THE Fishing World family lost a very valued member recently. John Ashley was an integral part of the Fishing World family for as long as I can remember. Asho wrote numerous articles on his beloved gamefishing and offshore snapper. He also had work published with Modern Fishing and Bluewater magazines. He was a very talented angler and had the ability to convey that gift in his many writings and photographs.
I knew Asho for around 50 years. I first met him when I joined St George Sportfishing Club back in 1975. Back then I was a keen, 15 year old land based game grommet and Asho was a very accomplished LBG angler. He was catching yellowfin tuna off the rocks in Jervis Bay when LBG was just becoming a thing. John had a happy knack of getting live baits eaten and hooking good fish on a crowded ledge. At the time, many put that down to good luck but I now know it was because he fished hard. Asho always had a fresh live bait in the best water. He was never one to not have a live bait in the water and be sitting around talking or sleeping. He rarely set a rod and was always holding his outfit and keeping his live bait in the best water. That perseverance caught him many good land based captures back in the 1970s.
I spent many a day with Asho live baiting the Pretty Beach rocks for kingfish and longtail tuna. We both caught fish down there in the late seventies. Mine were on 10 and 15 kilo tackle but Johns were on 6 kilo gear. I still remember a couple of 40 pound longtails that he caught down there one Easter on 6 kilo tackle. One was an ANSA National Record at the time. They were great days back then. Camping and fishing at Pretty Beach with the St George crew. It was there that John and Ross Hunter became good mates and started fishing together from the rocks and later in Ross’s 5 metre Quintrex Cruisabout.
Ross started up Marlin Manufacturing in the last 70s and John and I worked together there with Ross. John was the Manager in the custom fabrication shop and we spent 12 months fitting out many boats with livebait tanks, fish boxes and rocket launchers in aluminium and stainless steel. We also fished a couple of Narooma Tournaments in Marlin Broadbill boats. When Marlin Manufacturing was sold, Ross Hunter went on to be a successful Sydney charter skipper and John worked for Paul Coughlan, running his 46 foot Cresta, Kanahoee. They ran that boat out of Sydney and Coffs Harbour for many years. They targeted blue marlin over summer and autumn and fished for inshore snapper with floating baits when the marlin season ended each year.
John loved his gamefishing and travelled the world in search of big blue marlin. He fished Kona and Mauritius and wrote extensively about his exploits. He was well known for capturing the drama and adrenalin of chasing the most prized or all gamefish. Once again, that dedication and tenacity saw John get some great captures, all while being able to photograph and document the action.
John lived his retirement in his beloved Cronulla in southern Sydney and still enjoyed fishing Port Hacking and the inshore snapper out from there. We still spoke on a regular basis and relived the old LBG days. John suffered a severe stroke in February that left him in a serious way for several months before his passing. He was 79 years old.
