Great interview Gary. Hi Dugga. There are so many stories that I could tell you about Dugga and all the boats he has saved. And some of the stories are amazing. Really, there is so much more, you could do an hour or more ,easy. His knowledge of the bay and the Yarra and beyond and the people who fished there could fill books. Talk about old school , genuine ,helpful sharing. He always has time to chat. Got to know him in the mid 80s. I was boat mad and he helped so much with advice and materials when I was restoring a sunk old Peter Lock 16ft Couta boat. I used to do a bit of the leathering of the outhaul rings on his sailboats. I think he let me do it because he could see how keen I was just to have anything at all to do with boats.And talk about generous , he used to let me and a mate and other people use his boats any time we wanted. He loved to see them out sailing along the Port Melb beach. When we got back he would give us a good review of how we had the boat rigged and how we could get more out of her. Talking about that old cotton fishing line, he still had bundles of it in his shed and I asked him what he did with it as it was no longer being used . It was a big bundle of spaghetti and Dugga said if I wanted to untangle it I could have it. I was doing some fancy knotting at the time and thought I struck gold. If you are interested ,and with Digga's ok I would be happy to share the stories of just the time I spent with him while he was fixing up another old wreck to pristine sailing condition. Heres my number if its any good to you . 0412517524. Hope that works. Or you can ask Dugga for my number. Your work is so important about fishing and boats in Australai.Cheers.Roman

thankyou Garry for your videos, i can remember as a boy helping fisherman in the 1970s lakes entrance pull in nets along 90 mile beach and been given a huge salmon, big as a log for helping pull nets to shore, i enjoy the history and early wooden boats, cheers mate

I met Dugga in 1986. Couta boats, I wish I listened to him then. Alas I was 16 and couldn’t be told anything. Fantastic interview, thank you.

Excellent Garry,, always a real pleasure,, thankyou

Thanks again Gary for yet another fascinating & important interview. I doubt there's many in the league of Dugga, I used to see him almost daily during the mid 90's at some stages in October & November while working aboard a fishing charter vessel out from Patterson River-Carrum. Along with his daughter they'd be longlining snapper from the distinct blue vessel Francis, named after his wife. He'd always give us a rundown report of the previous few days of work, most of which was factored by winds & or water clarity-temperatures. Back in 2011 I was running a snapper charter on my own charter vessel & was off Sandringham. Dugga much earlier that morning had laid his longline right along the region a bunch of us were fishing & was retrieving it amongst us all. He was an absolute gentleman & slowly maneuvered through us pulling some fine fish in the process & quietly went along to the next set. Was great watching him slide past & say a quick hello to the 5 guys aboard. Thankyou Dugga, you have & you'll always be such an inspiration to so many in Melbourne.

Best video you have done,love all your videos. As a kid I fished at St Lenard’s with an old bloke ,Daniel.(might have been a Rigby)net fishing in Swan Bay.He had a Couta and a net boat.1962.

Another excellent video Gary

Absolute gems 💎

Another great one Garry , im from the other side of the bay seaford area but these are great stories Cheers .

👏👏👏 great thanks very much 🙏

Bloody legend mate.

What a legend.

Great video cheers!

Good film Gary, met a guy named kirk this week maybe he was 60 started his boat building apprenticeship with pompeis when he was 14 went on to work for Lacco amazing once the salt touches you it connects you.

Great work mate thanks 😊 👍

Thanks Garry.

Great video Garry. 👍

U are a true legend mate,THAKS FOR THE GREAT STORIES What's the biggest snapper u caught, And did u ever see and big GREAT WHITES AND DID TUNA EVER SCHOOL UP IN THE BAY

Two & half inch beach nets . . 20m by 1.5 drop , legal without license NT till 2002 , caught everything big & small except Spanish mackerel torpedo's . . caught smaller dog mackerel inside Darwin harbor no problem

Thank you Garry, I just love these vids. Hey but I just saw another commenter offering & thought. I'm 70 now, retired W.A. desert truckie, mostly triple flatops out to the mines. 50 years in the outback. The thing is, that I knew many of the old school bush characters hereabouts. Prospectors, miners, machinery contractors, stockmen, policemen, etc. etc., all eccentrics, mostly good folk, the odd wrong'un, therefore crazy stories. If you've any interest, I may be able to add to your knowledge base of such. Let me know by reply & I'll give you my number.