Gummy Shark
Where and when to catch Gummy Shark in Victoria: the VIC season, the spots in our guide that hold them, and where to find VIC's current size and bag limits.
- Size
- Up to 1.85m, commonly 80–120cm
- VIC season
- Year-round
- VIC spots
- 39
VIC Size & Bag Limits
VIC limits for Gummy Shark are set by VFA and change from time to time, so we link them rather than copy them. Check VFA's limits before you fish.
Western Australian limits don't apply in Victoria.
Where to Catch Gummy Shark in VIC
Mornington Peninsula
Geelong & Bellarine
Western Port & Phillip Island
Surf Coast & Great Ocean Road
Shipwreck Coast & South West
South Gippsland
Gippsland Lakes & East
How to Catch
Best Baits
Fresh, oily and smelly works best: fillets or heads of salmon, tommy ruff (herring), mullet or trevally, whole small fish, squid and octopus, and fresh crab. Fresh beats frozen by a long way, and changing a washed-out bait every 20–30 minutes keeps the scent trail going.
Lures
Not a lure fish. A gummy will very occasionally grab a soft plastic dragged slowly along the bottom, but it's bait or nothing.
Rigs
A running sinker or paternoster rig with a sinker just heavy enough to hold the bottom, a 40–60 lb mono leader, and a 5/0–8/0 circle hook. Circle hooks set themselves in the corner of the mouth and make release much easier. Gummies have no cutting teeth, so heavy mono does the job; wire is for where whalers are about, and some waters restrict trace and hook sizes, so check local gear rules. A 3–4 m surf rod with a 6–10 kg rating handles beach fish.
Technique
Cast to the deeper water of a gutter, channel or drop-off, or straight down off the deep end of a jetty, set the rod in a holder with the reel on light drag or in free spool, and wait. Let the fish run and load the rod; with a circle hook, don't strike, just wind into the weight. Gummies fight with long, heavy runs along the bottom rather than jumping. Bring the fish into the shallows or a net rather than dragging it up a jetty by the line. If you're releasing it, unhook it in the water or cut the leader close to the hook.
Best Time
After dark, especially the first few hours of night, and best of all on a tide change or a run of tide in a channel. Dirty water after a blow can bring them on during the day. Warmer months generally produce more beach and jetty gummies, but they're caught year-round.
Identification
Long, slender and grey to grey-brown above with small white spots scattered along the back and sides, and white underneath. The second dorsal fin is nearly as big as the first. Open the mouth (carefully, but there's no need to fear it) and you'll find rows of small, flat, pavement-like teeth for crushing crabs and octopus, not the blades of a whaler. That's where the name comes from. School shark is the main look-alike: it has sharp, pointed teeth, a much smaller second dorsal fin, a longer pointed snout, and no white spots. Whalers are bulkier, bronze or grey, and very toothy.
Size & Growth
Most shore-caught gummies are 70–120 cm. Pups are born at about 35 cm, females reach maturity at about 5 years and 1.1 m, and the species grows to about 1.8–1.9 m, with females the bigger sex, and they live to about 16 years. A gummy over 15 kg from the shore is a serious fish. They're live-bearers, with litters averaging about 14 pups after a pregnancy of around a year, which is why sensible anglers keep only what they'll eat.
Diet & Habitat
Gummies hunt along the bottom over sand, mud, seagrass edges and low reef, mostly in water shallower than about 80 m but down to 350 m or more. They eat octopus, crabs and other crustaceans, squid, worms and some small fish, finding prey by smell and electrical sense rather than sight. At night they move into surprisingly shallow water: surf gutters, channels and the deeper water off long jetties.
Eating Quality
Excellent, and boneless: the white, mild, flaky flesh is the flake of fish-and-chip shops. Like all sharks it must be bled and gutted promptly and iced, because sharks carry urea in their flesh that turns to ammonia if left warm. Fillet off the cartilage, skin it and soak in milk or brine if you're worried. Battered, crumbed, grilled or curried, it's hard to beat.
Guides Featuring Gummy Shark
Gummy Shark elsewhere: Western Australia · South Australia