Welcome to the Anderson Inlet Fishing Guide. Anderson Inlet is a popular swimming, kayaking, boating, and fishing destination. About 2 2-hour drive or 150 kilometres from Melbourne, situated in the South Gippsland region, near the township of Inverloch. It offers scenic views and nice walking and cycling trails. Australian Salmon fishing can be exceptional here in the cooler months. The inlet is a flat, muddy, shallow system complete with mangroves. There are plenty of fish in this estuary system, providing a great all-year-round fishing location that offers a wide range of fish species to target. There are a couple of boat launching areas, one located in Inverloch and the other at Maher’s landing.
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Things to do at Anderson Inlet
Anderson Inlet is a shallow estuary in South Gippsland, Victoria, next to the township of Inverloch. There is ample parking at the beach entrance. This is a popular spot for fishing, hiking, and cycling, and local attractions include the Screw Creek Nature Trail and the Bass Coast Rail Trail. There are also nearby parks, including the Coastal Reserve and Bunurong Marine Coastal Park. There are beautiful views and active wildlife, including a large number of native birds.
Fishing at Anderson Inlet
If you plan to boat the inlet, local knowledge is crucial, particularly understanding the water depth and flow between tide changes to ensure safety. You can launch your boat from the Inverloch boat ramp, which features 2 launching lanes and a paved car park, providing friendly launching facilities.
At Anderson Inlet, you can catch
- Australian Salmon
- snapper ( click here to read how to catch snapper around Victoria )
- Silver Trevally
- Estuary perch
- Bream
- Blathead
- King George Whiting
- Tailor
- Mulloway
- Elephant fish
- Gummy sharks
Check out this instructional video guide on how to catch snapper with soft plastics filmed locally.
If you’re fishing with lures, then we would highly recommend a light spinning outfit. A 2-4 kilo graphite spin rod coupled with a 2000 or 2500-size reel is perfect. Then spool the reel with a quality 8-pound braid and 1-rod length of 8-pound fluorocarbon leader. It means that should you happen to get a strike from a mulloway, then you have your work cut out for you, but this is the perfect setup for most of the species that you’ll be catching. Winter is a great time to fish in this area with big schools of salmon moving into the entrance. Trolling metal spoons or hardbody lures on a boat or kayak is a great way to locate the schools. Winter is also a good time for fishing as the inlet isn’t crowded with holidaymakers.
Places to fish near Anderson Inlet
Not far from here, you can also try fishing at these destinations.
- Western Port
- Kilcunda Surf Beach
- Tarwin River
- Port Welshpool
- Wilsons Prom Tidal River
- Andresons Inet
Best Baits Fishing Anderson Inlet
If fishing with bait, then great options include pilchard, chicken, bass yabbies, and tube worms.
- pilchard
- pipis
- blue bait
- silver whiting
- salmon
- raw chicken strips
- prawns
- maggots
- squid
- mussels
Lures and soft plastics for Anderson Inlet
At this location, we would highly recommend the following soft plastics. Ideally rigged on a 1/12, 1/8 or 1/6 jig head in size 2-0 through to 4-0. Casting them out, allowing them to sink to the bottom, and working them slowly, imitating a wounded baitfish. This works excellently for pinkies, snapper, Australian salmon and flathead.
- Berkley Gulp Turtleback worm
- 2.5″, 3″ and 4″ curltails ( Gulp Nemesis, Daiwa Wave Minnow, Zman grubZ, Squidges Wrigglers )
- 3″ and 4″ paddletails in natural colours ( Keitech easy shiner, Zman StreakZ, Munroes 3.75-inch paddle tails )
- 4″ and 5″ inch jerk shads ( Zman scented jerk shads, Berkley Gulp
- Squid and Yabbie Imatations ( Nomad Squidtrex, Berkley Turbo Shrimp, Clone Prawn, Nomad Jerksquid )
- Shallow mid diving hard body lures ( Daiwa Double Clutch )
- Vibes and Blades ( Zerek fish trap, Samaki Vibelicious, EcoGear SX40 )
Targeting Australian Salmon at Anderson Inlet
I prefer targeting Australian Salmon with light spin gear. It makes the experience enjoyable and easy to use. A 7-foot 2-5kg spin rod paired with a 2500 or 300 size reel and 12lb braid and leader works excellently. When schooled up and actively feeding, they will smash soft plastics, ideally 4″ paddletails and curltails in natural colours, which imitate a baitfish that they are feeding on. They will also happily take staple baits like pilchard and squid from a pasternoster rig or running sinker rig. Winter is a great time to target salmon as they’re active and school up in big numbers. Salmon is a powerful sports fish that punches well above its weight. When hooked, they produce intense bursts of speed, powerful runs, and vigorous head shakes. Do keep an eye out for gutters, which are patches of deeper water that Salmon will swim through in schools. The darker colour of the water can identify these. When bait fishing, pick a surf rod between 12 and 15 feet in length, which allows for long casts with heavy sinkers and keeps your lines high above the crashing surf. These will be 6-10 kilo class. We recommend a Paternoster rig with a star sinker. Giving you two baits at different heights. You could also attach a surf popper above.
