The Renegade.

Hi there,

Do you remember the 21st March 2011?
On that day, on this very blog, I introduced you to the prototype of a fishing lure made by Reidy's in Darwin...
At the time the lure was called The Big Judge, but that was not the definite name...
the lure was to be named the Renegade, and it finally hit the shops on this beautiful month of August 2016.

What did the prototype look like?
Like this:

The prototype.

This lure was a present that I received while visiting the Reidy's factory on the outskirts of Darwin.

I have never used it and kept it very preciously. 

But this week, I went to a shop, and bought my first Renegade as soon as I could.

And here it is:

The Reidy's Renegade.

I choose it in the kryptonite colour as it was the closest one to my favourite colour from the Reidy's range, the 008, which is not available yet for the Renegade.

Yes the prototype and the retail version of the lure are very similar.

Prototype and retail version of the Reidy's Renegade.

If the seems slightly different on the above image, it has more to do with the photograph and light than with reality. The prototype is at the top and the retail lure on the bottom of the pic.

The real difference come in the eyes, and the built of the lure.

For the eyes it is pretty obvious, but for the built? Well what I mean by that is that all the tow point and hook hangers are much beefier on the retail one than on the prototype.

Look by yourselves:

Eyes and tow points comparison.

As you can see once again the prototype is in the top part of the image while the retail one is in the lower part. And clearly, the tow point is much stronger on the retail version.

I don't know if it is because during the testing phases, the lure encountered bigger fish than planned? One can only ponder...

But I do know that with such a tow point, it should be able to bring back some pretty big ones.

For the hook hangers, judge by yourself:

Back hook hangers.

The retail version is on the left and the prototype on the right. You can easily see which one is stronger.

The Renegade is a big lure, which can be trolled slow or fast, to a depth of about four metres.

From March 2011 to August 2016 may seems a long time, but I believe that it took in fact longer in research and development to get the lure to shops. All the kudos to Reidy's for not rushing a product out of the factory doors, without making sure first that it was truly tested and ready.

Now I just hope that it will not take me as long to be able to swim and test mine. I can't wait to catch my first fish on it. When it come to play with a new lure, patience is not my stronger point...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

A Lure With No Name

Hi there,

Today I am going to tell you the tale , not of a horse with no name, but of a lure with no name...

A few months ago, I was gifted a beautiful timber lure.

One that I believed to be a Killalure, yet something was not right. I had never seen one looking like this. The eyes, the tow point and the hooks hangers were right, but something about the shape was unusual…

Was it just a copy, or a very rare one?

It looks like a baby Barramundi.

I asked here and there if anyone had already seen a similar lure. But to no avail, the mystery grew deeper and deeper.

With a lot of people giving their opinion. Some of the answer I received, were closer to science fiction than reality.

Then one evening trolling an online lure forum, I struck gold!

I found someone who obviously had a very good knowledge of the Killalure brand (And you are soon to know why). 

I sent him a message, he replied and the enigma was no more.

The lure is indeed a Killalure, from the mid 80’s. It is in fact a 4” Killalure cut down. While making them, the good people at Killaure had a problem with a run of blank that had been over sanded. So the man making them, cut the tail off, and put on them some aluminum bib that he had laying around.

About one hundred of them were made. The run was so short; that the lure didn’t even received a name!

The Killalure with no name.

The lures were painted with Dulux Base Coat.

The colour is originally a Nils Master one, but in the Killalure range this is the colour number 70. The hooks might be 777 #2 Eagle Claws. 

A few different bibs were used for this lure model; on this one it was the 3” Barra Bait bib.

The 3" Barrra Bait bib

Who is the man who generously gave me all this information?

It is no one else than the man behind the Killalure saga: the legendary Dave Killalea.

Thanks to the Dave who gave me this lure, and thanks to the Dave who give me the information about this lure.

Two different Dave, but two top bloke.

So with about only one hundred of them ever made, I doubt that I will ever have a full colour set of this very lure...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

Another Wedding Lure.

Hi there,

This is only the second wedding fishing lure to come into my possession, and it is once again a very special one to have.
This one being a Reidy's B52, a local production, makes it even more special.

So who are the lucky couple?
Colleen and Nathan, they married in 2012, and I have had this lure for nearly a year in my collection, but life and other things got in the way of it and this very blog, sorry about that.

One morning last year Nathan gave me a lift to a fishing competition and in the car, told me that he had a present for me.
And what a present it was, a very limited edition fishing lure, that he had asked Reidy's to produce for his wedding to his sweetheart Colleen.
And here it is:

The Wedding Lure.

