Land-based Shark Fishing

By Bobby Sproule

From Spring through to late summer, the East Australian Current creeps slowly down our east coast, bringing with it large species of shark, including tiger sharks, hammerheads, grey nurse, white pointers and our favourite to target locally, bronze whalers. An impressive sportfish, easily surpassing 10’ and 200kg+, with bronze slick skin, big pectoral and dorsal fins and occasionally heavier during spawning time with its huge girth covered with unique scars, possibly from mating or fighting. They have a generous bite radius, with a powerful long tail, making these sharks super impressive, as strong as a horse and they will put you and your gear to the test.

Getting Started

Luckily enough, I live on the doorstep of Ninety Mile Beach, in Victoria’s East Gippsland region and any stretch of this coastline, or coastlines alike Australia wide, is suitable for land-based sharking. Weather windows are important, however not crucial, and 25 degrees Celsius with minimum wind or rain should have you set for an enjoyable day. If you want to slug it out all day in the burning hot sun and 30 degrees plus, please pack appropriately. Keep in mind that land-based sharking, in my opinion, is totally unpredictable and random, so you could spend hours on the beach for zip, zero, no action… or an afternoon for five, yes, five bronze whalers. Bronze whalers are known to school up and double hook ups are common, so be prepared for anything. Eight hours on the beach can see you bored out of your brain and then suddenly it turns to absolute anarchy and confusion!

Bait deployment and presentation is very important and technological advances in recent years has certainly helped the cause when battling a, sometimes heavy, shore break. Baits are kayaked out, so drones and bait boats are a must if you are not comfortable and capable in the ocean. Kayaking big baits 350m plus out into the ocean, from the beach, is fun and should be enjoyed… however, I must stress that if it’s uncomfortable for you, then there are a lot of other options on the market to make it happen and stay safer.

Tackle Selection

An interesting subject when it comes to land-based sharking. I personally use an Okuma Makaira MK-80WII, paired with a custom land-based game rod, 100lb-150lb butt join 8’, Platypus Pulse 150lb Braid and 400lb wind on leaders. Why so heavy? For me, it’s about the health of the shark. Instead of a long, drawn-out battle, I prefer to put the heat on and get them in quick. From here it’s a quick picture and then back into the water green, for a healthy release. I have personally seen sharks die, fighting themselves to death on 50lb outfits, so I choose to avoid this option.

I fish 5m to 10m of 500lb+ nylon coated cable with a 20/0 circle hook, as J style hooks are regularly swallowed by large sharks, leading to gut hooking. Use a circle hook.

We use double barrelled copper crimps/aluminium sleeves to crimp our wind on to a swivel, with a clip and attach it to the nylon coated trace. You can then use a Cat’s Paw knot for your loop-to-loop connection from the mainline to the wind on leader. A long plait from your mainline or a Bimini twist creates a strong double for connecting wind on leaders. There are plenty of places to view and learn to tie these knots.

Bait Selection

1. Eel

2. Eagle ray, skate, common black ray
3. Tuna, Salmon, Mullet

Eel is absolute dynamite when it comes to shark fishing and is easily rigged by just pinning it roughly 2cm into the flesh. It holds true for hours in the ocean as crabs seem to avoid it or struggle to eat it. Eel chunks should be roughly coke can size or larger.

Any ray, cubed into decent sized chunks, also makes fantastic bait and is a personal favourite of mine. Tuna, salmon and mullet are all fantastic bait options, with the downside being that these soft flesh baits are at the mercy of the crabs.

Land-based shark fishing is a favourite pastime of mine, spending numerous hours on the beach with close friends and family, waiting patiently for a reel to start screaming, getting locked up and strapped in. Moments like this you just never forget, especially when a good friend or family member lands their first bronze whaler. It’s a good feeling for everyone involved.

If you’re chasing your first land-based shark I would recommend joining a crew that have some experience in the sport as there is so much to cover. I couldn’t squeeze it all in here, so join them, watch how they set and deploy baits, get to know the ocean, jump in a kayak and go for a paddle and maybe even get strapped into a harness and get a couple blokes to pull some drag, just so you understand how hard these sharks can and will go.

Overall, it’s an awesome way to fish and it should be experienced by all.

Hang on!
Bobby

Gearing Up:
Okuma Makaira Lever Drag Overhead - MK-80WII
Platypus Braid