Seaford Pier

Welcome to the Seaford Pier Fishing Guide. The Seaford pier is a lovely fishing destination located on the Nepean Highway overlooking Port Phillip Bay. It’s often overlooked by many as a good land-based fishing destination. But it can provide good fishing for garfish, mullet and flathead.

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Things to do at Seaford

Seaford is a popular residential area 36 kilometres southeast of Melbourne, part of the city of Frankston, only 5 kilometres away. Home to roughly 17,000 residents. Local attractions include Seaford foreshore reserve, a beautiful walk through lush vegetation and tea trees to the beach. You can also enjoy Keast Park, Edithvale Wetlands, and Kanancook Reserve. Close by, there is the aquatic centre, artistic sculptures, botanic gardens, golf course and adventure playgrounds. During the summer, the sand sculptures are often a great attraction in the area. Frankston is also the gateway to the Mornington Peninsula and attractions such as the hot springs and highly acclaimed golf courses.     

Watch an instructional guide on pier fishing for garfish

Fishing at Seaford Pier

At Seaford Pier, you can target

• garfish
• mullet
• salmon
• flathead
• pinkies

Underneath the pier, you will find shallow waters and plenty of weed beds, making an excellent ecosystem for garfish. Pick a spot, pull up a chair and be ready as 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 using tuna oil, chook pellets and bread. Good bait options for this will include glassies, silverfish, maggots or small pieces of pilchard or chicken. For garfish, a light and sensitive rod is essential. Ideally, an 8-foot fishing rod with a 1-3 kilo rod with a 2000 reel spooled with 4-pound line is ideal. Then, suspend your baits from a float and hook small enough to fit in a gars mouth. You will also catch a good number of mullet using the same fishing techniques with small hooks and small baits.

From time to time, you can catch bigger fish here, such as snapper. Check out our guide on targeting snapper around Melbourne. In the cooler months, schools of salmon will congregate around Seaford pier. We recommend having some long casting metal lures, around 40 grams in weight, and a 9 to 10-foot rod ready, in case a school of salmon comes by. Catching salmon from piers can be fantastic fun if you happen to be there at the right moment. For other species of fish, an all-around rod setup will allow me to target a different range of fish and sizes. Either a running sinker rig or a paternoster rig with a sinker attached to suit your desired casting distance. A 7 foot 2-4 or 3-5 kilo fishing rod, with a 3000 size reel spooled with a 10-pound line and equivalent leader is a great starting point. You can go heavier or lighter depending on what you’re targeting. Good bait options include pilchards, raw chicken, squid and blue bait.

Best Baits Fishing Seaford Pier

• silverfish
• maggots
• pipi
• prawns
• snadworms
• pilchard
• blue bait
• silver whiting
• salmon
• raw chicken strips
• squid
• mussels

Lures and soft plastics for Seaford Pier

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 garfish at Seaford Pier

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 a large snout but a tiny mouth, so the key to catching them is to use very small hooks. Small long shanks between size 10 and size 14 are ideal choices.  The preferred rig setup should consist of using a pencil or quill float, and then having 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 using 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 feet in length. Paired with a 1000, 2000, or 25000 size reel spooled with 4-6 lb line, this setup will be a great choice.

Learn how to make your own garfish rigs

Targeting Salmon at Seaford Pier

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.

 

Targeting Snapper at Seaford Pier

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.

Check out this video guide on how to catch snapper with soft plastics filmed in Port Phillip Bay.

Targeting Flathead at Seaford Pier

Targeting mullet at Seaford Pier

This is a great location to mullet a bread and butter species that schools up in big numbers. They are fun to catch on light spinning gear and a great fish species to introduce beginners to fishing. Mullet respond well to berley, so berley an isolated area with a mix of bread, tuna oil and chook pellets. Good baits include bread, dough, live maggots, pilchard, and prawn. Remember that Mullet have small mouths, so cut these baits into small pieces. You can also use soft plastics small minnow and grub style soft plastic with a slow constant retrieve. Scents such as S-Factor or Procure certainly help. Most mullets are quite small; therefore, a 7-foot rod in a 1-3 or 2-4 kilo class, paired with a 1000, 2000 or 2500 reel spooled with a 2-6-pound braid and equivalent leader.

 

Images of fish supplied VFA and DEPI. The header from flickr.com All images and videos shown on the Seaford Pier Fishing Guide are Fishing Mad originals. Thank you for visiting the Seaford Pier 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