The Rip

Welcome to The Rip Fishing Guide. The Rip is a treacherous stretch of water connecting Port Phillip and the Bass Strait. It’s the only entrance in and out of Port Phillip Bay, roughly 3.5 kilometres wide. It is located between Point Lonsdale and Point Nepean, separating the Bellarine and Mornington Peninsulas. As the tide comes in and out through this narrow stretch of water, it creates powerful currents and water flow. Boaters must take extreme caution when navigating these waters and pay very close attention to tide times, wave height, wind strength, and wind direction when planning trips here. There are reefs and rocky grounds on each side, which reduces the workable width to about 1 km and roughly 800m outside the Heads is a shallow rocky flat called the Rip Bank. Navigating this area can be challenging as the depths frequently change from as shallow as 15 meters to beyond 80 meters deep, creating channels and drop-offs.

From a fishing point of view, the Rip seasonally can provide exceptional fishing for kingfish in the rip and beyond the rip for school and barrel tuna aswell as Mako Sharks. Seeing many boats packed in a small isolated area chasing Kingies can be quite a sight.

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Navigating the Rip ( important info and Tips )

Typically, when fishing these waters, you will launch from either Queenscliff or Sorrento boat ramps.

Planning your trips in the Rip is vitally important. ( read our detailed guide on offshore fishing safety guide and planning ) Ensure you have all the necessary safety equipment such as lifejackets ( 100+ ), flares ( inshore kit and parachute ), EPIRB, Marine Radio, torch fire extinguisher, etc. Also, ensure your vessel is in good working order, that you have adequate fuel for your trip and that you have carefully studied the wind, swell and tide times. Never put yourself or your passengers in dangerous and vulnerable situations.

The best time to navigate and fish the rip is around slack tide when the water is running the least or at its weakest. You can download slack tide timetables for the Rip from the BOM Website. Just remember to select the Rip, then scroll down to the date and time. *One very important thing to note here is that in Port Phillip Heads ( The Rip ), Slack tide is approximately halfway between high and low tide. This can be very confusing when planning your trip, but it is vitally important. Often, we will look at the tide times at Williamstown, which closely reflect slack water times at the Rip.

Remember always to keep your motor running. This will allow you to react quickly to waves, boat traffic, and large vessels with shipping containers.

The Rip is a high-traffic zone as it’s a pathway for large commercial ships travelling to and from the ports in Melbourne and Geelong. Ensure you stay clear of any shipping lanes, give way to large commercial vessels navigating through here and remember that anchoring is not allowed in this stretch of water. This system is dangerous and, over the years, has claimed lives and damaged boats. If you’re unfamiliar with these waters or an inexperienced boater, we would highly recommend navigating these waters first with experienced boaters who navigate and fish here regularly.

The Rip is separated by 3 key points Point Lonsdale, Shortlands Bluff, and Point Nepean.

Things to do: The Rip ( surrounding townships )

There are many beautiful surrounding townships on either side. That would include Queenscliff, Clifton Springs, Ocean Grove on the Bellarine Peninsula, and Sorrento, Rye, and Rosebud on the Mornington Peninsula. All of these are very popular destinations for holidays around Victoria. They have clean beaches, scenic walks, parks, cafes, restaurants, and much more. These surrounding areas are popular for swimming, snorkelling, kayaking, and fishing.

Fishing The Rip

Fishing at the Rip, you can target the following species

• Kingfish ( Dec-Mar )
• School Tuna ( Dec-Mar )
• Barrel Tuna ( Winter )
• Mako sharks
• Snapper
• Gummy sharks, Bronze whaler, 7gill sharks
• Squid ( before the rip on both Bellarine and Mornington sides )
• Australian Salmon
• Wrasse

