In this feature we wind things back to the most ancient of art forms.
Rooted in the simplicity of walking to catch a fish and sharing the proceeds with family and friends.
In this feature I’m handing over the reins to one of my most passionate fishing buddies, Andy Steele.
A long time blue water guide and one of those fishy characters who seems to have a magnet on his lure, lets cross over for a little first person insight from the man himself.
Two feet and a heartbeat
Land based fishing is one of the oldest forms of the sport.
Throughout history and across the globe, humans have fished from the shores of rivers, beaches, lakes, estuaries — even off the frozen sea ice in the northern extremes.
Originally done for survival, today it’s mainly about the passion for the sport and the thrill of the chase, catching our target species from solid ground.
Whether you’re standing on a rock ledge, walking the edge of a riverbank or my personal favourite, stalking the sand flats or beaches near your local area.
The excitement of fishing with terra Australis under your feet gives an adrenaline rush like no other.
Chasing might be harder and the fish not as plentiful but when it all pays off the reward is so much sweeter.
Feet on the sand fly rod in hand
In the northern part of the country we are blessed to have a vast expanse of tidal flats reef flats or sand flats around the coast.
These areas are known as intertidal zones and an abundant variety of fish species push into these areas to feed, depending on the ebb and flow of the tide making them accessible to land based fishos.
Water pushing up onto a sand or mud flat, into the mangroves or a deep beach gutter gives fish the opportunity to hunt.
The array of tasty shrimps, crabs, worms, bait fish and all sorts of goodies that hide beneath the sand or in mangroves.
Predators include golden trevally, giant trevally (GTs), gold-spot trevally, diamond trevally, emperor species, cobia, blue bastards, queenfish, Permit and blackspot tusk fish. Each of these species and more can be targeted with either a light spinning outfit or fly-fishing outfit.
For those who love the challenge, walking the flats with a fly rod is about as good as it gets. It can be relaxing and yet exciting at the same time.
It takes me back to when I was a kid walking around the local lagoon at Terrigal on the NSW central coast, catching sand whiting and bream on small hand tied flies after school.
All you need is your rod, a few flies, some polarised sunglasses and the weather on your side as sunshine is essential for good sight fishing on the flats.
The anticipation of walking a deserted beach or your favourite flat on a sunny day with a perfect neap tide is pure bliss.
Scanning the water for any sign of life, any movement or shadows, a silver flash, a flicker of bait or a tail of a feeding fish breaking the surface as it digs for food will make any fisherman giddy with excitement.
Blue bastard’s a tricky customer
Blue bastards as they are commonly called are endemic to northern Australia, meaning it’s the only place in the world you can catch them.
They have only recently been discovered as their own species in 2015, although Aussie fly fisherman have been targeting them for decades.
They get the name from their behaviour and looks, with a beautiful blue tinge to their cheeks and yellowish eye flush.
They are very clever, skittish, spook easily and can be very difficult to hook.
And once hooked, they are masters at finding the only piece of structure or cave for miles around to bust you off on… hence the name blue bastards!
These fish have become my latest obsession and I’ve learnt a lot over the last few years chasing them, watching their behaviour and learning what and what not to do. Casting at a blue bastard that is simply swimming along perpendicular to the seabed will 99 per cent of the time result in you spooking the fish.
Whether it’s him seeing your line as you cast, the shadow off your rod or simply the splash of the fly hitting the water they are out of there quick smart and your back to square one searching for another opportunity.
When you do come across a blue bastard or any other demersal fish in the shallows the key is not to rush, take your time, watch the fish and track it’s movement.
Sometimes it can feel more like hunting than fishing as your stalking your target waiting for the right opportunity to cast.
What you’re looking for is to see them start feeding.
They dip their head down and tail up (tailing) and start digging around for food in the sand, mud or coral.
This is your casting window, now that they are distracted the chances of you spooking that fish are drastically reduced. this is when you want to make your cast.
Try to land the fly just in front of where they are digging.
Let it sink to the bottom, the idea is that they think they’ve dug it up themselves and if you place it correctly they will usually suck it down you’ll feel a slight tap on the line now it’s time to strip strike and then chaos unfolds.
