Gearing up for gummies

If you’ve ever had flake from a seafood joint, it was most likely the meat of a gummy shark. Native to most southern waters from about Mid NSW and Perth southwards, this species is prized for its soft, flaky flesh. In areas where they are common, they’re often preferred over other great eating species such as snapper and King George whiting, but that’s merely a matter of opinion.

Most gummies are targeted in inshore waters, and capital cities such as Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth have reasonable populations of gummies within easy reach. Gummies are fantastic in the way they can be caught in a range of different environments. Gummies are comfortable mooching around 3m of water, but also out in 300-400m offshore! Generally larger gummies are found offshore, and the bays and inshore ground are the domain of the smaller models. Gummies can also be taken from the beach.

Preferred seasons for gummies depend on where you go, but in most areas where they are common they can be targeted year round!

When you’ve found a spot to anchor, dropping a berley cage is a great idea, and will help bring them to you. The Small and Large Neptune Lead Burley Pots are fantastic, and berley don’t need to be fancy. Big John’s Secret Burley Mix Bluewater Seafood Platter 2kg or Fish Magnet Pilchard Logs are premixed berley concoctions, and more than suitable for a bit of gummy fishing.

Fishing from the boat is quite simple, with a single or double snelled hook rig tied to a 40-60lb monofilament trace, with an Addict Tackle Sinker Slider Clip above the swivel, which connects the trace and mainline. The sinker clip will allow you to change weights as the tide changes throughout the session.

Fishing from the surf is a little different, but a pair of snelled octopus hooks on a 50-70cm trace that leads to a combination crane swivel, with a short dropper and star sinker off the free eye is suitable.

For either, octopus hooks such as Gamakatsu Octopus Hooks, Mustad Octopus Hooksor VMC Octopus Hooks 8299 are perfect, and sizes between 4/0-8/0 should handle just about any gummy swimming.

Baits don’t need to be fancy either, with fish fillets and whole pilchards just fine. Squid baits can also be used if the fish flesh baits are being torn apart by pickers.

If you want to gather a feed of fresh flake, it’s really not that hard! An intelligent approach to your bait fishing should see you landing enough gummies for a few meals, and given that they don’t have teeth, it isn’t as dangerous as fishing for other shark species!