Recently I was on a fishing trip up north and in the evening we were all sitting around the dinner table. The conversation naturally enough got onto what was the best eating fish in the sea. The tour operator, being an ex-pat Victorian said that among his favourites was the gummy shark. One of the Queenslanders sitting at the table was horrified. A shark? No way! But the fact remains. For those who have tasted gummy shark the response is generally the same, they are superb eating. Some anglers up north may find this hard to believe, but the gummy shark is also one hell of a sporting adversary. They run hard, deep and the larger ones can be more than a hand full boat side. Their fighting style is right up there with the best of them.

The gummy shark is a resident in both estuary and off shore waters along the central and southern Australian coast lines. When targeting large gummies in our home state of Victoria we do so in perhaps the Australian gummy shark Mecca, Western Port, which is situated about 60km south east of Melbourne. South Australia out does Victoria in regard to size on most common species to both states. What we consider to be big King George whiting or enormous snapper would barely raise an eye brow amongst crow eaters. Gummies on the other hand are a different story. Regularly sharks of around 25kg are landed each year in Western Port (which is about the maximum size they grow to) and specifically targeting fish in the 15-20kg range is a realistic proposition.

In the early days, gummies for me were no more than a very elusive by-catch. I really struggled to go out and specifically target these sharks. Then I started to pick up bits of information and over time with experimenting and coming home empty handed on many occasions, things started to fall into place. It's like any style of fishing. If you get out on the water enough and keep persisting, eventually things will start to come together. Although I wouldn't go as far as saying gummy fishing is difficult for the uninitiated, rather it's just not quite as simplistic as targeting other fish. To be really successful, you need a variety of equipment, rigging techniques and some specific baits.

Now let's clear up one thing first. I know that big gummies are caught in a myriad of water depths, current strengths and times of the day. What I'm interested in anytime I go out fishing is playing the percentages. That is, if I'm targeting big gummies I fish places that have been proven time and time again to be holding grounds for big fish. I've found these places are generally around drop off's and where the water is fast moving. So when fishing a waterway like Western Port, I find down towards the western entrance most productive where there are steep banks with plenty of fast moving water. Most gummies I've landed in the south western part of the Port have been over the magical 10kg mark. To find a suitable area use a chart plotter if you have one, and look for an area that drops away in depth rapidly. If you anchor on top of a drop off and fish baits back into the deeper water, you'll be in the strike zone at the start and the end of a run out tide, which I've always found to be the best. To fish a flood tide, do the same but in reverse (see fig 1). Generally look for water that drops away from say 5-8 meters to 12-15 meters.

I really enjoy this sort of fishing. Unlike Port Phillip snapper which can be a bit hit and miss, the angler who does a bit of homework by doing things like look at depth contours and work out likely areas to hold fish, the rewards can be huge. One of the most productive spots I fish with my fishing partner Neil Tedesco was found after we looked over the naval charts of Western Port. We decided on an area that had a huge drop off, found it on the chart plotter then zeroed in on it with the depth sounder when we hit the water. We fished this area on a run out tide figuring as the water level dropped over the banks, the gummies should move back towards deeper water. Fishing baits behind a drop off also made sense again figuring it would be the ideal spot for a gummy to ambush food as it went by in the tide. It turned out to be a cracker of a spot for XL gummies.  It's nice when all that information you pick up over the years actually produces great fishing when put to use. Another option is to fish along the edge of banks that drop away into deeper water like the main channels. This is another place where gummies patrol waiting for food to wash down the side of the bank particularly on an ebb tide.

A heap has been written on the virtues of braided lines and if they were ever suited to a style of fishing it's this one. Braid in the 15-25kg breaking strain range is ideal for chasing these sharks. One thing though, use a decent length of strong shock leader, in the realm of 25-30kg and 3-4 meters. Gummies, as with most other sharks, can have this irritating habit of rolling in your line. Gelspun line has a short shelf life when the abrasive skin of a shark is rubbed against it. Strong mono leader on the other hand, might get a little scuffed, but will rarely break. When it comes to hooks, again after a heap of experimenting, we now use just one, the Black Magic KL 5/0 circle hook. These hooks are right on the money when it comes to big gummies (hey, that rhymes). The shark hits a bait, turns to run and then wham! - nailed right in the kisser. The one thing you must do when using circles, is allow the fish to hook themselves. Striking too early on a gummy before he's hooked is disastrous, the shark gets spooked and leaves the vicinity. I like to see line peeling of the spool before I grab a rod out of its holder.