Yes, it is still in the box.

But lucky you, for the purpose of this blog post, I have taken it out of the box. Where it went straight back once the photo session was done.

This lure is marked on three sides, and you are going to see them all.

The happy couple names.

The importante date on the back.

And on the last side, a motto that should be followed by many people:

What it is all about.

I sometimes think that it would be nice to show them a photo of a nice sized Barramundi hooked to their wedding lure. And make no mistake the B52 is a very good Barramundi lure, one of my favourite in fact. As my first ever Barramundi on lure was caught using a B52, on the South Alligator River about seven years ago.

But there is no way in the world that this is going to happen. This lure is back in its box, and not getting out of it, not even for a courtesy swim.

Thank you Nathan, and Colleen to have given me this lure from your special day, this is much appreciated.

Yes there are other wedding lures out there, and I really would love to have in my small fishing lure collection, a section specialised in wedding lures. But so far I have only two of them…

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

My First Bad Rash Lures

Hi there,

Here comes my first Bad Rash Lures.
A lure made by Daniel, with some beer lids, recycling at its finest if you asked me.

First a few photos, then a text sent to me by Daniel.

In the packaging.

Yes, they do come in a nice little plastic bag, with a picture of a Mangrove Jack fished on a Bad Rash Lures. And I got lucky, the one on the pic is made with the same lids that the one I got.

Out of the bag.

Yes, made with the lids of the very well known XXXX Gold, a beer made in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, since a very long time. In fact it is the most popular beer in nearly all of Queensland.

Bad Rash Lures.

And now the text sent to me by Daniel, which explain how Bad Rash Lures came to be:

        "The idea of using beer lids to catch fish is nothing new, the concept has been around for quite some time. I have been making lures for as long as I can remember. I first started making lead slug type lures out of barrel sinker to cast at schools of Mackerel and Tuna in Moreton Bay about 25 years ago. Next came some timber lures for catching anything from Bass and bream through to Mangrove Jacks and Barra some of which I still use today. I had quite a spell from making lures and the bug came back about 3 years ago. 

I started to produce some lures that were quick and easy to make and started producing beer lid poppers. They consist of a beer lid glued to a tapered cork, wire and a hook and do not take too long to make, and are quite effective. I have not used them consistently but have caught some noteworthy fish on them including Trevally, Barra and Mangrove Jack. 

The idea of beer lid lures was always in the back of my mind but I never bothered until October this year. Why I started making beer lid lures now I do not have a clue, I think I just wanted to prove to my mate Pete that I could out fish him with all of his fancy gear.

I first started making them just as single lid lure by punching two hole at either end of the lid adding two size 4 split rings and then a size 4, 3X strong VMC treble and a few rocks for weight.
The first time I used them I managed to hook six and land two Saratoga from a small creek standing on the bank.
Next came a solo trip to a local billabong where I managed to catch 21 fish in just over 3 hours. The bulk of them were Saratoga, a total of 17 for the morning, a personal best. These were all caught on a Coopers Pale Ale jointed beer lid lure. Two beer lids were joined via a split ring with a second treble attached in the middle.
I then had a good trip up to Sandy Creek to test them out on some saltwater species. The most noteworthy fish was a Queenfish around the 9kg mark that I had hooked on a jointed Coopers Pale Ale. The fish was caught casting and retrieving the lure across that surface at speed and was hooked for a good ten minutes when we went for a tail grab and it swam off with the rear part of the lure. 
To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. What I found had happened and it happen again on a good Trevally was that the split ring was working its way along the crimped edge of the beer lid until it completely undid. Design fault.

I thought about how I could get rid of the split rings altogether and make the lures stronger from a wear perspective. The holes are only punched in the edges of the beer lids.
I still had some 80lb Mason Downunder stainless steel wire that I was using to make the beer lid poppers. I started to make the current lures that I have now and found that they are performing well so far.

To date I have caught a total of 149 fish on the beer lid lure with the following species and numbers being my most recent tally:

Saratoga - 54
Archerfish - 4
Barra - 9
Tarpon - 24
Fork tail Catfish - 10
Brassy Trevally - 10
Big Eye Trevally - 1
Golden Trevally - 1
Queenfish - 14
Blue Bone - 4
Cod - 2
Bar Tailed Grunter - 1
Spaniards - 2
Mangrove Jack - 1
Sooty Grunter -
8 Spangled Perch - 1
Long Tom - 1
Bass - 2"

And that is it for Daniel text.
Impressive no?
Now, do you want to know about another impressive thing?
Well let me tell you how I got this lure…

Last December, the local newspaper, ran a story about a few of the lures that I have in my small collection.
Daniel saw the article, and just happened to be in town on the day it was published.
He called the paper and asked for my contact, saying that he would have a new lure for me.
A few phone call later, and he dropped by my place and gave me this very lure, saying Happy Christmas !

