the Guns 'n' Roses colour, one of the most popular in the Top End.

So I really appreciate the present, as many fishing aficionados would have kept any lures in this colours.

Thank you Ronj, as most Aussie would understand: These are going straight to the pool room!

And if you like fishing lure, don't forget to leave a comment on my lure giveaway, for a chance at winning a nice one.

Ok, now I will have to find a place to display these lures...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

7 Fishing Lures For The Collection.

Hi there,

Yes I got a bit spoiled by Rossco once again, he offered me seven new, old fishing lures for my collection.
Rossco is a well respected member of the FFF forum.

First comes a Snarl from Killalure:

The Killalure Snarl.

So it is not Billy Idol snarl, this is the Killalure one, but I am really happy to finally have this lure which was missing to my collection. This lure not being produced any more, I was always on the lookout for one to show up at the op-shop or at a lawn sale, and it came to me in the form of a present.

Isn't it nice?

Now is a lure that look a bit like the Snarl:

The Killer Bait.

It is in fact a Killer Bait, an American lure, while the Killalure Snarl is an Australian one.

It is interesting to see them side by side.

Then a lure from Reidy's:

The Aqua Rat.

I love the Aqua Rats (I didn't had one in this colour), and might do a post just about them soon, as it was a very important lure for Reidy's, it put them on the world map of fishing lures.

Stay tuned for more about it.

And here is the JJ's lure:

Stumper jumper from JJ's Lure.

Once again a lure that I had none of in my small collection.

And I always like nice and simple colour like this one, white and blue.

The Manns:

Manns +20.

Manns are American fishing lures, that are commonly used for fishing in Australia.

I do have a few in my collection and like them too.

And interesting thing with this one, is the line attached to it.

If this is the line that the last angler to use this lure used to fish with it... He or she must have been after some kind of very big fish ... 

And talking of big fish:

The Barra Spoon by Halco.

Yes it is called the Barra Spoon, but it is also used by many people to troll for big pelagic.

In fact the first and only time I used one of these myself, was to troll in Darwin Harbour, and I got a nice Spanish Mackerel on it.

This lure is an old classic among the fishing lures used in the Top End.

And one advertising lure:

Classic Barra XXXX Gold.

Yes fishing lures with advertising on them have a special place in my collection, and are in fact the biggest part of it.

This is even what started it all for me.

This one is a Classic Barra +10 with the logo of the beer XXXX Gold from Queensland.

After a bit of research I was able to find that the Classic Barra, with this very logo from XXXX Gold were made to be distributed during a big fishing competition to all the participant. These lures were not for sale, so I am very happy to have it.

All these lures have been fished, and this is how I like my lures: when they have worked for a living.

Thanks again Rossco, these lures are a welcome addition to the collection.

Now, I realise that some of you don't comprehend why I will not fish with these lures, and will keep them dry. You may think that this is a waste of some perfectly usable fishing lures... 

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

Some more fishing Australiana.

Hi there,

Not long ago, I received some more fishing Australiana. In the form of a parcel sent to me by no one else than the great Australian lure designer Mr. Rob Gaden.
Thanks again Rob, this is a very kind gesture from your part.

And what was in this parcel?
Well a very cool framed photograph representing a guy holding a massive catch of two Barramundi over the magic meter marks, both of them...

Here is the photograph:

What a catch!

And as you can see the happy fisherman had written a personal note to Rob Gaden on the print.

It reads on the left of the photograph:

" Angler  Clint Jebbink

Location East Alligator Arnhemland N.T.

Date 28.5.98

Weight 14.5 Kgs 109cms

           13.9Kgs 107cms

Lure Classice Barra

by Rob Gaden

Colour Bleeding Mullet"

How good is that? 

Two metery on the same lure! I know a lot of anglers who as soon as they get a metery on one lure, would retire the lure to the trophy room and not risk it in the water anymore...

The top right corner of the photograph reads:

"Great lures Rob

Best Wishes from...

Peter & the boys 

at Guns 'n' Tackle

Darwin N.T. "

So when the people from a tackle shop are saying directly to the designer of a lure that his lures are great, you know that this is the real deal.

Yes, you may have noticed that the lure in question is not only visible on the photograph, it is also glued to the print. 

So, here is a close up of it:

A lure loved by the big Barramundi.

The lure is a Classic Barra without the rattle, one of my favourite to collect...

This present came to me with just one condition: That if ever Rob Gaden or a member of his family ask for it to be returned I would sent it back. I ardently agreed to this, and would sent it back at the first request.

But for now, it is on a wall in my office.

And every working day, I can look at it and admire the effort made by this happy chap, two very large Barramundi, that a lots of us are still just dreaming of.

Every time that I set my eyes upon this great piece of fishing Australiana, it is also a reminder that I am yet to catch a Barramundi over the mythical meter mark, yes...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

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.

A colour called Katherine.

Hi there,

Let me introduce you to a colour called Katherine.
This a colour combination to be more exact, found on a fishing lure, a Barra Classic +10.
You know one of these old Barra Classic +10, with the branding on the back, made of urathane and with no rattle.
Because yes, this is how I just got a third one of them...
My mate Seano called me during the day yesterday and asked me if I was at work?
I answered, that yes, this is usually where I can be found during week days...
To wich he replied, that he was close by, and had a lure as a present for me.

