ADAM Harvey certainly needs no introduction amongst the country music loving fishos. He’s sold over half a million albums, has eight Golden Guitars to his name and a string of gold and platinum discs. He’s one of Australian country music’s biggest names… and he loves his fishing!
Many fishos will also know his voice from the theme song to Dave Butfield’s popular fishing show “Hooked”, a song he wrote and recorded especially for the show.
“Dave just said to me one day, it would be great to have a country song dedicated to fishing. So I wrote the song and Dave loved it and used it for the show,” Adam said.
He’s done some memorable fishing trips over the years with some interesting people. One of the best days of his life was fishing with Jimmy Barnes in the Kimberleys.
“We were up in Kunnanurra for a music festival and we had a day off, so we got a fishing charter for the day. Sitting on the boat having a beer with Jimmy Barnes and catching a few barra was one of the best days of my life,” he said.
There have been some funny trips too, like the one off WA with his mate Kevin Bloody Wilson.
“Kev got us so rotten drunk the night before that we almost missed the charter, and then we had to pull in huge Samson fish all day with the worst hangover you could imagine.”
Or the trip to the Daly River in the Territory, where their guide crashed the boat into the bank, throwing everyone out of the boat and resulting in a couple of broken ribs for Adam and a shattered hip for his mate.
“I didn’t even feel the broken ribs, I was just thinking about crocs and trying to get the hell out as quick as I could!”
Adam’s fished in many great places all over the country but said these days he doesn’t have as much time to fish the exotic locations.
“When I’m touring it’s hard because we’re so busy on the road that we rarely get a day off, but I just love getting out on the boat with the kids when I’m at home,” Adam said.
Originally from Geelong, Adam has settled with his family on the Central Coast of NSW and regularly fishes the Tuggerah Lakes system for bread and butter species, in particular whiting and flathead. He said these days he gets a huge kick out of going fishing with his kids.
“I really love taking the kids fishing, and I’m so happy that they love it too. I’d much rather them outside and on the water than sitting inside playing video games or whatever,” he said.
It’s hard to disagree with him…
Adam has a new album out today called Harvey’s Bar… The Backyard Sessions, an album that was recorded at Adam’s home on the Central Coast with all of his mates around. Information about the album and how to get a copy can be found on Adam’s website.