The main target species at the rip is the yellowtail Kingfish during the warmer months, typically between December and March. These are generally caught inside the rip and just outside. Schools of Kingies will typically cruise around those high tidal areas in larger schools and are often best targeted on the dropoffs and reefs. The depths can change so quickly at the rip. Some areas are as shallow as 15 meters, whilst 100 meters further down could be as deep as 90 meters deep. We have had the most success between 20 and 40 meters deep. The best way to catch them is with live squid, which you can catch around Queenscliff or Sorrento before venturing out or jigging for them. It has become very popular using heavy jigs between 80 to 180 grams, dropping them to the bottom and working them up very quickly with sharp erratic lifts. This can be a tiring form of fishing that takes some time to master, but it is extremely fun and rewarding and saves you the hassle of having to catch live squid. You can also use large flick baits and paddletails rigged on a heavy jig head minimum of 1/2 ounce because of the strong tidal waters. Cast them out and let the soft plastic sink, then do a number of aggressive up-and-down lifts to imitate a wounded baitfish going crazy. I like natural baitfish colours here, such as whites, greens, and blues. ( match the hatch ) Kingfish love swimming and patrolling along structures such as rock walls, so it pays to keep your lure or jig close to the structure.

Just beyond the rip heading to offshore waters of the Bass Straight, you can target school tuna on both sides from Barwon heads through to Angeleas. Depths of 30-50 meters are common grounds for catching them trolling skirts, diving lures such as x-Raps, looking for busting-up waters, and throwing poppers and stick baits for some crazy surface and sub-surface action. The volume of tuna has grown remarkably in this area in recent years, and it has become a world-class tuna fishery within an hour of Melbourne. Mako sharks are also a common catch outside of Barwon heads. Running large baits like a whole yakka and salmon from a balloon rigged on 12/0 snelled rigs with a wire trace. Berley can really help to bring the sharks into the area.

In the surrounding waters, you can also catch more common species such as Australian Salmon, squid, snapper, king George whiting, flathead, and wrasse. There is a wide variety of options, so pick one that matches your fishing style, vessel capability, and conditions. Let’s drill down more into the common species targeted here, particularly kingfish and tuna.

Targeting Kingfish at the Rip

Kingfish are unparalleled sports fish that possess immense power. Kingies can grow over a meter in length and have exceptional fighting qualities. They 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.

There are three ways to target kingfish in the rip. These include live baiting with squid, salmon, or yakkas, jigging, and surface and sub-surface lures. ( you can also catch them trolling small skirts ) Let’s explore each one.

Live baiting for Kingfish in the Rip

Squid is generally the best live bait option when targeting kingfish in the Rip ( you can also use Yakkas, Slimy Mackerel and Australian Salmon ). We plan our trip carefully around tide times and will catch our squid at Queenscliff or Sorrento before heading out to chase kings. We will rig the live squid on a snelled setup with one hook pinned at the top of the hood and another pinned at the bottom of the hood or the top of the head. We create these rigs with 2 x 6/0 or 7/0 hooks and an 80lb fluorocarbon leader.  We finish the rig with a strong barrel swivel, and above the swivel, run an Ezi slider with a sinker that’s between 8 and 16 ounces attached. These are very fast-flowing waters, so a heavy sinker is necessary to get your bait down. You will need a heavy rod generally 10-15 kg paired with a 8000-10000 reel spooled with 50lb braid. Kingifhs are extremely strong and powerful fish, so a heavy outfit is critical, as well as locking the drag when they hit the live baits and lifting them off any reefs.

• Rod – 10-15kg
• Reel – 8000-10000
• Leader – 80lb
• Rig – Docuble Snell to swivel and ezi rig slider for sinker
• Sinker – 6-16 ounce bomb sinker

 

Jigging for Kingfish in the Rip

In recent years, jigging for kingfish has become incredibly popular. This requires a shorter-length rod that can be down with either an overhead or spin combo setup. The benefit of overhead is that line peels of the spool straight and jigs can be dropped quicker and with more control but a spin rod combo can also work very well. In these water jigs, between 80 to 175 grams work best. We like to work the reef edges and dropoffs, which often hold good numbers of kingfish in 20-40 meters deep. Vertically dropping them to the bottom and working them up very quickly with sharp, erratic lifts. This can be a tiring form of fishing that takes some time to master, but it is extremely fun and rewarding and saves you the hassle of having to catch live squid. The setup and technique for this is quite different to live baiting.

