Richie Abela's life aboard Dream Catcher II
There are easier ways to make a living than following marlin, swordfish and tuna around Australia’s vast coastline. For Richie Abela, though, fishing was never really going to remain just a weekend pursuit.
The owner and skipper of Dream Catcher II Sportfishing has spent most of his life around boats and fishing, building decades of experience into a highly specialised charter operation that now follows some of Australia’s most exciting game fish through Victoria and New South Wales.
“I’ve been fishing since I was probably 10 years old,” Richie says. “But I really fell in love with game fishing when I was about 17, back in the days of the Malcolm Florence videos. “I got hooked on yellowfin tuna fishing. We came up to the east coast of New South Wales, I caught my first yellowfin, and I’ve been hooked ever since.”
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That instant addiction eventually became much more than recreation. Richie spent the better part of 25 years involved in the game-fishing scene before making the transition into charter work. It wasn’t an overnight decision. In fact, he says the idea of turning fishing into a business had been brewing for at least a decade.
“I got to a crossroads,” he explains. “Do I buy another recreational boat, or do I go whole hog and buy a commercial boat that I can use as a business for the foreseeable future?”
The answer to that question became Dream Catcher II.
Today Richie runs a specialised operation targeting seasonal species including marlin, swordfish and large tuna. Fisheries for these species can have relatively narrow windows, sometimes only a few months, which means being prepared and able to move to where the fish are. That mobility has become one of the defining characteristics of Dream Catcher II.
Although the business is based in Melbourne, Richie regularly operates along the NSW coast. Because the boat is on a trailer, he can shift between ports quickly, following reports, water conditions, bait movements and the seasonal arrival of target species.
“We can move from one port to another overnight and get onto the best possible action there is,” he says.
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That willingness to follow the fish is matched by the amount of effort Richie puts into finding them. On a recent trip off the NSW South Coast, Gareth Jones experienced that first-hand. After 35 years of fishing, Gareth had never previously been out specifically targeting marlin.
What impressed him was not simply the moment a striped marlin eventually appeared beside Dream Catcher II, but everything that happened beforehand.
“Richie was constantly reading what was happening around us, the electronics, the bait, the birds and the water,” Gareth says. “There was a lot going on, but he was completely calm. Then suddenly we had a striped marlin at the boat. That really showed me how much experience counts.”
For Richie, sharing that first-marlin experience with customers remains one of the most rewarding parts of running the business.
“I get to experience that first marlin over and over again,” he says. “I remember what my first marlin was like, and being able to relive that with someone and be part of it is probably one of the greatest things.”
Richie’s relationship with Yamaha goes back even further than his game-fishing career. He remembers his father buying the family’s first small fibreglass boat. The engine originally fitted to it did not last particularly long, and its replacement was a Yamaha.
“We got something like 20 years out of that thing,” Richie recalls. “I still have that little 14-foot boat and it still has a Yamaha on it, just a new four-stroke now.”
When Richie later bought his first serious game-fishing boat, Yamaha was again the obvious choice. That relationship continued into his commercial operation and today Dream Catcher II is powered by twin Yamaha outboards.
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Richie has also embraced social media as an important part of the Dream Catcher II business, using it to share the action from the water and give people an insight into a style of fishing they might otherwise never see. For Richie, it has become one of the best ways to connect with new customers. When the fish arrive and the bite turns on, word spreads quickly. His regular posts not only showcase spectacular catches, but also help demonstrate just how much time Dream Catcher II spends on the water chasing some of Australia’s most exciting game fish. View his Instagram channel.
For a charter operator spending long days offshore, Richie says reliability is not simply a convenience. It is essential.
That is a view shared by Phil from Port Phillip Boating Centre, who has known Richie for around 30 years and supports the operation with servicing and engine supply. “He’s probably one of the best charter boat operators going around,” Phil says. “He works really, really hard for his clients. when it comes to choosing an outboard for a charter vessel that is taking customers 30-40km off-shore, reliability is absolutely key. You’ve got clients on board, so safety is the biggest factor.”
Phil says Richie’s workload provides a particularly convincing demonstration of that reliability. "People see him out there all the time clocking thousands of hours. Then they come into the shop and say they’ve been out with Richie and they like the performance of the engines. They can see how much he trusts the brand, and the customer wants the same.”
Dream Catcher II itself reflects Richie’s approach to the job, highly specialised, meticulously maintained and continually refined. The boat has undergone significant electronics upgrades and features a rear helm station that allows Richie to control the boat from the rear of the boat working close to the fishing action.
For Richie, the Dream Catcher II has one fundamental job: put people in the best possible position to experience exceptional fishing.
After decades of chasing game fish, Richie’s enthusiasm shows little sign of fading. Asked what the future holds, his answer is characteristically straightforward. “If this body, this mind and this boat can still hold together,” he laughs, “I’m hoping to be able to do this for another decade or so.”