The Commemorative Rapala.

Hi there,

I was offered a commemorative fishing lure, made by Rapala for a local tackle shop.
And by no one else than the winner of the 2012 Top End Barra Series, Mr. Gregory Shields.
Thank you Gregory, this is much appreciated.

It was during a nice evening at the Ski Club in Darwin, for the end of competition event.
Just by the sea, under the palm trees it was a great night.

Early evening at the Ski Club.

With the moon in the sky.

I really like this place, it is a great spot to relax at the end of any day.

But back on topic, I got a new fishing lure...

As part of his winning prizes as the 2012 champion, Gregory received this beautiful lure.

The very thing that I wanted to win in the last round of this friendly competition, but it had eluded me.

Knowing that I collect fishing lures with advertising on them, Gregory came towards me in the evening and asked me if I wanted it.

I was so surprised, that at first I believed that he was joking.

But no, he was being honest and generous and for my great pleasure, gifted it to me.

Thanks again.

The lure is a commemorative Rapala, made for the 40 years of Fishing & Outdoor World, the oldest fishing tackle shop in Darwin, NT Australia. And in a place like Darwin where fishing is an integral part of the local culture, this is saying something.

In fact, it is even my favourite shop in town.

The shop opened in 1972 and 2012 marked the 40 years anniversary... 

I wonder what they will do in 2022 to mark the 50 years...

So, want to see it?

Here it is:

The commemorative Rapala.

This is the X-Rap SXR-10. It swims to 1,2-1,8 meter (4'-6'), weight 13 grams (7/16oz.) and is 10 cm (4") long.

The colour is FOW of course!

I love to collect advertising or commemorative fishing lures, and this is my first one from Rapala, so I am very happy with it.

Yes I know, this is a blog post about a fishing lure, in which there is two photos of palm trees, and just one of the lure...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

The King Codder Fishing Lures.

Hi there,

When a lure maker calls to tell you that he has two vintage fishing lures for you, you know that you are in for a treat. So when Tony the maker of the Barra Guru lures called me, I was rather excited and faster than a fleeing baitfish, I found myself at his place.

The present came to me in the form of two King Codder.

Two King Codder fishing lures.

In an old newspaper from down south (The Age), dated from the 30 November 1962, I found an advertisement and some information about them.

They are Australian fishing lures that were made by DK Union Tackle Co. in Melbourne.

At the time Union Tackle had up to a dozen metal lures, but the King Codder were made of timber. Certainly with some big Murray Cod in mind. So how did these two ended up in Darwin is any one guess. Albeit seeing how robust and well built they are, they would have been very good lures in the pursuit of our local champion, the mighty Barramundi.

King Codder came in only two sizes and two colours. Red fin and Trout or if you prefer, Gold and Silver.

By offering me the gold ones in the two available sizes, Tony had given me half of the full set. What a great way to start collecting a lure that I had never heard of.

The colour pattern of the gold ones would certainly have been of great efficiency on the Barramundi. As this is a colour scheme still very popular on today’s modern lures.

The large one.

The small one.

Detail of the small one.

Little treasures can be as varied as the different people who own them.

To my these four small pieces of wood, have become part of my precious…

And now, I would love to find the two silver ones.

And it might take a very long time...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

My Blog In The Art Magazine.

Hi there,

Yes The Rambling Expat as been cited in an art magazine.
And not any art magazine, but the very good Art Monthly Australia, which as its name's point out, is an Australian magazine.
Could we deduce from this, that fishing is starting to be recognised as an integral part of the Australian culture?

Now why did they feel the need to write about the blog in the magazine?
Was it for my writing talent?
No.
Was it for my photographic talent?
No.
I think that it was because of a post I did last month about a fishing exhibition being prepared by the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, often referred to as MAGNT.

So do you want a proof?
Here is a little photograph of the short piece in which the blog was cited:

Cool, no?

This was a simple, funny and very kind way for the editor to announce the upcoming exhibition. 

This is published in the "Sultry Summer Issue", for December 2011 to February 2012.

Here is a copy of one of the magazine cover for this issue:

One of two...

Yes I did write one of the magazine cover for this issue, and then captioned the image with "One of two"... Why? Simply because for this very issue, the editor choose to have two different cover for the magazine. Depending of your luck you could have this one or the other one when you buy the magazine.

What does the other cover look like?

Just go to the newsagent to find out, or check them out online, they have an electronic version of the magazine available.

And no, I do not get any royalties on the sales or subscriptions to the magazine.

Even if I have to say that yes, this is among the few magazines that I enjoy reading, so this is great.

It is true that after being cited in this magazine, I better have to lift my game in regards to fishing photography. And this worry me a bit, as when I am happily fishing, I do find it hard to focus on the image making thing too... 

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

My blog in the newspaper

Hi there,

Well, in fact to be honest just a snippet of my blog was in the local newspaper the NT News, in the  Sunday edition, nearly a week ago.
And I dutifully missed it...
(What can I say, I was busy trying to get a fish...)

If it wasn't for Ms. Dig being in Darwin at this time, and not only seeing it, but bringing me the paper at work the following week, I would not have seen it.
(A co-worker saw it and brought it to me too, thanks Gavin).

To be honest I was very surprise of that. This was mostly a good surprise, even if they published my name in the paper, which is nowhere to be seen on this blog...
But hey, I am not going to complain too much about this, as it shows that at least one person is reading this blog and find some of the post interesting enough to republish them in hard copy.

So here is the proof in image:

Do you recognise the photo?

This was taken from this post.

The best to me, is that this would tend to confirm my theory about the importance of fishing in the general culture of Darwin city.

Without being too biased, I would argue that a fishing museum in the city would be a very good tourist attraction, and have success with the local too.
After all we have very keen anglers coming from all over the world every year during the run-off season.
They surely would enjoy a bit of local fishing history to be seen in the comfort of air conditioning, before being stuck fending off the mosquito between a river full of crocodiles and some residual monsoon rains.

So was I in the paper for my angling prowess or offered a publishing contract?
Surely not...

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

Fishing in the local culture

Hi there,

Fishing is an important and integral part of the culture of Darwin. A city situated in the Top End of the Northern Territory of Australia. So much that many of the local businesses prefer to advertise on fishing lures than on stress balls, or baseball caps.
As an example here are three little fishing lures to support the argument.

First a lure with some advertising for the local casino, and no I do not support gambling, even if fishing might look a bit like gambling to the uninitiated (this lure is a Mad Mullet from Lively Lures).

A lure with the Skycity logo.

Then a lure with the logo from one of the most recognised insurer in Darwin, TIO (this lure is a Taipan from Reidy's).

TIO advertising fishing lure.

So far we have the gambling and the insurance industries represented.

Nice match some of you might say...

And now comes the education industry with a lure produced by a high school to celebrate the 21st birthday of the school (this lure is a Little Lucifer from Reidy's).

From Dripstone High School.

In Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.

Ho how much I would have loved that my own high school was producing some cool fishing lures instead of just the T-shirts of the school's sport team...

The array of industries represented here on fishing lures, I believe demonstrate the importance of fishing in a place like Darwin.

Fishing is part of its local culture, like cowboys are part of Texas and the Eiffel Tower is part of Paris.

Now the question is what some archeologist will say about that in the future? Are we going to see one day some budding young archeologists like Ms. Dig look at the subject with interest and write about it in their blogs?

Personally I hope so.

Some people will argue that in the western world today, recreational fishing is nothing more than a hobby. But isn't a very popular hobby part of the cultural background of a society? 

Yes here are some of the questions I ask myself when I spend a full weekend without fishing...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.