From Formula One to Sulphur Dun
Aussie Joe Michaels’ new love is fly fishing.
Joe Michaels was initially reluctant to follow his wife to Estonia on her quest to discover her Estonian roots. But he quickly discovered the people of Australia and Estonia shared much in common. “They’re both a friendly, open people with sunny dispositions,” he says, “always ready with a kind word.”
Two years ago Michaels knew little about fly fishing, but when he witnessed his new country’s prolific mayfly hatch he knew he had to get in on the act. He purchased a fly fishing rig and set what may be a new world record for quickly acquiring the skillset. He’s tied all the flies in the book and has listened to every podcast ever made about fly fishing. His casting is already significantly better than his friend Josh O’Connor’s, who played Prince Charles in The Crown. “Josh is a good bloke,” he says. “Good thing he’s a better actor than caster.”
Michaels, until he hurt his back, was well known in Australia Formula One, lead driver for the Parkside Tools team out of Sydney. Now, he makes his living as a professional editor and cultural impresario. In his adopted homeland of Estonia, he’s produced projects at the highest and lowest levels of artsifartsiness, such as the Kilometre of Sculpture and the reality karaoke TV series with the made-in-Japan sounding name, “Happy Singalong with Arvo Pärt.”
The cultural sphere has been lucrative for Michaels, who plans to return to Australia where he’s purchased streamside property to develop fishing resorts on the Thredbo and Eucumbene rivers (“Out in woop woop,” he says) under the brand of Joe Mike’s, until now a food company famous for its fairy bread. The money he’s made book editing will mean that he can be exclusive when it comes to guests. Anglers must make application to fish at his resorts, a process that requires the presentation of cultural bona fides. “Joe Mike’s eschews the needledick Mar-a-Lago type,” he says. “I am fair dinkum when I tell you that my resorts offer free residencies for artists who fish. Maybe that means I won’t have to build them very big, but that also means a lower carbon footprint.”
For the time being, Michaels is still based in Estonia, where he’s getting in as much fishing as possible on the Eesnäärme river, which he considers his home water. “Like many Estonian rivers, he says, “it’s as difficult to pronounce as it is to fish.”
Follow Fly Fishing in Estonia on Facebook and Instagram. All photography, unless otherwise noted, by Jacques-Alain Finkeltroc, ©2023, Tous droits réservés.
