The Australian Angler changed the face of fishing. I joined the team for issue #4 and stayed on for over 30 years as Fisho, as it became fondly known, morphed from black and white to a full colour Fishing World. When asked to contribute to this final print edition, three recollections resonated from my body of work.
My first feature, an article on the romance of the inland rivers and a unique brand of sportfishing with lures challenged prevailing attitudes and practice. The Cinderella status of Murray cod, golden and silver perch and open slather strip mining rivers with set lines, and worse. The head of Victoria Fisheries no less, on record lamenting Australia’s lack of indigenous freshwater fish of sporting worth. New South Wales counterpart, also blinded by a love affair with trout, going as far as to waste money and manpower on brook trout and Atlantic salmon trials in Copeton Dam.
There was no better time to be introduced to native fish than
