I've been fishing for about the last 30 years, yet I've never done much land based fishing. I'm not sure why but it's never been a style of angling I've really understood why some guys are so hooked on it, if you pardon the pun. I've always know the basic mechanics of LBG and have read the articles and seen the videos and DVD's, but it's always been something that I just couldn't get my head around. For year's mates of mine who are ‘hardcore' LBG fishos have tried to explain the attraction of nailing big fish from the stones. For me it was like trying to get fired up about a footy code you just don't follow. Invariably I would end up with a blank look on my face and make a comment like ‘......yeah, but wouldn't it be easier in a boat?'

Recently all this changed when I went with a crew to the north coast of NSW for a couple of weeks to get an appreciation of how and even why it's done.

The first observation a new person to land based fishing will make is that there are 2 types of rock anglers. Those who can and those who, well..... probably shouldn't be there. Fishing land based from a rock ledge with a 2 meter swell moving onshore is a world away from fishing from a jetty. Some of the things you see on the rocks are so bizarre that watching some anglers just left me shaking my head. It'd be funny if it wasn't so dangerous. It was like watching the diving in the Olympics. After a couple of days you feel like you have a grip on the judging criteria and become an armchair critic of what anglers are doing right or wrong as you watch them through the binoculars.

On one memorable morning a group of blokes fishing an adjacent ledge seemed to me anyway, to be pushing their luck against a cranking 2-3 meter swell. Now in those sorts of conditions I don't care if you swim like Ian Thorpe, if you go in you are in a world of pain. So to see anglers put themselves in such a precarious position all for the sake of what turned out to be an average mack tuna, is ridiculous. While we were on the rocks for that fortnight I did witness one of the strangest things I've seen fishing. A young bloke fishing on the ledge around the corner from us tried to gaff his own fish and wound up in the drink. He didn't panic once in the water, but felt the weight of his soaked jacket wasn't helping him to stay afloat, so he discarded it. Anyway, many cuts and scratches later from the ricks, he eventually climbed out and back onto the ledge. By this time in was almost dusk so he decided to pack up his gear and head back to the car. When he went to get his keys from his pocket he realised they were in the jacket that he had taken off and now probably on their way to god knows where. Meanwhile back where we were fishing, Neil's live bait got smashed right on dusk and the tuna on the other end did the usual 150 meter initial run. Just before the fish on Neil's line came into view in the failing evening light, the young bloke who fell in appeared behind us and asked if we'd seen a jacket float past in the wash, explaining what had happened and how he had lost his keys. Mid sentence he caught view of the mack tuna on the end of Neil's line skimming across the top of the water towards the base of the ledge. We all looked down in amazement to see the mack wearing a black jacket like a super hero cape. What are the chances of loosing a piece of clothing only to have it brought back to you by a tuna? Anyway, needless to say the driver and car keys were reunited, and for the mack tunas sterling recovery work he got released. This is one of the great things about LBG fishing, there's always something happening.

Most of the fishing action I witness over the 2 weeks was fantastic and the anglers who have LBG wired are brilliant to watch. They work as a team, they read the swell like seasoned master sailors, they know how and when to get a bait into the strike zone and they rarely make bad decisions while navigating the sometimes unforgiving environmental  platforms that are used for this style of fishing. There seems to be an intuitive understanding between different crews you see on the rocks. It's a bit like a code of conduct if not a little more gentile in nature. When there's a hook up various groups of anglers seem to work as one unit, when needed, to land the fish. Potential tangles are avoided as other baits are moved or rods completely brought back in. Then somebody you've never see before appears with a gaff, moves down the rock ledge and waits for the right opportunity to land the fish. It's the type of kinmanship you simply don't see among boat anglers. Or at least I don't. For me, this is has become the most appealing aspect of LBG fishing. On the stones the word ‘I' is replaced with ‘we' and the glory of landing a fish is shared amongst the group and there seems to be an absence of the ‘I got more fish than you' attitude. It's almost tribal and really infectious. I reckon now if I had too choose an angling pursuit to watch as a spectator it'd be LBG hands down. All of this team work is probably a result of direct interaction anglers can have with one another while on a rock platform. When out on the water in separate boats this just doesn't happen.

Being such a minimalist style of fishing, the skill levels of these guys is awesome. Now this is something I've known for a while, but actually seeing it in the flesh is something else. When I say minimalist I refer to the need to be able to do with out some of the luxuries afforded to other angling styles. Every piece of gear that is used in LBG has to be carried to the rock ledges then carried out at the end of the session. Now some of these hikes in and out of these land base spots are brutal to say the least and you soon learn through necessity if not plain physical exhaustion to reduce the weight that you carry. For example, crimps aren't used on heavy mono leader. Instead these guys become highly proficient at tying knots no matter what line or leader size they're using. Rod holders are replaced with light PVC tubing or products like the Land Base Buddy and are carefully position either in crevasse or on the rock face itself in a manner that optimises live bait placement and will allow the line to easily free spool in the right direction should a fish strike. The funny thing that I've only recently realised is that it's only been through my personal association with some top LBG fisherman that my own fishing techniques have improved to a solid level. I've been fortunate to have had some angling lessons from blokes who have been casting Laser lures 80 meters or so and tying 200 pound mono for years on end. It's a bit like having a good tutor at school.

On this trip the target species was blue fin tuna. The guys hooked 8 for the trip and landed 7 of them. It was after I watched the second or third blue fin beginning brought up the rock face that I started to see the method to what I had passed off as madness only days before. All the surface action from the blue fin feeding seemed to be in pretty close the ledges. Getting a boat to where the blue fin were working the bait schools would have been hazardous. Even if you could manage to anchor in the right area to live bait, the swell moving in close to shore would have made it too uncomfortable to sit it out for any period and obviously drifting live or dead baits was unfeasible. Trolling, again because of the swell and where the lures would need to be placed, would have been a too taller order. The successful land based game fisherman has the virtues of persistence and patients. And this is evident from the time a live bait is sent out to when the gaff man waits for that right time to have a shot. It was amazing to see these guys get their baits to swim in the direction they wanted by utilising influences like the rebound waves created when the swell smashed into little coves on the face of the ledge and using the rod tip and line tension like the reins on a horse to get the slimes or yakkas heading out rather than back in towards the rocks.

My partner Lisa loves her fishing which is fortunate for both me and our relationship. Lisa came along on the trip and was keen to learn about LBG and have a go at the blue fin. She had never caught a fish rock fishing prior to this trip and got on the scoreboard in the second day with a 12kg blue fin taken on 6kg mono. I was really impressed with her efforts. This success on her very first fish from the stones was largely due to my lack of involvement in tuition. Instead one of the guys we were fishing with talked Lisa through the whole fight from hook up right until when the fish was landed. They chased this tuna up and back along this ledge for the better part of an hour and I don't think at any time Lisa felt she was in trouble of loosing the fish. Perhaps this is the whole thing about LBG that I have been missing for years. There is real technique to it, and the reliance on good fortune in landing a fish is far less than what I previously believed. You follow the rules, get some solid coaching and stick to the game plan and you're likely to be successful. On the other hand if you take one too many chances or ignore sound advice it will probably end in tears, and probably in more ways than one.