• Rod – Shorter rod around 6 feet in length that rated PE 2-4 overhead or 10-15kg spin
• Reel – 10,12, 16 sizes overhead spooled with 50lb braid or 8000-10000 spin reel spooled with 50lb braid
• Leader – 40-80lb
• Jigs – 80-175 gram jigs

 

Catching kingfish with poppers and stick baits in the Rip

Catching big fish such as school tuna and kingfish is arguably the most fun form of fishing on the planet. Throwing a popper or stick bait into a school of feeding kingies or tuna is the stuff dreams are made of for local anglers. This is generally done with longer-length powerful rods made out of the latest technology so they are light enough to cast all day, and you can cast various lures. This technique works best by getting on the move and actively looking for some sort of surface action. This might be fish busting up in a feeding frenzy, birds circling, diving into an isolated area, or marking masses of fish or bait on your sounder. Once located, grab your spin rod and cast your popper or stick bait until the middle of the action and work it back at a fat to medium pace, often employing a sweeping action to generate more movement and action into your lure, then hold on when a big pelagic smash, your lure.

• Rod – Longer spin rod around 8 feet in length that rated PE 2-4
• Reel – 8000-10000 spin reel spooled with 50lb braid
• Leader – 40-80lb
• Lures – Surface Poppers, Stickbaits

 

Artificial Reefs for Kingfish in the Rip

Victorian Fisheries Authority (VFA) has deployed 16 artificial reef modules within four clusters at a depth of around 28 metres. Reef modules are durable, multi-dimensional, made from environmentally friendly cement, and have a large surface area for the colonisation of marine plants and animals. They are a proven and stable design that attracts yellowtail kingfish and improves marine life. To increase fishing opportunities for recreational anglers and to provide an alternative safer location away from dangerous shipping channels, the VFA has deployed the artificial reef structures approximately 800 m north-northeast of Observatory Point within Port Phillip, 2.3 km east-northeast of Point Nepean and 3.8 km north-west of Portsea.

 

Targeting Tuna at the Rip

Outside the Rip, you can catch school tuna in the warmer months; both left between Portsea and Gunnamatta and right between Barwon Heads and Anglesea and beyond. Often catching them in 30-50 meters deep. The most effective technique to catch them has been to run a spread of rods with skirts, trolling lures and teasers. Often, when you hook one, keep the boat moving forward as you will get multiple hookups within an active school. You can catch them with medium to heavy spin gear or light overhead gear. I will generally run a 10-15kg rod paired with a 8000 size reel spooled with 50lb braid. You can also catch them by casting lures such as poppers and stick baits into an active school that are busting up on the surface or marked up on your sounder.

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, fish. Tuna has remarkable fighting qualities and unparalleled eating qualities. Tuna fishing hits its peak in the colder months. Locally, we have bluefin, yellowfin, & albacore, all of which grow to massive sizes. Good ways to find tuna include watching your sounder for large bait balls, drop-offs and reefs. However, the biggest indicators are often breaking water and large congregations of birds that are diving into the water. Targeting barrels requires specialised equipment consisting of big game rods, expensive game reels and heavy lines. These are often trolled with the aid of downriggers. For many, the best way to experience this is through a specialised tuna charter operator. If you are targeting schoolies, then you can do this by using 10-15 or 10-24 kilo spin rod and a 5000-20000 size reel spooled with 30-50 pound braid. This can be a fun form of fishing.

Please remember that this is a very dangerous stretch of water that should only be taken on by very experienced boaters in the right conditions. High swell, strong tidal flow, and narrow rocky entrances make this location demanding respect.