BLOG: Thankyou Dick Lewers

I STILL remember the day I bought my first fishing magazine. I was 8 years old and at home bored to my wit's end. I remember either asking my Dad for some money (or convincing him that I had a valid reason to spend some of my own savings!) then somehow wrangling permission to walk down the road to the shops, which were close to home at the time, unaccompanied.

We used to mainly fish for estuary staples like bream and flathead so when I stumbled across a fishing magazine with a big bream on the cover my pocket money and I soon parted company. That magazine was filled with images and stories about thumping big snapper and tuna but I never really found the secret to catching the big bream that was on the cover – the bream was quickly forgotten about as I flicked through the pages and discovered another world of techniques and target species.

Over the coming months the frequency of my fishing magazine spend increased and with it came a newfound quest for knowledge which brought with it many unanswered questions. As a kid that read way too many fishing magazines I soon realised I needed some answers – it was at that point I decided to pen my first letter to Dick Lewers at Modern Fishing.

I can't remember the exact content of the first few letters – one of them related to the need for a level wind on an overhead reel and whether the advantages of a level wind outweighed the disadvantages – if I was going to fork out the big bucks on a new reel I wanted it to do everything and be everything!

Every letter I wrote to Mr Lewers was met with a typed and considerate reply; to a kid heavily engrossed in all things fishing, those responses were more valuable than a letter from the Prime Minister or the Queen. I stored each response folded and carefully placed within the pages of the first magazine that I'd bought which was at the bottom of my growing magazine collection. I would regularly rummage through the pile of mags to seek out the letters and revisit the pearls of wisdom passed on through written word.

At the age of fourteen one of my letters was published – I'd asked Dick about navigation and if I was to hypothetically find myself in a seaworthy boat that was out of sight of land, how would I find my way back to shore? That question was prompted after reading about some exceptional yellowfin tuna caught at a reef formation offshore from Sydney called the Peak; I didn't know anyone that owned a boat but was determined to figure out where and how to get to the Peak to catch a yellowfin...

Dick's reply was a considered response which strongly advised a novice devoid of any offshore boating experience to exercise caution – I'm sure he had visions of some little kid floating around offshore asking for directions on how to get home and figured it best to print the letter and demonstrate to others the need for boating safety when travelling offshore!

Whilst all good things must come to an end, I was saddened to read that Dick was saying goodbye to his readers and finally retiring his column – a column spanning an incredible 47 years which has no doubt enriched the knowledge of those seeking advice and engaged multiple generations of fisher folk with critical thought and direction. Dedication and loyalty to that degree is rare in our current age and I doubt there will be another magazine column with such longevity.

I have never met the man but have a lasting impression of him as an oracle of knowledge. All of my childhood letters were replied to regardless of relevance and I'm sure this experience was shared by others that reached out to Dick; no mean feat in times gone by when communication required significantly more effort.

On behalf of all us who wrote to you and read through your words of wisdom over the years, I'd like to say a heartfelt thank you – good fishing to you and all the best in retirement Mr Lewers.