Check out this instructional video guide on how to catch salmon on soft plastics.
Targeting Snapper at Anderson Inlet
Locally, Snapper season starts around October and finishes towards April. The big reds migrate inshore due to the warmer water temperatures, which provide ideal spawning conditions. Dawn, Dusk, and tide changes are considered the best times to catch snapper. Snapper will take a variety of baits and soft plastics. For bait, a 7 to 8 foot rod with a 4-7 kg rating paired with a 4000 or 5000 size reel spooled with 15-30 pound line is excellent. Good bait options include pilchards, silver whiting, squid, and salmon. When it comes to soft plastics, a 7-foot 3-6 kilo rod paired with a 3000 size reel is great. Good soft plastics include jerk shads, whip baits, curl tails, or paddle tails between 3 and 5 inches in a variety of colours. We encourage you to read our detailed guide on how to catch snapper.
Targeting Flathead at Anderson Inlet
Flathead is a year-round prospect that can be caught at any time of the day. They are an ambush predator that waits in disguise for smaller fish to swim by for easy feed. This highlights the importance of keeping your baits and soft plastics towards the bottom. If fishing from a boat or kayak we would recommend drifting around the sandy flats until you find a good patch of them. Also, keep an eye out for depth drop-offs, which are great locations for an ambush predator to be waiting. We recommend targeting flathead with a 7 foot 2–4 or 3-5 kilo fishing rod paired with a 2500 or 3000 size reel spooled with 8-12lb braid and equivalent leader. You can go lighter, but flathead has bristly teeth that can compromise your fishing line.
Flathead is not fussy and will happily have a go at many various soft plastics and lures. We would highly recommend reading our detailed guide on the best lures and soft plastics to catch flathead. Top choices include worm and yabby imitations, paddle tail soft plastic, curl tail soft plastics, deep diving hard body lures, vibes, swimbaits, and blades. If you are targeting flathead with bait, we recommend using a paternoster rig or running sinker rig. Using a small ball sinker to swivel, then 50cm of 8-12 leader to a size 6 long shank hook. Good bait choices include pilchards, mussels, squid, chicken, whitebait, Pipis, bluebait, and prawns.
Targeting Trevally at Anderson Inlet
Trevally pound for pound is one of the best fighting fish. In certain parts of Australia, surface popping for Giant Trevally is one of the bucket list fishing experiences that you must tick off. However, in Victoria, you will mainly be catching the much smaller silver trevally. Good bait options include blue bait, white bait, raw chicken, pilchards, pippies, squid and mussels. Trevally will also take a range of soft plastics, including worm and minnow imitations, small surface poppers, and small metal spoons. We recommend targeting trevally with a 1-3 or 2-4 kilo fishing rod coupled with a 2000 or 2500 reel spooled with 4-8-pound braid and equivalent fluorocarbon leader. If there are larger trevally in the area, then you can go heavier, moving up the scale to a 3-5 kilo class spin rod spooled with fine 8-12-pound braid and equivalent fluorocarbon leader.
Targeting Bream at Anderson Inlet
This is a great location to target bream with lures and soft plastics. The options available are almost endless, so make sure you read our guide on the best lures to catch bream. Recommended options include crab imitations, shallow diving cranks, paddle tail soft plastics, curl tail soft plastics, minnow imitations, vibes, and blades. Also, try your luck with surface lures, an exciting form of fishing that uses light gear. Bream is all about finesse fishing, so you will need an ultralight spin outfit. We recommend a 7-foot rod in a 1-3 or 2-4 kilo class, paired with a 1000, 2000 or 2500 reel spooled with 2-6-pound braid and equivalent leader. There are so many amazing bream outfits on the market, and budgets vary greatly depending on your skill level and spending habits.
Bream reside within structures such as jetty pylons and stumps. Enticing them away from the structure onto your lure will take some time to master. Remember to work your lures and plastics slowly and mix up the retrieval techniques. If you are targeting bream with bait, then we would highly recommend sandworms, maggots, scrub worms, mussels, yabbies, & chicken. A 2-4 kilo class rod paired with a 2500 size reel would be a great option spooled with 6-pound line. We would encourage you to read our detailed guide on Bait fishing for Bream.
The choice of lures is almost endless. To make things easier, we created a detailed video on the best lures and how to use them.
Targeting Estuary Perch at Anderson Inlet
Another highlight of fishing in this area is targeting Estuary perch with surface and shallow diving lures. The action can be frantic on warm, balmy evenings with low wind. Listen for the sound of breaking water, which indicates EPs are feeding. The excitement an angler gets from an EP smashing a surface lure on light gear is something that truly needs to be experienced. It almost catches you by surprise when that aggressive strike comes. Small surface poppers, cicadas, blades, surface minnows and pencil lures work well here. So do shallow diving hardbody lures. Noteworthy options include bent minnows, Rapala countdown series, nories laydown minnows and shallow diving cranks. Basically, anything that doesn’t dive too deep and makes a good vibrating action will work well. You can use any colour choice. We often start with silvers that mimic small baitfish or mullet.