I call that pure Territory goodness!

Thank you Daniel, I will not swim it, but I will take care of it, be sure of that.
I know that some of my readers will say that a lure is made for fishing and that I should use it…

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

The Darwin Dart.

Hi there,

The Darwin Dart is a lure close to the heart of many Territorians. Yet it was made in Narooma, NSW. So, why so much love in the North?

To start you have the name: Darwin Dart, clever marketing …

And then came its fish catching ability.

A quality due to the passion for fishing from its maker: Mick Elliot.

Mr. Elliot started to make his own lure as a teenager in Queensland. After his family had moved to NSW. With the help of his father and brother, Mick started to produce his lures for the commercial market, in 1983. First carved by hand from White Beech wood, the success and demand for the Darwin Dart quickly become too much for the trio. They had to use a copy lathe to respond to the popularity of their product. The ever-growing success of the timber lure prompted the Elliot family to finally decide to change the whole process and start to make plastic molded lures. The metal bib was replaced by a plastic one, and become integral part of the lure. A rattle was added in the belly of the lure. The success continued.

The Darwin Dart. 

The production has stopped a few years ago. The word on the street is that the molds have all been destroyed when the production ceased.

Portait of a Darwin Dart.

This was a popular lure for Barramundi, Mangrove Jack and other Top End scaly critters. 

An old timer, once even told me that he loved to troll them at speed for Mackerels. Saying that the lures would then flip over and come skipping on the surface, this was how he caught some of his best Macks. Until one bigger than usual, who swam in the sunset with it, took away his last Darwin Dart.

Memories.

This timber Darwin Dart, might not be in perfect condition, but I will sure take care of it, and it won't swim no more.

Yes they are missed in many fishing tackle boxes.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

My First Chilton Lure.

Hi there,

Last year I got a crazy coloured fishing lure.
A lure made by Blair Chilton from Karalee in Queensland, Australia.
Due to some unsuspected circumstance, it took me a long time to do a post about it. Also because I wanted to make some photographs that would give it the credit that it deserves.
It has already been too long, so in the end, here it comes.

But first things first: a bit about the story of this very lure.
I first saw a similar one on the internet, and contacted Blair, asking him if I could buy it.
His reply was that he had only made a single one lure in this shape and colour, and that it was a gift for his daughter.
Yet, he offered to make a second one for me, telling me that it would be the second and last one of these...
So I said yes!
He got to work on it, and I got to wait. But not for long, the lure arrived earlier than I had expected. And it was looking even better than I had hoped for.
Without further delay, here it is, my first Chilton lure:

Left side.

Right side.

View from above.

For a handmade, hand-painted lure, this is a rather uncommon shape and colour. Even the bib is unusual.

This is a lure, that I really don't want to scratch.

Signed and dated on the belly.

To think that there is only two of this one.The first one was for his daughter, and then he accepted to make the second one for me, a guy that he had and has so far never meet. It is hard to express how happy I am to have this lure.

Who is Blair Chilton you may ask... 

Well, he is a young lure maker from Queensland, the birthplace of so many great fishing lures. I first saw his lure, all crafted like little art pieces, on Instagram. This is where I saw the sibling of my lure, and made contact with him. Since then, he as opened his own FaceBook page, on which you can see more of his lures.

Close up of the paint work.

The paint job is so good, that I have to show you a last one for the road. How beautiful is that?

when you have the lure in your hand, it look like it is made of fine china, and not timber.

I know, I know, three post in a row about fishing lures, and not much in the form of fishing in the past few weeks... 

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

A Lure Signed by Bear Grylls.

Hi there,

A while ago, I was lucky enough to be gifted a fishing lure signed by Bear Grylls from the TV show Man vs. Wild.

Who in its right mind, would gift me such a great present you may ask...
Well no one else than Mario, the producer of the great fishing radio show Tales From The Tinny.
One evening at the Ski Club, he said that he had a signed lure to give me. It didn't take me long after that to give him a call, and tell him that we should catch up one day for lunch.

So we met up for a quick lunch, and share a few fishing stories, with me impatient to see this lure that Mario had told me about.
When he pulled out of his pocket this great big black Bomber 16A, hand signed by Bear Grylls himself. While he was in Darwin for the filming of a segment of his television show. A big smile, I could not hide.
Without any more teasing, here it is, still in the box:

The signed Bomber in the box.

