PerspectivesonEJ3lt

THESECRET

LBGisoneof thosestylesof fishingthatyouneverreallyunderstand<until

you'actul
explainshowhesawthelight.

'VB been fishing for the past 30 are doing right or wrong as you watch
years, yet have never done much them through the binoculars.

I land-based work. I'm not sure why; I

could never really understand why
some guys were so hooked on this style of
On one memorable day, a group of
blokes fishing an adjacent ledge seemedito
be pushing their luck against a cranking
angling, if you pardon the pun. I've always 2-3 metre swell. Now, in thgse sorts of
known the basic mechanics of LBG and conditions I don't care if you swim like Ian panic once in the water, buH.
have read the articles and seen the videos 'Thorpe, if you fall in you'll be in a world of weight of his soaked jacket w.
and DVDs, but it's always been something pain. So to see anglers put themselves in. him to stay afloat, so he discarded it. After
that I just couldn't get my head around. such a precarious position all for the sake many cuts and scratches from the rocks,
For years mates of mine who are hardcore of what turned out to be an average mack he eventually climbed out back onto the
LBG fishos have tried to explain the tuna is ridiculous. I sat with the camera ledge. It was getting late so he decided to
attraction of nailing big fish from the capturing some of their efforts (see the pack up his gear and head back to the em:
stones. For me, it was like trying to get
fired up about a footy code you just don't
follow. Invariably, I'd 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 game fishing will make is that
there are two types of rock anglers. Those
who can and those who, well, probably
shouldn't be there. Fishing from a rock
ledge with a two metre 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

-" -
 Perspectiveson LBG

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fORGED, 2X STRONG LONGSHANK pocket he realised they were in the jacket
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Meanwhile, back where we were fishing,
my mate Neil had his live bait smashed.
The tuna on the other end did the usual
FRENCH WIDEGAP 150m initial run. Just before the fish on
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Neil's line came into view in the failing

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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
KENDAL KIRBY KENDAL KIRBY skimming across the top of the water
,42414CE - 42414 SO towards the base of the ledge. We all hook up, various groups of anglers seem
! TINNED, STRAIGHT TINNED, STRAIGHT looked down in amazement to see the to work as one unit when needed to land
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1-6/0 SIZE6-6/0 mack wearing the young guy's black the fish. Potential tangles are avoided as

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jacket like a super hero cape. What are the
chances oflosing a piece of clothing only
to have it brought back to you by a tuna?
other baits are moved or rods completely
brought back in. Then somebody you've
never seen before appears with a gaff,
KENDAL KIRBY
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Anyway, needless to say the driver and car moves down the rock ledge and waits for
! TINNED,
BENT keys were reunited, and for the mack the right opportunity to land the fish. It's
, OPEN
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tuna's sterling recovery work he got the type of kinship you simply don't see
1SIZE1/0-6/0
released. This is one of the great things among boat anglers. Or at least I don't.
U about LBG fishing, there's always
something happening.
Por me, this has become the most
appealing aspect of LBG fishing. On the
Most of the fishing action I witnessed stones the word "1"is replaced with "we"
over the two weeks was fantastic and the and the glory of landing a fish,is shared
TINNED 3 LINKED WITH SWIVELS anglers who have LBG wired are brilliant amongst the group and there seems to be
SIZE
4-610
to watch. They work as a team, they read an absence of the "I got more fish than
the swell like seasoned master sailors, you" attitude. It's almost tribal and really
--J they know how and when to get a bait infectious. I reckon now if I had to choose
,
I I into the strike zone and they rarely make an angling pursuit to watch as a spectator
bad decisions while navigating the ita be LBG, hands down. All of this team
sometimes unforgiving environment work is probably a result of direct
typical to this style of fishing. There seems interaction anglers can have with one
to be an intuitive understanding between another while on a rock platform. When
different crews you see on the rocks. It's a out on the water in separate boats, this
bit like a code of conduct. When there's a just doesn't happen.
34 FISHING WORLD OCTOBER
2006
~ ~-

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Being such a minimalist style of fishing,

the skill levels of these guys are awesome.
This is something I've known for a while,
but actually seeing it in the flesh is
something else. When I say "minimalist"
I'm referring to the need to be able to do
without some of the luxuries afforded to
other angling styles. Every piece of gear
used in LBG has to be carried to the rock
ledges, then carried out at the end ofthe
session. Some ofthe hikes in and out of
these LBG 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 a heavy mono
leader. Instead these guys become highly
proficient at tying knots no matter what
Ii
line or leader size they're using. Rod
holders are replaced with light pve
I tubing or products like the Land Base
f
, Buddy and are carefully positioned either
in a 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 just recently
realised is that it's only been through my
personal association with some top LBG
fishermen that my ownflshing 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 80m 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, aka longtails. The guys hooked
eight for the trip and landed seven of
them. It was after watching the second or
third bluefin being brought up the rock
OCTOBER 2006 FISHING WORLD 3S

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------------
PerspectivesonLBG

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 bluefin feeding seemed to be in pretty
close to the ledges. Getting a boat to
where the tuna 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
wouldn't be feasible. Trolling, again
because of the swell and where the lures
would need to be placed, would have been
too tall an order. The successful LEG
fisherman has the virtues of persistence
and patience. 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 fish when rock fishing prior to this trip ABOVELEFT:A quality tuna like this can really make
a shot. It was amazing to see these guys and got on the scoreboard the second day your day,especiallyif it's your first!
get their baits to swim in the direction with a 12kg bluefin taken on 6kg mono. I ABOVE:Giantsambosare almost as muchfun as
they wanted by utilising influences like was really impressed with her efforts. This "real" gamefish.
the rebound waves created when the swell success on her very first fish from the
smashed into little coves on the face of stones was largely due to my lack of have been missing for years. There is a real
the ledge and using the rod tip and line involvement in tuition. Instead one of the technique to it and the reliance on good
tension like the reins on a horse to get the guys we were fishing with talked Lisa fortune in landing a fish is far less than
slimies or yakkas heading out rather than through the whole fight from hook up what I previously believed. You follow the
back in towards the rocks. right up until when the fish was landed. rules, get some solid coaching and stick to
My partner Lisa loves her fishing, which They chased this tuna up and back along the game plan and you're likely to be
is fortunate for both me and our the ledge for the better part of an hour successful. On the other hand, if you take
relationship. Lisa came along on the trip and I don't think at any time Lisa felt she one too many chances or ignore sound
and was keen to learn about LBG and have was in trouble oflosing the fish. Perhaps advice it will probably end in tears, and ~
a go at the bluefin. She'd never caught a this is the wholething about LEGthat I in more ways than one. ~n.'
36 FISHING WORLD OCTOBER2006

~. ~-~