Katherine is bursting at the seams due to tourism, and Rod & Rifle TackleWorld has given the shop interior a facelift and expanded its shelving capacity by about 30 per cent to better cater for the extra stock needed to fulfill customers’ needs.
Store manager Trent de With said the shop had experienced one of its best seasons ever with the nine staff kept on their toes serving the huge number of southern tourists flocking north.
“We are hoping for a good Wet as we are already seeing waves of anglers coming through due to the Million Dollar Fish promotion,” Trent said. “In my opinion, the promotion is a huge success, one that has attracted anglers from all directions.”
As for the fishing around Katherine, Trent said last year was a reasonable Wet and the Victoria River was fishing well during this year’s Build-up, while last year’s extensive flooding hadn’t hurt the fishing.
Among new or improved products in store, Trent said the Jabbers rod range was a game changer for travelling anglers, particularly travellers with limited space for luggage, or even boat storage. “The Jabbers range of rods are amazing,” Trent said.
“Jabbers are five-piece rods that you can store easily and yet, when put together, the joints don’t inhibit the action so the rod feels like a one-piece.” He said the range of Jabbers was wide ranging, and there was a model available to suit every occasion.
Soft plastic lures have made a big dent in the market. The Australian Fishing Tackle Association show about mid 2023 had plenty of offerings, especially prawn imitations. “There were endless varieties of plastics to choose from. We have thinned them out and chosen what we think are the best of the lures,” Trent said.
Established products like Yeti are well represented in store and Trent said the Yeti range was ever evolving while a new reel from Daiwa was high on his product choice.
“The Daiwa Tatula 150 is a baitcaster, but Daiwa has engineered it to be saltwater protected and to that end one of the major changes the company undertook was to replace the metal bearings with hard wearing nylon bushes.”
There is more to Rod & Rifle TackleWorld than fishing. The store caters for outdoors enthusiasts regardless of preference. Campers and shooters are well catered for, and the shop caters for discerning people with epicurean tastes by having a range of smokers and associated products, as well as everyone’s favourite, the barbecue.
Rod & Rifle TackleWorld has been trading for more than 43 years, and Trent took over managing the shop from his father Warren about seven years ago; he said there was a need to be prepared to adapt to ongoing changes. Some changes were dictated by trends, and the latest popular trend is smokers. Trent said the store had an ever-expanding range of smokers: “American style rubs and sauces are becoming huge whether you smoke fish or meat, and we are on the leading edge of this,” he said.
Rod & Rifle TackleWorld is situated in Giles Street Katherine, a city at the cross-roads for fishing in the Northern Territory with three fabulous barra waters: the Daly, Roper, and Victoria Rivers, all under three hours away.
With Katherine’s perfect location, people can travel only an hour or so out of town and be camping beside a river or billabong and soaking in all the Territory has to offer.
The store caters for outdoors enthusiasts regardless of preference.
www.rodrifle.com.au