Liam Carruthers

Fishing for me is neither a sport nor a hobby it’s a pure part of my life. I use fishing as a medicine to escape the high tempo life that I live relating to work. I also use fishing as an excuse…  An excuse to see Australia, an excuse to see the world and an excuse to catch up with family and friends! No matter what curve ball life throws my way, when I go fishing all things negatively related disappear. This starts in my shed when I'm setting my rods up, tying lures and hitching the boat. Then that dark drive down to the boat ramp and the butterflies start to kick in as you arrive... Opening the door to hear the first birds of the morning starting to sing, then launching the boat and heading to that first spot… And then that crisp sound of that first cast... This is what I live for!! Until the very unlikely chance that this feeling disappears I will fish forever.

I found my passion for fishing at a very young age fishing with my father at any opportunity that arose. Fishing the river systems in Adelaide, I quickly developed a sense of addiction to target bream. I remember when my father and I were bait fishing for salmon trout in the Port River system, when the tide would slacken the Bream would venture out from the structure for a short period. It was always a competition to see whose line would go off to bag a bream for that session.

Soon a bait fishing passion started to swing towards experimenting with lures. My father and I didn’t really know what we were doing but we started to have a crack at lures when I was about 15, the success rate wasn’t high, however the reward felt once you did hook a fish made it worthwhile!

At the age of 17 I joined the Royal Australian Navy and this certainly put quite a hold on my fishing whilst I conducted my training. In 2009 I re-located to the south coast of NSW due to work commitments and called the fishing mecca St Georges Basin home. It was here where I cut my teeth lure fishing for Bream. When I arrived at the Shoalhaven it was at first a sensory overload with the amazing systems providing fishing opportunities. I didn’t really know where to start so I went into a local Tackle store where I met a bloke named Simon Pender, little did I know this would change my whole outlook on fishing. Simon introduced me to tournament fishing in 2012 pairing up for the Southern Bream Series. I learnt so much in that initial year and felt the addiction kick right in. Every opportunity outside of tournaments I found myself trying to perfect techniques and try and find some sort of edge on other anglers. It wasn’t the most successful year for me but a crucial one in learning the fundamentals of the sport.

In July 2013 I re located to the USA residing in Jacksonville Florida due to work commitments. This put a hold to my bream tournament fishing for quite some time; however I took the opportunity to target largemouth bass and enter a few local tournaments with good friend Michael Robertson. Largemouth fishing in the USA was a complete unknown for me, I felt so lost but was awesome to network with Americans and have them laugh at my accent. I then returned to Australia December 2014.

In 2105 after a successful year of tournament fishing I managed to qualify for the ABT Bream Grand Final.... I then decided that I would enter the Grand Final for the first time. My first 2 days went really well for me and I went into the final day of the Grand Final sitting in 6th place. After a dream run of events and thanks to my Cranka crabs I managed a marginal victory of just 30 grams to take the outright win!

I could not believe it… I had won the ABT Bream Grand Final in my first attempt on a waterway I had never fished before! The feeling was amazing and I was very grateful for each individual’s kind words!!

Best Tournament Results
  • Southern Bream Series, Clyde River Qualifier 2016 - 1st place.
  • ABT Bream Grand Final, Clarence River 2015 – 1st place.
  • Gamakatsu Team Series, Georges River 2013 – 2nd place.
  • Gamakatsu Team Series, St Georges Basin 2013 – 3rd place.
  • Gamakatsu Team Series, Clyde River 2013 – 1st place.
  • Gamakatsu Team Series, Team Of The Year 2013 1st place.