S
tarlo world is a wonderful
place. Australian fishing
guru Steve Starling has
been at the cutting edge
of recreational fishing for
more years than we both care to
remember. Many of us have followed
his travels and adventures here and
abroad through many years of Rex
Hunt’s Fishing Adventures, the pages
of a multitude of fishing and boating
media, Starlo & Bushy’s famous
tackle range including the mighty
Squidgies soft plastics, his more than
20 books, an active online media
presence, and recently appearing as
a presenter on the Offroad Adventure
Show. All this, as well as launching
his own new series aptly named A
Fisherman’s Life with Starlo on the
FishFlicks streaming network, keeps
him pretty busy.
I was excited by the opportunity to
visit Steve in his home environment
at the beautiful little southern NSW
coastal hamlet of Tuross Head to findout exactly why he was so excited
about his latest boat, a Beastmaster
Snubby five-metre with a tiller-steer
Yamaha F70 four-stroke. Starlo
has chosen God’s own country to
live in. I marveled at the towering
peaks and thick forest of the Great
Dividing Range as it transforms into
lush green rolling pastures flowing
into the myriad of rivers, lakes
and estuaries before spilling into
sapphire waters rimmed by golden
beaches and rugged headlands.
Welcome to Tuross Head in the
Eurobodalla – Starlo country.
Our civilised meeting point was
the Tuross Boatshed & Cafe, Steve’s
regular stopover before fishing his
home waters. Steve said: “Bushy
taught me that you will never fish
well without first having a good cup
of coffee!” (Kaj Busch, aka Bushy, is
Steve’s former co-host and partner in
Squidgies, amongst others).
We chattered about current
fishing trends over breakfast withSteve’s Beastmaster Snubby 500
moored next to our table on the
landing. Steve and I are both the
same age, knocking on 60, and
it seems of similar physical and
mental conditioning. Whilst we
still thoroughly enjoy an offshore
sojourn, we are both starting to
feel the ramifications of too many
adventures in the rough and tumble.
Steve giggled that he’s well on the
way to “becoming a crotchety old
luderick fisherman with a Huon pine
clinker putt putt and a centrepin
reel”. However, for the time being,
his latest sportsfishing weapon fits
him like a glove, and with a light-
load top-end of 30kts at 6100rpm and
easy cruising between a fuel efficient
22 to 25kts fully kitted with crew he
asks, “W ho needs to go faster?”CUSTOM BUILD
Beastmaster boats are custom built
by Robbie Ferguson on Queensland’s
Hervey Bay. There’s a smaller 440122 tradeaboat.com.au