Welcome to the Port Welshpool fishing guide. Port Welshpool is a small fishing town in the South Gippsland region, roughly 200 kilometres from Melbourne. It’s a brilliant fishing destination with spectacular scenery and so many species of fish available. On December 21st 2018, the famous long pier was reopened after a 4.8 million dollar restoration. This is Victoria’s longest jetty, spanning over 900 meters. This allows land-based anglers to catch kingfish, snapper, squid, whiting and much more. The fishing only gets even better for those with a boat. Small runabout boats can easily target bread and butter species in the bay, such as whiting, snapper flathead, and squid, which are shallow and protected from the wind. Those with bigger boats can head offshore and fish around the scattered islands and scenic rolling hills for big sharks, kingfish, tuna, snapper and more. This location really provides some excellent land based fishing, inshore fishing and offshore fishing possibilities.
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Things to do at Port Welshpool
Port Welshpool is roughly a 2 1/2 hours from Melbourne or 220 kilometres. It is located near popular areas, including Wilsons Promontory and Venus Bay. No doubt, the main attraction and hero here is the long jetty. It was built in the 1930s, extended in the 1980s, and closed in 2003 due to fire. Then, it officially reopened in December 2018 after a massive renovation by SMC Marine. This state-of-the-art pier is 900 meters long and carefully constructed with a timber structure and concrete deck finish. There are lovely touches such as lighting, disability access, side rails, fish-cleaning tables, and rod holders built for local anglers. It’s a great spot for photos, walking and fishing. The pier was once used for shipping and industrial vessel access but is now solely used by pedestrians.
You can explore the waters and marine life nearby by taking a cruise. There is also the Port Welshpool Maritime Museum. A short distance away, you have local attractions, including Strzelecki Ranges and the incredible Agnes Falls Scenic Reserve. You also have the Great Southern Rail Trail. You can also go camping or hiking around Wilsons Prom. Many local accommodation offerings allow you to stay awhile and enjoy many of the surrounding scenic townships.
Fishing Port Welshpool Long Jetty
At Port Welshpool, you can target many different fish species, including
- Kingfish
- Snapper
- Tuna
- Various Sharks ( gummy, 7giller, bronze whaler )
- King George Whiting
- Squid
- Flathead,
- Australian Salmon
- Silver Trevally
- Wrasse
- Barracouta
- Leatherjackets
There are so many options, and it depends on the species of fish you’re targeting. For bread and butter species such as flathead and whiting a 2-4 or 3-5 kilo rod around 7 foot in length coupled with 2000, 2500 or 3000 size reel spooled with 6-10 pound line and equivalent leader. This is also a prime location to target squid. Look for signs of weed or squid ink on the pier as giving away spots to target. To target squid, ideally, you would use a longer outfoot and a slightly heavier line and leader. Click here to read our detailed guide on how to catch squid at Port Welshpool.
When targeting snapper a rod between 7 and 8 feet in 4-7 kilo class is perfect—coupled with a 4000 size reel spooled with 12-18 pound monofilament and single or double snelled size 5 or 6 hooks. This would also be a suitable outfit for targeting small kingfish and gummy sharks. However, if you are chasing bigger model kingfish and gummy sharks, we recommend a heavier outfit. Perhaps a 7 foot 10-15 kilo rod spooled with 30-50 line and equivalent leader. There are also big sharks in this area, which would require something substantially heavier. Port Welshpool is a year-round fishing destination. Many of the fish species are seasonal, so gummy sharks will be more active in the cooler months, and snapper and kingfish will be more active in the warmer months. Bread and butter species, such as squid and flathead, can be caught all year round.
Best Baits Fishing Port Welshpool long jetty
At this location, we highly recommend the baits suggested below. There are several ways to present baits, including a running sinker rig, paternoster rig, or dropper rig. The rig and sinker choice will depend on the species you are targeting and conditions such as wind and tidal strength.
