By Casey Neill
Fishing has taken Paul Worsteling around the world.
“Fishing is not about fish,” he told the Greater Dandenong Chamber of Commerce Business Awards breakfast on Wednesday 24 August.
“Fishing is about place and faces.”
He’s seen baby bears in Alaska, a blue whale in Portland, Victoria, and killer wales with their babies off Exmouth, Western Australia.
In Papua New Guinea Mr Worsteling visited a village where the children had never seen a white person.
“I lifted up my top and showed them my belly,” he said.
“They started crying and ran into the jungle.”
He even met his wife, Cristy, through the hobby that he’s grown into a career spanning radio, television, books and two tackle shops.
Mr Worsteling grew up on a farm in Cranbourne and found his love for fishing when his dad put 500 fish into a dam.
“I went down there with a fishing pole because I just wanted to see what was under that water,” he said.
“I couldn’t physically see the fish unless I actually caught them.
“I became a fishing text book guru.”
He caught his first fish on a school camp, made friends with a neighbour with a boat, and joined Cranbourne Angling Club.
There he met a guy with plans to open a tackle shop and volunteered to help him set up.
Mr Worsteling bought the business on 9 September 1996, aged 22.
To build its profile he wrote articles for fishing magazines, gave fishing reports on radio and offered fishing guru Rex Hunt advice.
In 2000 Mr Worsteling organised a fish trip for Rex’s Fishing Adventures television program. It was the start of a four-year stint on the show.
“It definitely brought people into my business,” he said.
The show came to an end and Mr Worsteling got the opportunity to make his own, IFISH.
He films 30 half-hour and 10 hour-long episodes each year and spends up to 40 weeks a year filming around the world.
“It has done what I hoped it would do for my business,” he said.
His top business advice was “always strike while the iron is hot”.
“Don’t do tomorrow what you can do today,” he said.
He said word of mouth couldn’t be beaten and good staff was any company’s greatest asset.
“I like to rule with a feather duster,” he said.
“We respect each other and get the best out of each other.”
Mr Worsteling said the world constantly changed so business owners should always consider the future.
“And sharing is caring,” he said, referring to social media.