When fishing alone, it's better not to get too greedy with the number of rods you put out. In Victorian marine waters, anglers are entitled to fish up to 4 rods at a time, but this number varies in other states. Anything more than 2 rods for a solo fisherman is asking for trouble when a big gummy is hooked, before you know it you'll have 4 lines tangled in a ball of braid. Anyway, I'm not convinced running 4 rods is any more effective than running 2. Gummies seem to cruise around an area hitting baits as they go. When you fish in a reasonably strong current, once cast out, your baits are swept around to close proximity to each other off the stern. I can't see 4 baits within 10 meters of each other in the water being any better than 2. Eventually you will get a hit. One other option that helps keep lines away from each other and potential tangles is using a down rigger. The down rigger via a release clip sends the line directly to the bottom under the weight of the enormous down rigger bombs, and then the line runs back along the sea floor. If you can imagine, the line from the rod tip to the hook takes on an ‘L' shape. The down riggers also allow you to fish during the stronger parts of the tide rather than having to load up a line with 15 oz of lead. The down side is they aren't cheap, about $600 each, but mine have paid themselves off a number of times in quality flake. They're also handy for other styles of fishing too.

This leads us onto rigs. On a conventional setup using sinkers, a product like an ezy-rig sinker clip allows the angler to alter the amount of lead used during different parts of the tide. Basically you run your shock leader to an appropriate size rolling swivel with and ezy-rig above it, then about a meter of 30kg leader material to the circle hook (see fig 2). You can just run the shock leader to the hook when using the down riggers, but I normally set all rods up the same and if I use a down rigger I just don't put any lead on the ezy-rig clip.  Unfortunately, sting rays of all sizes spend much of their time in areas gummies inhabit, particularly in those areas with weaker currents. If a dropper line of about 10kg is run between the clip and the plastic base of the ezy-rig, your bait stays off the sea floor and hopefully out off the mouth of the vacuum cleaner like rays. Whether you attach a dropper leader to the ezy-rig clip will depend on the level of harassment from stingrays.

One misconception about any shark fishing is that they aren't fussy when it comes to food. In actual fact the opposite is true. Gummies can be incredibly selective when it comes to feeding and this is particularly true of the larger models. Unlike many other bait fishing scenario's, when bait variety is the absolute key to getting onto fish, it's far more important to have the freshest of baits and the one's that always work. This may sound like fundamental stuff, but is amazing to still see people put all this energy into getting out on the water, and then bring it undone by buying bait at the servo on the way to the ramp.

In Western Port for example, the best gummy baits are trevally fillets and cured eel. Now, before everyone starts sending in letters about the virtues of other baits just hear me out. I found out early that the switched on anglers chasing gummies not only looked for good gummy baits, but also looked for ones stingrays seemed less interested in. This is why mackerel and tuna fillets in this situation unfortunately don't fit the bill. Trevally does attract stingrays, but gummies love it so much it's worth persisting with. Cured eel on the other hand doesn't attract the rays, only the gummies and it attracts them in the most aggressive manner. When using trevally fillets, gummies seem to mouth the bait first before striking. Above the surface this translates into a rod tip bouncing up and down before solidly heading south. With the cured eel they seem to hit it at full force, almost like they pick up the sent, see the bait and just go ‘YUM!' Silence one second, a scream spool the next, exciting stuff.

With bait fishing, there are 3 main concerns. What is the best location to fish, what is the best time to be fishing and what is the best bait. Everything else stems from these 3 things. It just so happens that when it comes to fishing for gummies, personally I'm not really interested in experimenting with a heap of different baits - been there done that. The fishing gods only provide us with a certain number of chances at hooking and landing a fish each time you're out on the water. The key is converting the opportunities you get. Don't try to reinvent the wheel, just stick to what works.

When it comes to landing a gummy, there is some specialized equipment you'll need, particularly for the biggin's. Probably the best method is with an over sized landing net, especially if you intend releasing a gummy. I don't want to sound like a greeny, but the large females of the species really should be automatically released once landed. It's not that releasing a big fish gives me warm fuzzy feelings and then I suddenly break into chorus of ‘Onward Christian Soldiers' as I watch it swim off. It's more about avoiding that hollow feeling later at the cleaning tables when I look down at an enormous female fish and realise I've just probably robbed the fishery of a couple of thousand off spring for the sake of some fillets. Telling a male from a female is straight forward with gummies. Males have 2 phallic looking claspers that run back along the under side of the belly near the anal fin. Females on the other hand have no extra ‘appendages' so to speak. Getting back to landing gummies, the other option is a noose or if you prefer a gaff, avoid one with a fixed head though. Generally, if I'm fishing on my own, once a gummy is boat side I make a decision if I intend to keep it. If I do and it's less than 10kg, I normally just reach over, grab it by the tail and pull it into the boat. If it's over 10kg I use a small flying gaff and dispatch it with a small baton before bringing it into the boat. Anything upwards of 14-15kg I generally release, and because I use circle hooks it's just a matter of reaching over and cutting the leader down near the hook. Because the Black Magic KL circle hooks are made of such hard steal, they rust out of the mouth in no time. Once on board, any sharks I keep are immediately bled and dressed to maximize the flesh condition for eating.

It's funny. I find that after a while you don't think of the gummy as being just another shark. Putting time into chasing these toothless torpedos is rewarding for both the angler and his taste buds.

GPS MARKS

For those starting out or those without a chart plotter, here's a couple of gun marks at either end of Western Port to get you going.

FACT BOX - Rigging Baits