As you come up tight and before you know it, fly line is screaming off the reel as an explosive bow wave of energy surges off their shoulders as they scream off in search of deeper water or structure to hide in.
You’re into your backing, knees trembling, adrenaline rushing throughout your body, there is no better feeling then the giant gleaming bastard laying on it’s side at
your feet.
Gear: rods reels and flies
My go to setup is a 10wt fly rod and reel, intermediate line and 9 foot straight through 40lb leader. I prefer to use shrimp patterns over a crab pattern, not just for blue bastards, but because they work equally as well when a pack of hungry GTs or a school of queenfish turn up and you need to strip it fast.
Crab flies tend to spin and twist on a fast retrieval.
Opportunities can present themselves out of nowhere on the flats and can disappear just as fast.
Having time to change a fly before the casting window is over for these speeders of the flats is usually not an option.
While on the flats larger animals such as rays or schools of sleepy sharks are your best friend.
These are like naturally occurring FADs (fish aggravating device) on the flat.
As they come up to feed in the shallows, these large moving objects usually have company, whether it be schools of Golden trevally or GTs or even Permit following along picking up scraps or catching small fish and tasty morsels that are disturbed by sharks and rays as they puff up the sea bed in search of their own food.
Knife to a gun fight
I started my land based fishing career as a four-year-old boy beach fishing with my old man on the NSW central coast. Although I can’t remember my first fish as I was so young, dad still has the old 6″ by 4″ photo of me holding up a pink snapper smile from ear to ear.
Most Christmas lunches will result in dad telling the story of how I caught this beauty. When I hooked up and drag started coming off the reel, I didn’t know what to do or understand the winding part of the operation, so I did what any four-year-old would do. Started running up the beach with my rod, by the time I got to the sand dunes behind us, to dads surprise, one of the biggest snapper he had seen came flapping up the sand beach. From then I was hooked.
Recently I had an experience not considered a possibility. Strong relentless trade winds and spring tides had pushed a sand bank I’ve fished in the past out further than usual, thus making it possible to cast into quite deep water right off the sand.
Equipped with my light spin stick, a 3000 sized reel, 20lb braid, mono leader and a little shallow bibbed lure I intended on spending the afternoon flicking for queenfish, small trevally and possibly a coral trout for dinner.
Well I was in for a surprise!
After my friend landed a nice queen fish, excited the very next cast I hooked something. It felt solid but also didn’t do much to start, as if it didn’t know it was hooked. Then it started screaming off so fast I wasn’t sure if my fish had just been eaten by a shark. I played it cool and took my time. After another blistering run I realised this was not behaving like any shark I’d caught, rather more like a spanish mackeral.
The speed, the tail beats and the way it was staying up in the water column away from the sharp coral. I dared to dream, land based mackerel would be a first for me and this thing felt huge.
After retrieving 60 or 70 meters of line back on the tiny reel yet again it screamed off. Heart in my throat thinking any second now it’s all going to be over and it will bite me off. In this case patience and a calmer head prevailed.
The key in these light line, big fish scenarios is not to rush, take your time. After a 10 minute battle I could see the fish and indeed it was a massive Spaniard.
My friend assisted in grabbing him by the tail by this stage the beast was just about spent of all energy.
And there it was, a 35lb Spanish mackeral caught off the sand on a light spin stick. I was speechless and spent, an epic shore battle and one for the long
memory bank.
Why land based?
The magic of land based fishing is not just about the catch, it’s where it can take you. The journey you take to get there is often half the fun. Australia has some of the most varied and vast coastlines in the world and some of the most beautiful land-based fishing destinations on the planet.
The thrill and the addiction is that there is always something bigger, better, harder, more challenging and more remote. It’s a sport that keeps us coming back time and time again.
Fishing as a sport is always evolving yet there will always be a place for the simple practice of catching your quarry from Terra Firma.
It’s the memory most small kids experience when dragging their catch up on the bank and staring in bewilderment. The idea that a combination of skill, luck and local knowledge can put something tasty in the bucket to eat for dinner. Priceless.