EPs also respond incredibly well to a whole range of soft plastics that are lightly weighted. Including curl tails, paddle tails and minnow imitations. The trusty 2.5-inch grubs and minnows are an excellent choice. These imitate small baitfish, which the EPs are actively feeding on. We would recommend mixing up the retrieval speeds and pauses, and experimenting with different colours. Where possible, fish along the structure and stay alert for signs such as breaking water. Fishing for Estuary Perch requires finesse. We recommend an ultralight fishing combo consisting of a 1-3 or 2-4 kilo spin rod around 7 feet in length. Coupled with a 1000 or 2000 size reel spooled with 2-8 pound line and equivalent fluorocarbon leader, when bait fishing, use a 2-4 kilo rod around 7 feet in length. Coupled with a 2500 size reel, either a float or a small running sinker to a swivel, and a very fine leader.
Targeting Whiting at Anderson Inlet
Whiting is a bread and butter species which are fun to catch on light spinning gear and taste great. Whiting school up in big numbers and they respond well to berley, so berley an isolated area with a mix of chicken pellets, Tuna oil and pilchards. Whiting fishing requires finesse, so we recommend a light 1-3 or 2-4 kilo spin rod around 7 feet in length. Coupled with a light 1000-2500 size reel, spooled with 4 pounds or 6-pound line and leader. When bait fishing a simple running rig with a small sinker to swivel, then 40cm of 4-pound leader to a small baitholder long shank hook or a paternoster rig with 2 hooks and a size sinker depending on your conditions.
Watch our 25-minute whiting masterclass as we guide you through on everything you need to know to catch whiting.
Targeting Gummy Shark at Anderson Inlet
We recommend targeting gummy shark with a 7-foot, 8- to 15-kilo rod paired with a 4000 to 6000 size reel spooled with 20 to 40-pound line. Finished with a strong leader ranging from 40lb through to 60 pounds. Ideal rigs include a running sinker rig, single or double snelled rig, or paternoster rig. You can use an Ezi rig, attaching a sinker to the clip, then tying on a pre-made double snelled rig. Octopus or circle hooks from 5/0 to 7/0 are preferred for presenting chunks of salmon, trevally, squid, mackerel, Eel, mullet, pilchard, yakka’s, & garfish.
Targeting Elephant Fish at Anderson Inlet
Elephant Fish share similar characteristics with sharks, but they have a unique, elephant-trunk-like snout that they use to feed on small fish. They do, however, have good fighting qualities and are much fun to catch on light gear. They are seasonal fish that come into select areas within Western Port and Port Phillip Bay throughout March and May to spawn. Elephant fish are not fussy eaters, and they will happily take a wide range of baits, including pilchard, squid and salmon. Elephant fish have a strong sense and respond well to berley. You can target elephant fish using a 3-5 or 4-6 kilo rod with a 3000-4000 size reel spooled with 8 to 12-pound braid. A running sinker to a swivel, then 60cm of a strong leader to a circle hook or a paternoster rig with chunks of fresh bait.
Targeting Mullowat at Anderson inlet
Mulloway, AKA Jewfish, are a prized catch that sits at the top of many Victorian anglers’ bucket lists. A stunning fish with a large mouth and distinctive silver or bronze colour. Patience and dedication are required to catch the elusive Mulloway, which can reach up to 1.8 meters and 60 kilos. The minimum legal size is 60cm with a daily bag limit of 5 over the legal size. Live baits are a top choice when targeting mulloways such as mullet, salmon, and whiting and pinning them behind the neck to allow the bait to swim freely. Other staple dead baits can include pilchard, trevally, garfish, prawns, chicken & squid. A running sinker rig to a single 5/0 – 8/0 hook or a double snelled hook to present the bait nicely. Soft plastics between 80mm and 100mm are also a great option. Good options include flick baits, shads, paddle tails and grubz. You can also purchase pre-made rigs and swimbaits, which are designed to imitate a fish in its surroundings, such as a mullet. Choosing a Mulloway outfit. Recommended gear to target Mulloway 6-10, 10-15, or 12-24 kilo rod paired with a 4000-8000 spin reel spooled with 20-50 pound line and equivalent leader. Mulloway reside near river mouth entrances. They are often caught near structures such as bridges and pylons. Try to present your baits and lures as naturally as possible, or use live baits. Mulloway can be caught at any time of the day, but are most active at night, during peak tides and moon phases. We have found that lures are quite productive during the day, and bait is more productive at night.
You must keep a close eye on tidal movements. This is a very shallow system, so you need to plan ahead and avoid getting stranded in certain areas during low tide times. Images of fish supplied VFA and DEPI. All other photos and videos shown on the Anderson Inlet Fishing Guide are Fishing Mad originals. Thank you for visiting the Anderson Inlet Fishing Guide. If you believe this location guide is missing any key information or requires corrections, please email our team at enquiries@fishingmad.com.au with specific details. Thank you
