From the Editor
From The Editor
SHANE MENSFORTH
WE CAN ONLY LOOK FORWARD! Most would agree that 2020 has been a year to remember…… generally for all the wrong reasons. My beloved Adelaide Crows finished the season on the bottom of the AFL ladder, Eddie Van Halen died and then, of course, there was this thing called COVD-19 that essentially turned our lives upside down. 2021 couldn’t come quickly enough for most of us, but exactly how much better things will be in the new year is very much open to conjecture.
SPOOLED MAGAZINE
I realise that, in the overall scheme of things at least, COVID’s effect on recreational fishing was of negligible significance. With millions dying around the world and the global economy brought 04 to its knees, I guess the disruption to a simple pastime hardly rates a mention. That is, of course, unless your livelihood depends on it – and there have been thousands around the country whose businesses have been wiped out totally by the pandemic or continue to hang on by a thread. Those most obviously affected by ‘no fishing’ regulations imposed in some states (and particularly Victoria) were tackle stores and marine dealers. If not for the Federal Government’s Job Keeper subsidy package, many more would have gone under, and only now are they beginning to show signs of recovery. However, there were many more angling-associated businesses whose suffering was less obvious, but just as severe. My good mate, Garry Barmby, who owns and operates Angling Adventures, the country’s longest established fishing travel company, has really felt the wrath of COVID-19. Garry has been sending Aussie fisho’s to exotic destinations around the world for close to 30 years, and is generally regarded as the best in the land at what he does. As soon as the COVID panic set in back in March of 2020, all of Angling Adventures’ overseas bookings were cancelled indefinitely, forcing Garry to refund hundreds of thousands of dollars that had been paid as deposits. And, with most Aussie states closing their borders at the same time, Garry’s domestic bookings quickly went the same way. Naturally, all general travel agents suffered a similar fate, as did the airlines, whose losses soon spiralled into the billions. Being a South Aussie, I was lucky to keep fishing throughout the entire debacle. There were some loose restrictions here, but none that absolutely prohibited wetting a line somewhere. Adelaide tackle stores took a bit of an early hit, but as soon as Job Keeper kicked in and people regained enough confidence to get back onto the water, a normality of sorts was restored. Over the border in Victoria, however, things were far less rosy. I have a couple of mates who own tackle stores in Melbourne and Victorian regional centres, and I could feel their pain and anguish as the State shut down and people lost access to the water. Considering how severely COVID-19 continues to decimate the US, much of Europe and Asia, we’ve been very fortunate here in Australia. Scott Morrison and his Government have done a marvellous job of containment and, with vaccines now becoming available to (hopefully) stop the disease in its tracks, there appears to be some light at the end of the tunnel. Provided things keep heading in the right direction, we should all be able to resume normal domestic travel and, in the longer term, look forward to heading overseas again to go fishing. I had to cancel a long-awaited salmon fishing trip to Alaska last July, then another to catch sailfish in Malaysia in September. Whether or not I get back to these countries in 2021 is still up in the air, but I’m quietly optimistic – one of the traits with which serious anglers need to have in abundance! www.spooledmagazine.com.au