The next six to eight weeks will see more hooks and lines cast into Aussie waters than any other comparable period of the year. - Steve Starling
On a Tuesday evening in late November this year, I presented my first live-streamed webinar. It was called “Starlo’s 5-Step Formula for Soft PlasticsSuccess”. Despite some jitters on my part about this new medium (new for me, anyway!), and the inevitable tech’ glitches (thankfully minor), it seemed to go well. The live audience peaked somewhere between 70 and 80 concurrent viewers, and a few hundred more have watched the recorded stream via YouTube in the weeks since. (If you were unable to make it on the night but would like to check the webinar out, you’ll find it here, or via the link button that appears below this editorial.)
Feedback on that first live webinar has certainly been encouraging, with respondents saying things like “you’ve set the bar high”, “good content, well delivered”, “the best one I’ve ever been on”, “informative”, “very worthwhile” and “the information was easy to take onboard”.
I’m extremely heartened by those wonderful comments and the many others we received. This overwhelmingly positive feedback has led me to consider doing more of these live streams in future: perhaps even on a quarterly or monthly basis, if my workload allows. Let me know if you’d be keen to see things go that way. (You can send an email to my attention via )
Our first live-streamed webinar was a great success, and was well received by participants… Hopefully the first of many!
The questions and comments received via the live chat function during the seminar (and ably collated by my wife, Jo) were all on point and insightful. Jo was able to pick some of the best of them and flash them up on screen for me to immediately respond to — a system that worked well.
Some of those questions and their answers will also be incorporated into my first fully-fledged on-line course, which launches in mid-January. (I’m currently building that course with the help of a fantastic “Beta Test Team” recruited on the webinar night… but I’ll tell you more about that next time!)
Suffice to say that this first live-stream webinar experience was a fascinating one. For me, it reinforced — yet again — just how hungry so many fishers are for accessible, no-nonsense, non-hyped information that can help them directly improve their angling results, and increase their enjoyment of the sport… and that’s exactly what I always aim to deliver.
Starlo is a stickler for attention to detail when rigging soft plastics. Small tweaks make a big difference.
Speaking of fishing enjoyment, the next six to eight weeks will see more hooks and lines cast into Aussie waters than any other comparable period of the year. It’s the silly season, when the world and its dog heads for our coastlines, rivers and lakes with a boogie board tucked under one arm, a fishing rod under the other, and an Esky full of cold cans clutched in their free hand.
It can be a testing time for those of us who value the “serenity” of our contemplative pastime. Jet skis, wake boards and ghetto blasters don’t typically figure all that highly on our lists of favourite things, yet we’re likely to experience more than our fair share of them across the coming days and weeks. My best advice is to chill, and to bide your time. This too shall pass… and, after all, everyone has the right to enjoy our great outdoors.
Crowded fishing spots become a fact of life at this time of year, but those anglers who work a bit harder will always fare better than the rest of the mob.
My tips for this time of year are simple enough: Fish early and late to avoid the crowds. Go the extra distance to get away from the mob. And, above all, put even more emphasis than usual on cunning, finesse and subterfuge. It’s said that “in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king”. Similarly, in a world full of clumsy rigs, thick lines, anchor-like sinkers and badly-presented baits of frozen servo pilchard, the man (or woman) cleverly manipulating a life-like lure, or free-drifting a kicking prawn on a skinny, un-weighted line, is the king (or queen). Put bluntly, there is never an easier time than right now to be one of those 10-percenters who catch 90 percent of the fish. Enjoy you’re natural advantages, but try not to look too smug while you’re kicking their butts!
Tight lines, stay safe, and Merry Christmas.
Steve (Starlo) Starling is an Australian sports fishing writer and television personality who has appeared in many of Rex Hunt’s Fishing Adventure programs on the Seven Network.
He has published twenty books on the subject of angling, as well as thousands of magazine articles.
Starlo has scripted and presented many instructional videos and DVDs, and been a Researcher and on-screen presenter for a number of Australian angling and outdoor television programs.
Follow Starlo Gets Reel on Youtube for some of the best, educational and most entertaining fishing viewing on-line.
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