Why do I fish?

I’ve played lots of sports, putting many years work into some, rugby, basketball, aussie rules, raced karts, speedway, played paintball, raced mountain bikes downhills etc the list goes on. Eventually though for one reason or another (mostly that the mind was willing but the body was weak) I gave them up. Some I still enjoy from time to time but for whatever reason or circumstance they have all faded, except for fishing.  It amazes me that after all this time how much I still like it, think about it, look forward to it and my fishing bucket list is going to need at least five lifetimes. I feel like I should wake up one day and not want to do it any longer like all the other past times that have gone before.

Recently I have been pondering as to why this is so…

Now I could rattle off all the clichés about the travel and the experiences, the people and all that, but if I’m going to be honest with myself I have to look deeper than that. Why? Well you see it’s easy to look forward to trips to exotic locations but I’m also perfectly happy fishing in stinky old Perth, by myself maybe only getting a few small fish and sometimes nothing at all. No travel, no real amazing experience and no other people and yet I'd do it every day if I could. So what’s that about then?

Pondering this I realised that it is kind of like going for a ride on your bike or a surf, its bloody impossible to come back not feeling happy but the enjoyment comes not only from the act itself as when your surfing or cutting up some single track on the bike you don’t think about the bills, work, or any problems you may have and you don’t weigh your brain down with shit you can’t change anyway. It’s mental escapism and while everyone has their own flavour, we all like ice cream. Wow my first Mick Malthouseism! :D

Moving on, I also realised that interacting with Mother Nature gives you one of those unexplainable highs you just don’t get from other recreations. Try going for a swim in the ocean, or rolling down a hill on your bike, or catching a fish. All the money in the world can’t buy that, which, in a world where money is often king, I reckon, is pretty cool…

And besides sometimes Perth fishes okay J

I got this bream first cast one morning right under Perth's main freeway and within the shadow of the heart of the city, 45cm and 1.6 kilos, probably about 20-25 years old and hopefully still swimming around...

BBB #32

Well the new BBB is now out all over Australia with ex aussie cricket captain Mark Tubby Taylor on the northern cover with a barra and yours truly on the southern cover! Ol Tubs is keeping some good company there :D  It's the same mag they just do two different covers.

In all seriousness I’m pretty stoked as you can imagine and while I’m ten years into this writing thing already, I feel like I’ve still got a long way to go but that I have made a good start…

NAFA #20

The new NAFA is now out all over Australia & is once again jam packed with stacks of great articles, stories and reviews, click here to see the contents... NAFA #20 Contents

It's got my Exmouth Gulf feature in it with all the good oil on how to fish one of the best sports fishing locations in the world out of a small boat...

This is the cover so you can't miss it!

To blog or not to blog?

To blog or not to blog?

Well it seems I have finally succumbed to a blog. I have to admit I have watched them since their birth with some sort of scepticism, I’m not sure what this was based on but I suspect it is a similar feeling to the one you get the first few times you give your credit card number to someone halfway around the world. Besides the writer in me is too intrigued and curiosity has won me over. I have also had a few requests to do one and Chris (media production business partner) has pretty much told me it’s a must do as this year will be pretty big for us with some projects finally coming to fruition. More info on that stuff later but I have some good trips coming up this year and I will be fishing from one end of the country to the other over the next few months.

Some quick background info…

Most of you will know me but for those that don’t here is some quick background info on me. I live in one of the best cities in the world, Perth and am married ten years this year to the most amazing wife, Raeanne, my best friend and mother of our so far only child and boy, Kai who is three and a half. Being a dad is amazing and I have loved every life changing minute of it so far. Rae is well, if you know her then you will know she is one of a kind and the best thing that has ever happened to me, period. I love living in Perth, it’s a big city but more laid back than the east coast, the fishing here is amazing and these days the east coast is only a few hunge and four hours away anyway.

Kai & Rae at the show last year...

Kai & mum cooking...

The Fishing...

While I fish all over Australia most of my fishing takes place on the west coast from about Exmouth down to Esperance. Catch and release, light line, lure only, river and estuary-bay, boat based, sport fishing best describes the style of fishing I mainly do. I keep fish for a feed sometimes but most of what we catch goes back, it’s all about the experience and chasing that fish of a lifetime to get killer photos, I’ll do something on this in more detail later.

Writing wise I started out in the magazines about ten years ago which turned into a job as a magazine editor being the founding editor of Fishing Western Australia which I did for about three years followed shortly by another fishing publication which I was also the founding editor of for three issues before I gave it away. I also worked on the FWA TV show for three years as a guest presenter on and off but these are long stories I’ll get to another time perhaps. Suffice to say, glad I did it, but glad I got out of it as well.

These days I currently write fulltime for National Australian Fishing Annual or NAFA for short, which is now published twice a year and also for Barra Bass & Bream or BBB which is published quarterly. I also do some work on and off for Modern Fishing and a few other various fishing publications.

NAFA and BBB are two of the best mags in the country and if you’ve been bitten by the bream on lures bug like many anglers have been then you will know that BBB is the number one sports fishing publication in Australia. These two publications are run by Alex Julias who is a privilege to work for as he lets me write about what I want and that is hard to find.

It is hard to put into words how much I enjoy the whole process, the travel, the fishing of course, the photography and of course the writing. I’ve been going at it for ten or more years to get to this point and yet feel like I’m just starting to get okay. If you ask Alex he will say my work is great but it can be hard to be subjective about your own work. I think my work is good most of the time and pretty good sometimes but could always be better so I’m always looking to improve and when I look back at my old stuff I can see my work really has come along way.

Any how I hope you enjoy my blog, I won’t be posting everyday or anything but weekly stuff should be regular and my posts will be a mix of reports from trips past, current trips and a few odds and sods thrown in. I’m keen for feedback and comments and or requests or any questions, it is all welcome so don’t be shy!

BBB Issue #24 and my first national cover...