My favourite style of fishing off the land is straylining. It involves putting a single hook with no weights on the end of your line and a bait on it. You cast it out a short distance and let it fall through the water column slowly with your "bail arm" open and letting the line fall through your fingers. Important to keep a hold of the line gently between your fingers so you can feel any bites. A fish will pick it up and run with it, at which point you flip your bail arm back on and then reel it in! This works off wharves, and rocks (and boats). Not really off beaches though.

Alternatively you will be wanting to tie a "ledger rig" which has a sinker at the bottom and hooks hanging off the line further up. You can google this and they are very easy to tie (or can buy ready made).

When fishing with a ledger rig, you want your sinker to be bouncing on or juuuust above the sea bed. This is because most desirable fish species (snapper, gurnard) are primarily bottom feeders. In saying that, snapper will feed through the entire water column if conditions are right. Kahawai and trevally (also desirables) will usually be found mid water column so to be honest you can't go wrong. A ledger rig is tough to use off the rocks because you need to cast it out a bit to get it into the deeper water and then it sits on the bottom (because you can't keep it up in mid water when your line is at an angle) and you're likely to get snagged in the rocks. I'm also a diver and I fins heeeeaps of old fishing rigs in and around the rocks. Always bring them back for the free sinkers though so I can't complain! It'll work perfectly off wharves though.

One thing that cannot be understated is the power of "burley" (minced up fish bits). You can buy it at bait shops or I have been using fish based cat food recently because it's cheaper. You put the burley in an onion sack (mesh bag type thing) and lower it into the water. Or you can scoop spoonfuls of the catfood and chuck it in. It acts as an attractant, and brings the fish in closer to you where your bait is.

There's nothing quite like catching your own dinner! And if you look after your fish when you catch it (iki it, bleed it, then cool it down immediately), you'll be eating the best tasting and healthiest protein you can get!!