Full of anticipation I went down the front entrance of the building where I spend my working hours, and he arrived and gave me this really nice lure. Saying that he got this one in a bag of secondhand fishing lures, and that he was not going to use it. Knowing that I collect them he had decided to offer this precious one to me.

This one was in a colour that I had never seen in real or even in a catalogue.
Yes this is tragic I know, but I do sometimes look at the images in the fishing lures catalogues...
So not knowing what it was I decided to post a photo of it on the Lure and More forum, to see if anyone knew what it was.
And the following morning, I had a reply from Rob Gaden, the man who designed so many very good Australian fishing lures, and among all of them this one, the Classic Barra.
His reply was so great that I wanted to reproduce it on my blog!
After asking for his permission of course, as I wanted to be sure that I was not breaching any privacy issues or any thing like it.

So here comes the words from the man:

The colour was called Katherine....but not after the town in the N.T.

Funny how my last 2 post's have involve my old mate Harro....anyway he had a young lady travel with him into barra-land for a video he was putting together with John Hanke , also in the mid 90's. She had never caught a barra before , & Harro asked me to knock up some "Lady coloured " lures for her. That is what I came up with.....and beleive it or not , right on cue ...with camera's rolling , she caught a metre plus barra while casting to a gutter 200 metres below the barrage at Shady-camp.

A great first barra...to a very talented young lady , all on film. The young lady's name was/is....Katherine ( Katy ) Capewell , from Qld.

RDR


Could an answer have been better?
No don't even try to find a better one, there is no better one.
This one has every thing: An old mate, a very talented young lady, a new specially made colour for a lure, an iconic location in the world of Barramundi angling and some great fishing...
You could write a book just from that!

Any way, by now I am sure that you are starting to wonder what does it look like, no?
Well, it look like that:

The lady coloured fishing lure.

Non-rattling Clasic Barra +10 from above.

Now Katherine must be happy, I am sure that they are not many people who have a lure colour named after them.

Do you know someone who has a lure colour named after her or him?

I don't.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

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.

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.

The Carlton MID fishing lure

Hi there,

So a few days ago, I arrived at work in the morning, and asked for my keys at the security door, and the guy who gave me my keys, said: "Hey, there is a fishing lure for you with your keys".

It took me a few days to learn who gave me this lure, as all the security guys all said with a smile: "No clues as to where it comes from..."
But any way when arriving at work in the morning, it was a very good surprise.
It really made my day.
Thanks again mate. 

So the lure in question is a Classic Barra, 120+15, and the colour is...
Carlton MID, and it is still in the box in perfect condition!

Still in the box!

And view from above.

I know that a lot of people around Darwin have already seen or even fished with this lure.
But for me who don't drink, the chance to get one still in the box was rather slim.
(Carlton MID is an Australian beer).


So yes it took me a few days to thank my benefactor for the unexpected present.

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

Two fishing lures from the FFF Barra Challenge 2010.

Hi there,

Last week I was given two brand new fishing lures for my effort in the 2010 FFF Barra Challenge.

Two of my favourite Barramundi lures.

The lures are a Classic Barra +10 (the one on the top of the image) and a Reidy's B52's in gold colour (at the bottom of the image).
My very first Barramundi on lure was actually caught on a B52's in gold colour, on the South Alligator River.

This is a friendly fishing comp organised by some of the members of the FFF forum.
In this fishing comp, the goal is to be able fish a Barramundi every months of the year.
At the end of the year, the tally is made, and the guys who did land a Barramundi every month get a prize, the biggest of the year get a prize, and the biggest of each month get a prize. There is also some prizes for mysterious size every months, and for all sorte of other things, so nearly every one if not every one get a prize in this very friendly challenge.
It is more about the fun than anything else really.
And also about all of us catching up at the Ski Club or other Darwin venues.

Now how did I go in the 2010 edition?
Well, I think that I landed only three Barramundi for the year, not twelve...
Yet I had a very good fishing year by my own standards, with a lot more time passed chasing pelagic fishes that the venerable Barramundi.
Of these three Barramundi my biggest one went 91cm, but this is not the one that won me the two fishing lures.
Simply because on the month when I got this 91 cm fish, a few of the guys and gals in the challenge got some bigger Barramundi than I.

So how big was the one that won my my prize?
It was "only" 77 cm, but that was for the month of July, one of the most difficult time of the year to catch a Barramundi, as it is nearly the middle of the dry season, and way too cold for Barramundi fishing.
Keeping in mind that this is fishing under the tropic, so when we say cold... It would still be way to hot for many European...

The 77cm winner in the middle of our winter.

This fish was the biggest of july 2010, for all the people involved in the challenge, but I am sure that other anglers have caught bigger Barramundi in the same month. And also that many people went fishing for other fishes in the middle of our winter.
Any way, here is the thread on the FFF forum, where you can read all about how I caught this fish.

So this was not a meter fish, not even a very big one really.

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