Yes, for the purpose of this post, I did open the box, and made a photograph of the lure by itself, so you could see it better.

Bear Grylls signed black Bomber.

In the box it quickly went back, just after the photo, and from now on will stay in there.

Because, yes this is another lure that will never swim. Even if one of my fishing buddies told me that it would be great to see it hanging from the bucket mouth of a big Barramundi. There is no way I am going to risk losing it.

The only problem that I have with this  fishing lure, is that I now have another sub-section in my little collection: the celebrities signed fishing lures...

And that I have only one in this category.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

Barra Trooper Galore.

Hi there,

Not long ago, I had the chance to meet Dave, the maker of the fishing lures Barra Trooper.
He was extremely generous, and gave me some very nice  fishing lures.
Here comes the story of them.

First is the original Barra Trooper, but in a new colour, soon to be introduced on the market. The colour is called X RAY and you will, with no doubt understand why:

Barra Trooper X RAY.

Now, this is not just any lure in the new colour, no...

This is the very first one that was made for production. It is signed on both sides of the body of the lure, on the bib, and with a hand written note on the back of the card.

Here comes a close up of it's face:

Mean looking skeleton.

You can see the signature on the cheek of the lure. And yes, as you can read on the card, it is of course, a hand made timber lure, like all the Barra Trooper.

The evening I got this lure, I could not help, but send a photo of it with my phone to another fishing lure collector in Darwin, just to show it to him, even before doing a post on the blog.

After that came a Barra Trooper in a colour that he normally do only for himself.

The special colour.

I might be wrong, and that would not be the first or last time... But I think that this would be a great colour to target Mangrove Jacks. A fish that till today has managed to elude me. Classy in burgundy and gold, with black strips, this one makes me think of an old fashioned Chicago gangster. 

Then come a smaller lure, with a different shape that than the traditional ones made by Dave.

And it is a real little beauty:

Black and yellow like a hornet.

I have already said in the past, that one of my favourite colour for timber lures, is black and yellow.

For a reason that I don't really understand, this combination of colours remind me of a cafe racer motorcycle, and I really like that. It has to me a retro feel, that I don't get with other colours.

The finish on it, is just great:

Beautiful finish.

As an icing on the cake, this lure came to me, with a very special top up.

Three wooden pieces, that show how it was crafted:

Three steps to a good lure.

This is actually the first time that I have the wooden shapes, of a lure at different stages. This to me, is a very interesting piece added to my little collection. One could say that it has an educative purpose.

Finally, Dave gave me a prototype of a lure that he had been working on.

The overall shape resemble the traditional Barra Trooper, but is a bit shorter, a tad fatter and the tail is slimmer.

Have a look at it:

New prototype of Barra Trooper.

The photograph, don't really shows the depth of the paint job. It has a brown back, with a brass belly covered in gold spots. It is a beautiful and subtle paint work.

Portrait of a fishing lure.

And of course, like all the other ones, it is signed on the belly:

Signed on the belly.

Here they are, my precious little Barra Trooper lures, a very appreciated addition to the stable.

Thank you Dave, these will never see the water, but they will still be taken care of with great attention. 

I know that fishing lures are made to swim, and that most lure makers craft them in the hope that they will catch the fish of a life time... But those four compagñeros will definitively stay dry.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

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.

Jason's Leads

Hi there,

There are many good reasons to add a fishing lure to one’s collection.

It can be because the lure is rare, because it is a really good fishing lure, because it has a story attached to it or because it is a present from a good mate.

Well this lure is ticking the right case in about all of the above…

The lure is a Leads Lures, handmade in Queensland, Australia, by Terry Leadbeater. And yes it is made of timber. People, who love fishing lures, know both, how good these are at catching fish, and how hard it is to find them in the Territory. Despite still being produced today.

My first Leads Lures.

This lure has a story too.

Jason bought the lure around 1997, just north of Cairns.

Then went fishing land based from the rocks, when on his second cast…

Hooked and landed, his first ever meter plus Barramundi on this very lure!

The metery catcher.

Many keen anglers would keep the lure that caught them their first Barra over a meter long as a precious relic.  Some would even send it straight to the poolroom. But no, not him, who one day gave me a call saying: I am cleaning the shed, come around with a plastic bag, I have a few lures for you… And there I got my first two Leads (among many other lures); this was one of them.

For someone like me, still dreaming of catching my first metery. It made me wonder what I would do with the lure that will on day, help me to do it…

But more importantly you might have now guessed it, this was a present from a good friend, and this, makes the lure even more special to me.