- pilchard
- blue bait
- silver whiting
- garfish
- salmon
- raw chicken strips
- prawns
- maggots
- silverfish
- squid
- mussels
Lures and soft plastics for Port Welshpool
- Jigs for kingfish ( between 80-300 grams )
- Skirts for Tuna
- Trolling lures such as xraps and madmacs for tuna
- 5″ jerk shads
- 4″ paddletails
- Berkley gulp turtleback worm
- Zman Slim Swimz
- Berkley powerbait grub
- Gulp 3-inch minnow
- Zman grubZ
- Zman StreakZ
- Munroes 3.75 inch paddle tails
- Kietech swim impact fat
- Zerek fish trap
- Samaki Vibelicious
Targeting Kingfish at Port Welshpool
Kingfish are unparalleled sports fish that possess immense power. Kingies can grow over a meter in length, have excellent fighting qualities, generally school up in big numbers, are also renowned table fish and are a very welcome bycatch for those who may have been out in deeper waters targeting species such as Tuna. A heavy-duty setup is required, starting with a 10-15 kilo rod paired with a 6000-20000 size reel. Some good options include the Penn Slammer, Shimano Saragosa, Daiwa Saltist, Daiwa Saltiga, or Shimano Stella spooled with a 30 to 50-pound line. Good bait options include squid, pilchard, and garfish—or live baits such as yakka, squid, and mackerel. Vertical jigging metal lures from the boat is one of the most successful techniques. You can also target them with large soft plastics. Kingies are generally active between December and March and can be located most of the day. Kingfish love swimming and patrolling along structures such as rock walls, so it pays to keep your lure or jig close to the structure.
Targeting Snapper at Port Welshpool
We encourage you to read our detailed guide on how to catch snapper. The snapper season locally starts around October and finishes after March. The big reds migrate inshore during this time of year because water temperatures have increased, providing ideal spawning conditions. Dawn and dusk are generally considered the best times to be on the water. The most common snapper rods are 7 foot 6 inches long with a weight class of 4-7 kilos paired with a 4000 or 5000 size reel spooled with 15-30 pound braid or mono and 40 pound leader. You can choose to fish lighter or heavier. Recommended bait options include pilchards, whole or half, silver whiting, squid, garfish, mackerel and mullet. The best soft plastics are large jerk shads, whip baits, curl tails or paddle tails. Most are between 4 and 7 inches in size, generally coupled with a ½ or ¼ ounce jig head. Some good options include Savage Gear Fat Curl Tails, Daiwa Bait Junkie Jerk shads & Berkley 7-inch turtleback worm, and Zman curl tails.
Targeting Gummy Shark at Port Welshpool
We recommend targeting gummy sharks with a 7 foot 8-15 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, a single or double snelled rig, or a paternoster rig. You can use an Ezi rig by attaching a sinker to the clip and then tying it 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 Tuna at Port Welshpool
Tuna is a remarkable fish species with a worldwide reputation for speed, size, power, and taste. Genuine missiles of the ocean and, for many, a bucket list of fish. Tuna has remarkable fighting qualities and unparalleled eating qualities. Good ways to find tuna include watching your sounder for large bait balls, drop-offs, and reefs and following large congregations of birds diving into the water, dolphins and seals. Around Port Welshpool, your best bet to find Tuna is going through the heads and cruising offshore around the scattered islands. We like to troll a spread of skirts, lures and teaser bars at 6 knots and will often keep an extra rod rigged up with poppers and stick baits just in case. For many, the best way to experience this is through a specialized tuna charter operator. If you are targeting schoolies ( Tuna between 10-40 kilos ), then you can do this by using a 10-15 or 10-24 kilo spin rods and an 8,000-20,000 size reel spooled with 40-60 pound braid. This can be a fun form of fishing. Trolling skirts or deep-diving lures like Rapala X-Raps or Nomad Madmacs work really well. You can also have a rod with poppers or stick baits on hand and ready in case you come across a school of Tuna which will be noticed by breaking water, a large congregation of birds, or masses of bait. This is a really fun form of fishing, locate the school and cast into them and work stick baits back at a medium to fast retrieve then hold on.
