It all started with the fish when the innovative shapers and board builders out there decided to revisit the past for some inspiration. In doing so they brought back some lost skills such as resin tints and hand foiled fins.The Fish Fry has been a place for these fine craftsmen to showcase their skills. We have seen some amazing boards as shapers have pushed the boundaries over the last few years. As this new look at the fish has evolved to its many forms, it has influenced other shapes and designs along the way.This has spawned a renewed interest in other board forms by this same group and a wider following.Notably the Mini Simmons, Hulls, old school Logs and Pigs. It is pleasing to note that there are an increasing number of people building their own boards as well.All of this is to be applauded and celebrated as a positive for surfing.So it is only natural that these shapers and board builders continue to share their skills with us and include these other shapes at the Fish Fry.It has truly become a melting pot of ideas for like minded people.

Start them young...





Young Cain Pridmore from Yamba is 11 years old and following in his dads footsteps as a shaper. Here he is with a stringerless 5ft 2" x 19" x 2 1/2" fish for himself. Under his dad Mark's guidance he was into it. He also likes to get into the artwork for boards and so it will be good to see the finished board. Never too young to start making foam dust.Good one mate.

New York Fish Fry May 15th or 16th

If you are heading to New York then you should plan to check out the 3rd annual New York Fish Fry on May 15th or 16th. The date will be determined a few days before the event based on the weather and surf , so stay tuned. This is sure to be a great time if you are in town. Take your quiver or just go and check out everyone elses. It will kick off at 9am Lincoln Blvd, Long Beach, New York.
It is great to see that the Fish Fry can exist anywhere there are some hard core Fish Heads willing to get together for a day of fun.

Bob McTavish finless "Twin Hot Curl"

Bob Mc Tavish is a little guy, full of energy and big ideas who goes at 100 miles an hour. It was great to have him come along to the Fish Fry with one of his latest projects that he has been working on. The Twin Hot Curl. Much like the Mirandon Twin Pin was inspired by two pin tails it is not hard to see the Hot Curl finless influence here.

Nice sleek lines and side cut to make the water flow onto the rails.
Two Hot Curl tails looking straight back at you.
Bob said it is so much fun to ride and this is from a guy who surfs something everyday he is near the sea. A great honour to have him be part of the day. As I have said in the past the Fish Fry has brought together the thinkers and experimenters from the shaping bays and to be able to have them express their thoughts in foam for all of us to see. And the fish has been the starting point for much of this . From this has given rise to a whole new wave of thinking and alternative boards to have fun on. I am happy for the Fish Fry to become this outlet for these guys who are willing to share their dreams.

DMS Mini Simmons for Dane Reynolds

Dan Mac Donald from DMS here on the Gold Coast shaped a nice little Simmons for Dane to pick up when he was here for the Quiksilver Pro. Turns out it is like 12 inches too big for the boy. Word has it that Dane was seen surfing something way smaller than that ( in the 3ft range ) down at Broken Head last week and just tearing it up. How small is small ?

Fish Fry 4 , the boards and the people who made the day.

We had a great roll up given the weather that we have been getting. This was between showers.

Local shaper Sam Yoon with Rich Pavel and myself. Great to see Rich again and have his support.

Tony Dempsey a long time local Gold Coast shaper , but first time Fish Fryer dug out an old board he shaped in the late 70's to bring along and shared a few stories.

Now this is foiling at it's best . The Valla boys get these made by a local guy down their way.

Sage Joske from Valla Surfboards talks about his foam and glass version of the Alaia called " The Vector" with Junko from Japan.

Ronnie Goddard with a beautiful stringerless board with Paulownia and Cedar rails.

The engine room of the same board

Local Japanese back yard shaper with a nice home built board

Another home built mini Simmons by Eden

A couple of Mini Simmons by Richard Harvey. There were quite a few Simmons in the park. It has taken some time to catch on since Ian Zamora bought the first one to Oz a couple of years ago.

A nice job by 15 year old Matt Wheeldon. He built it as his Christmas project in the Paul Jensen method. Great to see him as part of the day and willing to share his experience with everyone.

Rich Pavel meets Marco Mazzini who was out from Italy to check out the Alley Fry as he prepares to organise the European Fish Fry later in September this year.

Roger Hall from Surfline Surfboards in New Zealand with one of 3 new wooden Fishes he has built since the Wooden Board Day here last August. This is a Balsa and Coconut wood keel fin fish. That is one hell of a lot of pieces of wood glued together.

Roger catching up with 80 year old Ballina local Barry Regan who builds wooden boards and still has a paddle out at The Pass on occasions.

Coconut and Balsa

Just beautiful and those of you that have worked in wood will appreciate the work involved.



Flexy fins for a flex tail by Roger Hall


Bob McTavish with one of Jed Dones Bush Rat finless boards

Some boards have a story , some boards tell a story Jed from Bush Rat


The Red Bull girls turned up and handed out some free samples to fuel us through the day

Richard Harvey deep in conversation with me for a small doco.

Local shaper Dan McDonald from DMS surfboards meets up with Rich again.

Andrew Wells of Grown Surfboards in Lennox Heads with a couple of his fine wooden fishes


There were quite a few flextail fishes in the park , but this one pushed the limits. Jed from Bush Rat with a flextail that had this separate support over the top so as to not inhibit the flex




Jed 's finless flextail underside .

Nice side cut fish and graphics by local shaper Diverse Surfboards

80 year old Bill is a regular Alley surfer and dropped over to check out the boards after a surf.

Bobby Crisp From Wellington New Zealand with a range of his solid Balsa boards.Great detail and design elements.

Green resin tint with graphics and gold tinsel over Balsa. Different .


Bobby builds boards under the Deluxe Industries brand.

Balsa Paipo board

Grown Surfboards fin , nice.


Funky home built fins do the job

Eden with his home built Simmons

Murray Burton from Base and Burton Surfboards checks out a small side cut fish by Mick Mackie

Murray , loves to play with fins and positions on new shapes and is always experimenting and this is what the Fish Fry is about. Checking out what others are doing and sharing your experiences to expand the horizons. It hasn't always been like this.