Welcome to the Tarwin River Fishing Guide. The Tarwin River is a lovely fishing and kayaking destination, 2 2-hour drive or 150 kilometres from Melbourne. Great location for those with kayaks and small boats, and some land based options aswell. Located within South Gippsland, next to the township of Inverloch. The river feeds Andersons Inlet and runs through the township of Tarwin. It offers scenic views and nice walking and cycling trails. 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 Tarwin River
The Tarwin River 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 Tarwin River
The Tarwin River stretches for 82 kilometres and has different species to target depending on where you are fishing. The section of Anderson’s Inlet near the river mouth is considered an estuary, and here you can catch estuary perch, mullet and bream. Closer to the mouth entrance, you can also catch trevally and salmon in good numbers, and occasional catches of flathead and pinky snapper. As you move further up the river, it becomes freshwater, and here you can target redfin, trout, carp and eels. Historically, rainbow trout were stocked in the upper reaches, but this hasn’t happened for some time. In recent years, seven scattered fishing platforms have been built to provide excellent access for both land-based fishing and kayak fishing.
In our experience, this is a great fishery primarily for estuary perch, and we have caught some good-sized ones in there over the years. Catches can be inconsistent, one day dead quiet, and the next time plenty of action. Good gear selection here would include a 1-3 or 2-4 kilo fishing rod coupled with a 1000, 2000 or 2500 size reel spooled with 4-8-pound braid and equivalent fluorocarbon leader. Effective fishing techniques include trolling hard-bodied lures and casting hard-bodied lures, soft plastics and surface lures along the shallows and banks. We highly recommend concentrating your time and effort on casting lures towards and suspending baits hard up against visible structure and depth changes when fishing here. Many of the largest fish are often caught amongst the reeds and visible timber. The trick is to present a lure or bait and tempt the bigger ones out of their structure for a reaction strike. If fishing with bait, then great options include yabbies and tube worms. Soft plastics and shallow diving hard body lures also work a treat.
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 the Tarwin River, you can catch
- Estuary Perch
- Silver Trevally
- Australian Salmon
- Bream
- mullet
- eels
- luderick
- flathead
- pinky/snapper
- redfin
- trout
- river blackfish
- carp
If you are 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 hard body 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.
Baits Tarwin River
- yabbies
- sandworms
- scrub worms
- prawns
- maggots
- squid
- mussels
Lures and soft plastics for the Tarwin River
- 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 Estuary Perch at Tarwin River
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 genuinely 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 uses 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 Trevally at Tarwin River
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, whitebait, raw chicken, pilchards, pippies, squid and mussels. Trevally will also take a range of soft plastic,s 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 Tarwin River
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 utilises 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 the structure, 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 Salmon at Tarwin River
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 Tarwin River
We encourage you to read our detailed guide on how to catch snapper. 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 feet 6 inches in length 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, either 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, Zman curl tails.
Targeting Flathead at Tarwin River
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 a running sinker rig. Good bait choices include pilchards, mussels, squid, chicken, whitebait, Pipis, blue bait and prawns.
Images of fish supplied VFA and DEPI. All other photos and videos shown on the Tarwin River Fishing Guide are Fishing Mad originals. Thank you for visiting the Tarwin River Fishing Guide. If you feel this location guide is missing any key information or needs any corrections made, then please let us know by emailing enquries@fishingmad.com.au