Targeting Flathead at Port Welshpool
We encourage you to read our detailed guide on How to catch Flathead. 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 an 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 is a great location 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 go at 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 plastics, 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. Use a small ball sinker to swivel, then 50cm of 8-12 leader to a size 6 long shank hook. Good baits choices include pilchards, mussels, squid, chicken, whitebait, Pipis, blue bait and prawns.
Targeting Squid at Port Welshpool
Squid is a frequent catch on the pier towards the front and mid parts of the pier. Just look for the squid ink, which is an excellent indicator of where to target them. Anglers do well suspending squid jigs with the use of a float. Targeting squid is a fun form of fishing that is growing in popularity with the reward of fresh calamari. Squid can be caught all year round; you will find them in shallow, weedy areas, and they respond well to jigs in clear water conditions. We recommend reading our detailed guide on How to catch squid around Melbourne. An egi rod between 7.5 feet and 9 feet in length is ideal, and there are plenty of egi rods on the market fit for the purpose. We recommend an 8 foot 3-inch rod paired with a 3000 size reel spooled with 15-pound braid. Squid jigs are prone to snags in this area, and we have found using slow sinking jigs in the smaller sizes of 2.5 and 3.0-gram jigs will help avoid this problem. Cast your squid jig to allow time for the jig to sink, and then do a series of lifts and pauses to imitate a wounded prawn. The natural temptation is to strike. Instead, a subtle lift to keep line tension and a constant slow reel is all that’s required.
Targeting garfish at Port Welshpool
Garfish or mini marlins are a fun local fish species to target. Generally caught between 20cm and 40 cm with no minimum legal size limit but a daily bag limit of 40. Garfish have large snouts but very small mouths so the key to catching them is to use very small size hooks. Small long shanks between size 10 and size 14 are ideal choices. The preferred rig setup should use a pencil or quill float, then have a small split shot roughly 20cm above the hooks to keep the bait down. The floats will help suspend baits such as glacies, maggots or small pieces of fish flesh. berleying is an essential tool when targeting garfish; You can purchase premade berley pellets or powder from your local tackle shop or make your own use of tuna oil, chook pellets and bread. Catching gars is all about finesse and an ultralight 1-3 or 2-4 kilo nibble tip rod that’s 7 to 9 foot in length Paired with a 1000, 2000 or 25000 size reel spooled with 4-6 lb line will be a great choice.
Targeting King George Whiting at Port Welshpool
Whiting is a bread-and-butter species that is fun to catch on light spinning gear and tastes 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 everything you need to know to catch whiting.
Targeting Australian Salmon at Port Welshpool
Winter is a great time to target salmon as they’re active and schooling up in big numbers. Salmon is a powerful sports fish that punches well above its weight. When hooked they produce strong 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. These can be identified by a darker colour of the water. When bait fishing picks a surf rod between 12-15 foot in length which allows for long casts with heavy sinkers and to keep 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 2 baits at different heights. You could also attach a surf popper above. Port Phillip Bay Fishing Guide
When lure fishing first consider what weight lures you are likely to be casting. We would recommend rods between 9-12 foot in length in 5-10 kilo class paired with a 3000 size reel spooled with 15-pound braid. Good lure options include Savage Gear Missile, Halco twisty, Ecogear Teibo, JM Gilles pilchard baitfish, Rapala X-Rap SXR, Lazer spoons, Zman slim swimz, trick swimz, Halco laser pro
As with all pier fishing be careful of those around you when casting. Images of fish supplied VFA and DEPI. Header from visitpromcountry.com.au All other images and videos shown on the Port Welshpool Fishing Guide are Fishing Mad originals. Thank you for visiting the Port Welshpool Fishing Guide. If you feel this location guide is missing key information or needs any corrections made, then please let us know by emailing our team at [email protected] with specific details in the email. Please also feel free to share any fishing pictures you have from this location with us. Thank you