Thanks mate.

I wanted to add a Leads Lures to my collection for so long.

Look at how beautiful it is:

Lure portrait.

Yes, I know, this lure never again will swim...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

The HellRaiser Worked.

Hi there,

Not long ago, I introduced you to a new little lure made by Reidy's, from Darwin Australia, who was yet to be named and released on the market. Well it isn't released yet, but has now been named and its name is the HellRaiser!
I gave it a swim on the first day of the year 2013... And it worked, it caught me some Barramundi.
Here comes the story of my fishing on the 1st of January 2013.

Once again, I was very lucky to be invited aboard Moz fine boat, for a day of fishing on Darwin harbour.
We launched at a very reasonable time, and Moz, tried to teach me how to steer the boat.
That was fun to drive between the moored yachts but I think that I must have been driving a bit slow, so he took back the helm and we quickly crossed the harbour toward the creeks where we wanted to spend the day, relaxing and fishing.

Crossing the harbour on Hard Gore.

As soon as we arrived we found a nice creek, with a lot of mangroves and some calm waters...

The place looked promising and in his second or third cast Moz got a nice little Golden Snapper on the line.

I started to wonder how he could be so fast at catching a fish, and looking at him I understood. He had a secret weapon, in the form of a remote control. That he must have used to direct the fish towards his own lure and away from mine... And yes I have the proof of that in picture:

Moz and his secret remote control.

Not long after that I sight casted to a school of bream and got one on the lure, but lost it not very far from the boat.

We then decided to move to another creek, the water was like glass.

Flat water.

In this new creek Moz repeated the trick and got on in no time, but this time to a little catfish.

Reeling in the kitten.

We moved in the creek, casting to every drain and colour change that we would come across. 

This is when Moz got the first Barramundi of the day.

First Barra of the day.

It was not a monster, but it is always nice to catch your targeted fish.

And he wasn't long before he got another one.

Then it was my turn! I finally got a fish in the boat, and it was a baby Barramundi, caught on the new lure made by Reidy's:

My first Barramundi on the Hell Raiser.

Once again, not much size to it, but the satisfaction to catch a Barra on a new lure totally made up for it.

And more importantly, this was my first Barramundi in a very long time, I was breaking the drought.

That made me really happy.

To celebrate, Moz opened a bottle of Barratastic ale, made by no one else than Doors Off.

Enjoying the Barratastic.

It was a hot day and I think that Moz enjoyed the fresh beer, nearly as much as I had enjoyed catching a  little Barramundi after being Barraless for so long.

And this was also a good way of thinking about our good friend Doors Off who is actually working overseas, you are not forgotten mate.

We moved to the other side of the river, to start to make our way back. Still casting to every good looking spot. Arriving to a place, where we found at the same time, an eddy, a little run off from a snake drain and a colour change, Moz said that this was a very fishy looking spot.

I casted my lure at the back of the eddy, and it had to cross the eddy, the little run off, and pass through the colour change before being back to the boat. This is finally in the colour change that I felt a sharp thug on my rod handle and that my line seemed to suddenly going away from the boat, instead of quietly coming back to me.

This was going to be my second little Barramundi of the day.

My last Barramundi for the day.

I was now convinced that this new little lure was working well.

From there we moved to a third creek, where once again, just on arrival, Moz got a new Barramundi.

Moz fourth Barramundi for the day.

It was like Moz, knew where to put his lure from the start, at each different location that we visited on the day.

Every times he got his fish in the first few casts, and this made me think that  need to learn how to read the creeks a bit better. Which to me is an exciting goal.

In this creek we saw some Barramundi feeding on jelly prawns, and one of them Barra, was a very big girl. We casted many times towards the drain in front of which she was feeding, but could not entice her with our offerings. I even changed my hard body lure for a soft plastic, but to no avail in the Barramundi department.

On the other hand, I did caught a small Star Gazer and this was the first time that I got one in a creek and not on the reef.

The little Star Gazer.

Not long after that, we decided that it had been a good day on the water and that we should head back to the ramp. And a good day it had been, with 5 different species of fish caught. Among them six Barramundi, despite the fact that they had started to feed on jelly prawns. So it is with the sense of  a well done job that we started to sail back to port.

Thanks again Moz, it was a great day.

For the people among you who love statistics...

The skipper got four Barramundi on soft plastic, and I got only two on hard body lure.

Yes maybe I should have see the sign earlier in the day, and changed to a soft plastic sooner than in the last twenty minutes of fishing...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.