Gummy sharks after dark

by Jarrod Day on 9 Jul 2011 Fishing from the land is challenging at the best of times and with winter in full swing heading to the sand or rocks in search of a gummy shark can be extremely rewarding.

Land based anglers spend countless hours searching out locations, refining techniques and studying tides and times that will produce.

The land based location:
If there’s one thing many anglers have trouble finding it’s the location to fish. If you’re an avid western port angler, then you’re sure to know that the land based opportunities are endless; all it takes is the correct tide and time on the water. When it comes down to it, searching for a location to fish for gummy sharks should revolve around just two things, the tide and deep water.

I was invited to join Scott Mcnabb whose time on the sand has been developed over many years to one of his secluded locations he’d been fishing with great success. Although I almost had to be blind folded to get there it was definitely well worth the effort.

When it comes down to it, finding a productive land based location is no easy task. There are countless times you’ll go home empty handed but that just ads to the experience of finding somewhere good to fish.

Although I’ve said it a dozen times or more, the most useful piece of technology to find a suitable location is the internet program Google Earth. Google Earth allows you to zoom into an area giving you a picture of what the location looks like. Better yet, for land based anglers, the picture is taken at the time of the lowest tide of the year. This way you can see rock features, sand bars, weed beds and deep water. You can even use a measuring tape to guess where your cast is going to land; this is a great way to avoid snaggy areas.

Even though you can get a good head start as to which location to fish, you still need to put the time in on the sand and do your research. I’ve put in countless hours over the years only to go home empty handed so when your researching a location don’t give up even if you donut half a dozen or so times. Look to the tides, moon phases and keep putting in the hard yards, success will come eventually.

Bits and pieces:
One of the most important factors when fishing for gummy sharks from the rocks is of course the business end of setup. Being at water level, your line is exposed to running over the jaggered rocks, weed and many other obstacles beneath the water which may cause a bust off. Unfortunately, there is no way to avoid this but you can try to eliminate all possibility of it happening. Not that you will one hundred percent of the time, but simple measures such as using a higher strength braid to put more pressure onto a fish and using a heavier leader for abrasion resistance can assist you along the way. Considering the amount of time you might put in fishing from the land, the last thing you need to do is to bust off because of lack of quality gear.

For my land based adventures, my setups consist of Shimano 8000 Sustains mounted onto Wilson Texalium 13’6 rods. The long rod aids in getting a further cast into the deeper water, yet packs a punch when adding pressure onto a fish.

Of up most importance is the use of a high quality fishing line. Unfortunately mono just won’t cut it due to the quantity of reef you’re fishing over. Braid is highly recommended as it is a little more abrasive resistant than monofilament. I usually use either 30 or 50lb braid, which to some is quite heavy, but you do need to get the fish away from the snags quite quickly as to not to lose them. The stronger braid allows this but also offers good abrasion resistance.

Joined with an Albright knot, I run four metres of 60lb Black Magic Tough trace. From there my custom designed land based gummy rig is attached. The rig is made from a variety of components including heavy duty swivels, split rigs and 80lb leader. It allows the bait to sit near the bottom, but being 80lb can with stand many of the unwanted fish you catch along the way, including sting rays, eagle rays, seven gill sharks etc.

Though you might have the rods, reels, line and rigs sorted you can forget the small items that play a major key when night fishing from the rocks. Items such as shoes with a good grip, bait knife, bucket, head lamp, torch and glow sticks to attach to the end of the rod for bite detection are required.

Presenting the bait:
If there one thing I have learnt along the way to successful land based gummy shark fishing it’s the use of fresh bait.

Almost a decade ago, frozen baits were by far the choice but only for their convenience, that’s about all. From way back then, I have learnt that fresh bait is undoubtedly the number one choice when land based fishing. I understand pilchards and the like have a special place but at the end of the day with the amount of hours put in you want to maximise your success as much as possible, fresh bait is the key. I spend countless hours gathering fresh bait were possible, whether it is standing on a pier catching calamari to hitting the surf in winter for a bag of salmon.

Any excess that I catch, knowing I’m not going to use it all in one land based session, I store it in the freezer. Although it is frozen, I freeze it all in saltwater. This keeps all the goodness in and avoids the baits becoming freezer burnt. When you defrost them, they look as though they were just caught.

Although calamari and salmon might be my number one baits to use, cured eel fillet is unbelievably productive. Eel can only be purchased frozen but packs a punch in the oil department. Fresh eel is a no go; I’ve tried it before with very little result. Frozen cured eel has been deslimed and cured ready to use.

What I can’t stress enough is just how effective fresh bait is. At all times try to gather the freshest baits possible. If you can’t, personally I wouldn’t waste my time in going. Spend the time to do it right to maximise every chance you have at hooking and landing the most highly prized species land based in Western Port.

Land based gummy shark fishing can be very exciting, especially when you see the silver glimmer from the flanks of a shark in the light of the moon.

At the end of the day, maximise your possibility of actually catching one by researching the area, using fresh baits and make sure your rigs are well and truly up to scratch. I guarantee that your first hook-up won’t be your last.