Life on the Road - Fishing with Timmy Turtle

Dan: So Timmy Turtle, many people would say you’re living the dream – you do a lot of travel, meet plenty of people, catch some awesome fish, you’re a Youtube celebrity – what is your favourite aspect of your current adventures?

Timmy: Ah, I think just that, it’s exactly what you just said, it’s meeting people and stuff like that. And I think what I’ve been enjoying most over the last 2 months is learning how other people are fishing and hunting to eat and what not. It’s learning that most people probably wouldn’t get a chance to learn, and you’re in so many different areas and everyone does something different, and I’m loving the whole experience of learning how people do things differently in different areas. Like with different fish species, up north people say “Don’t eat that, it’s only good for bait” and then you come down here and people say “Oh no, this is the most amazing fish in the world” and they show you how to cook it better, and it is! Yeah, so I’m loving the whole learning aspect at the moment.

Dan:  So I’m sure that it’s not all good times and fish on the chew though, with lots of work behind the scenes in terms of editing footage as well as the work that goes into the fishing. How do you stay motivated on the tough days?

Timmy: That’s been the biggest struggle since I left is staying motivated, and I think just meeting new people and them getting me out of the car and taking me fishing on the days I don’t really want to put the boat in has been good. They show me things and tell me little bits about the area and that gets me motivated to get out and get it done by myself as well.

Dan: Do you take inspiration from other people, and set goals for yourself in terms of your social media, as well as your fishing?

Timmy: Not so much anymore, I used to have goals but social media is so up and down and all the algorithms have changed recently on different platforms. Now I’m sort of just trying to get back to having fun, and if people watch it they watch it, if they don’t they don’t. I’m making enough to keep doing what I’m doing and it’s a life that most people only dream about, so over the last couple of months I’ve realised that and that’s just what I’m going for is just to have fun and hopefully get it on camera.

Dan: Going back through your videos – heaps of quality fish and amazing experiences – have you got any standout fish captures?

Timmy: Oh yeah, there’s a few! There’s the marlin on the boat 35k off shore. There’s the Gold Coast barramundi – that one never made the video, didn’t want to spot kill (laughs) but that was up there. Any jacks over 55cm are high on my list, and just recently was the big jewfish – that was a big standout as well.

Dan: And what about any standout trips or places you’ve been?

Timmy: The Morningtide trip was just amazing – a week on an island 80k off shore, that was just, yeah – won’t forget that one in a hurry. That’s still one of my favourite weeks of all time. Staying on an island 80k off shore and all you do is fish and eat, amazing.

Dan: And what about Millie mate, how has she influenced your life on the road?

Timmy: Ah, she makes things more difficult because you’ve gotta constantly think about her, but it sidetracks you on those down days from thinking about yourself and what’s going wrong so she’s been a life saver. So it is harder having her and teaching her but I known that in 2 years time she’s just going to be the ultimate dog. It might make things take longer now but yeah, she’s definitely helping with down days when I don’t run into people – she makes me smile.

Dan: Watching your journey as a fisherman – your skills have improved over time from those early days. What do you put that down to?

Timmy: Just time on the water – and most of the stuff you learn, if you don’t learn it yourself it’s talking to people you meet at the ramp. And I meet tonnes of people at the ramp, like I sleep there now! And even if people don’t know who you are, the first thing they do is they brag about the great day they had fishing and what they put it down to. So yeah, just listening to people, time on the water, try different things. It’s been a bit harder going to new spots – like it normally takes, say, 2 to 3 weeks to work out a spot and I don’t sort of have that. So I’ve been definitely talking to people that I run into about how to fish different places, so I’ve gotta say a big thankyou to everyone I’ve run into who’s helping me out with tips and tricks and how to fish different areas. But before that when I was just fishing for jacks and that it was just time on the water – I’ve probably spent a lot more time than most people do on the water (laughs).

Dan: And finally, you’ve come from building the raft, “Pipe Dream”, on a front lawn, to having around 65 thousand subscribers on your Youtube channel and over 6 million video views – where to from here?

Timmy: Uh, this was always going to be the hardest part of my journey – from Gold Coast to Sydney – fishing wise. But I always knew that – I always wanted to come down and explore this area and fish it. But now it’s north, I just want to go north and experience fishing up north. I’ve not done a lot of fishing up that way, and I’ve heard great, great stories. I can’t wait to just sort of live off the land and live off the water and just fish and hunt and what not. So yeah, I can’t wait to see if all the stories are true and, yeah – new car, new boat, head north!

Dan: Unreal! Alright mate, well all the best with that and we’ll look forward to keeping an eye on it on Youtube!

#5 – "OVERPOWERED! Hand Built Micro Boat Maiden Voyage"

Not really a fishing video – in this one Timmy goes over his finished skiff, showing all the bells and whistles he added on the build. After a 5 part video series on the build, the grand finale is clearly very satisfying!

#4 – "The Motivation You Need To Go Fishing"

A bit of work off the rocks in this one, Timmy has a great session with a mate jagging a heap of jewfish.

#3 – "Giant Freshwater Fish Out Of Tiny Crack"

Off to Gorge Country where Timmy is chasing cod in his first video after hitting the road in his new set up.

#2 – "Pups First Fishing Mission"

Millie gets to tag along on her first fishing session while Timmy jags a heap of cod with Adam Townsend.

#1 – "Marlin Tows Wooden Boat 24 Miles Off Shore"

For number 1 it is hard to go past Timmy’s epic battle with a marlin while he bobs around in the ocean on his skiff like a cork in a bathtub!