Welcome to the St Kilda Pier Fishing Guide. St Kilda Pier is an iconic spot within Melbourne overlooking Port Phillip Bay. Built in 1853 and opened to the public in 1904, it’s a very popular destination with a beautiful backdrop to the beach. Activities in this area include attending the market, catching a ride at Luna Park or those along the beach pathways on foot, cycling or roller skating. It’s a very popular fishing location. This pier offers excellent fishing for snapper, flathead, australian salmon and particualry popular late spring and into summer.
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Things to do at St Kilda
St Kilda is a popular Melbourne suburb with a rich history that spans along Port Phillip Bay. Only 6 kilometres south-east of the heart of Melbourne, it is home to roughly 20,000 residents. St Kilda Beach is a very popular destination for the family, especially in summer. There are nearby parks and BBQ areas. There are regular esplanade markets hosted along the main beach, the infamous trams into the city and not too far away is the iconic Luna Park. There is also the St Kilda adventure playground and botanic gardens, so this is a great spot to take the kids. They will need to be closely supervised when fishing on the pier. Enjoy the regular beach markets, jogging or cycling along the beach, or enjoy the vast array of cafes, boutique shops and nightlife along Aclan Street and Fitzroy street in a vibrant township. This brings many tourists and backpackers to a town along the beach with much to do.
The bayside coastal arts trail is a great 17-kilometre walking track that passes through Brighton. Parking is available at the pier entrance; however, you will need to pay. Paid parking is available; however, this can be a very busy area, so get in early. Avoid market days as parking is close to impossible.
Fishing at St Kilda Pier
St Kilda Pier, located at the end of Fitzroy Street, is one of Melbourne’s busiest piers, especially on balmy summer nights. It’s a great fishing location for those who live close to the CBD. Here you can target snapper, snook, flathead, salmon, mullet, gummy shark, trevally and garfish. You will need a long landing net or gaff, as there is a drop from the pier edge to the water. Good bait choices in this area include pilchard, blue bait, mussel, pippies, silver whiting, raw chicken strips, and squid. We would recommend a general-purpose medium to light 7 to 9-foot rod. You’re likely to catch many small pinkies and flathead, so you don’t want to fish too heavy, but you need to be prepared for the odd large snapper. Often I will use a running sinker rig to a swivel and 50cm of strong leader finished with a Pilchard tail or small squid head. If you’re chasing pinkies, then a paternoster rig with raw chicken breast will fish very well.
If you’re chasing big snapper, then go with a heavier outfit and a longer rod that will allow you to get your bait out further into slightly deeper water. You may consider a light to medium surf rod for this purpose. Fishing dawn or dusk on the incoming high tide will be your best chance, especially when the wind is choppy. There is good lighting at night, and you will often see many anglers fishing at sundown. Usually, there are rows of fishermen everywhere, so the biggest danger will be avoiding line tangles or walking behind someone who is casting, so be wary of those around you.
Best Baits for fishing at St Kilda Pier
At this location, we would 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 be dependent on the species you are targeting and the conditions, such as wind and tidal strength.
- Pilchards
- Squid
- Pipis
- Blue bait
- Silver whiting
- Raw chicken strips
- Prawns
Best Lures and soft plastics fishing at St Kilda 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 Snapper at St Kilda 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. For soft plastics, a 7-foot rod with a 3-6 kilo line weight paired with a 3000 size reel is a great setup. 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.
Watch this instructional video on how to catch snapper with soft plastics in Port Phillip Bay.
Targeting Flathead at St Kilsa Pier
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 ambush predators that wait 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 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 highly recommend reading our detailed guide on the best lures and soft plastics for catching flathead. Top choices include worm and yabby imitations, paddletail and curl tail soft plastics, deep diving hard body lures, vibes, and blades. If you are targeting flathead with bait, we recommend using a paternoster rig or running sinker rig. Good bait choices include pilchards, mussels, squid, chicken, whitebait, Pipis, blue bait and prawns.
Targeting Snook at St Kilda pier
These toothy critters are fun to catch on light spinning gear. You will find them in shallow weedy waters, often a bycatch for those targeting snapper, whiting and flathead. You can catch snook with staple baits such as pilchard, prawn, and squid. However, Snook loves natural-looking soft plastics retrieved at medium pace, including minnows, paddle tails, and grubs. Adding scent to the soft plastics really seems to help. Snook also respond well to shallow and mid diving hard body lures in shiny colours retrieved at a medium pace. Metal slugs and blades trolled slowly also work very well. Do handle snook with care, as they have razor-sharp teeth. Despite their sharp teeth, it’s still best to target them with light gear that you would generally use for pinkies and flathead. We recommend a 2-4 or 3-5 kilo spin rod paired with a 2500 size reel, spooled with 8-12 pound line and leader. Check out this video of a crazy snook session when kayak fishing.
Targeting Australian Salmon at St Kilda 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. 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 Gummy Shark at St Kilda Pier
We would recommend targeting gummy shark 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, 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 garfish at St Kilda
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 tiny hooks. Small long shanks between sizes 10 and 14 are ideal choices. The preferred rig setup should consist of using a pencil or quill float, 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 will be a great choice.
Images of fish supplied VFA and DEPI. All other photos and videos shown on the St Kilda Pier Fishing Guide are Fishing Mad originals. Thank you for visiting the St Kilda Pier Fishing Guide. If you believe this location guide is missing key information or requires corrections, please email our team at enquiries@fishingmad.com.au with specific details. Please also feel free to share any fishing pictures you have from this location with us. Thank you
