Fishing locations Barwon Heads is a beautiful and scenic Barwon heads is a quality fishing location. From land-based there’s an abundance of small fish that can be caught all year round and fishes particularly well in the winter months. Many spots to target include the beach, Barwon heads bridge, the boat ramp, the golf course and sheep-wash road.
FISH SPECIES TO TARGET
Salmon, Mullet, Trevally, Whiting, Flathead, Gurnard, Mulloway, Crabs
BEST BAITS AND LURES
Pilchards, Squid, Maggots, Scrub worms, Chicken.
When using soft plastics its hard to head grub, worm and minnow imitations. Plastics such as Savage Gear slim minnow, Z-man grubs and Berkley turtle back worms work very well in this area.
ROD SETUP
There’s a lot of small fish in this area so I like to fish with a ultra light rod setup. A 1-3 or 2-4 kilo rod. Coupled with a 2000 or 2500 size reel. It needs to be sensitive to see the bites and inquiries. Usually a very simple and light running rig or a small paternoster rig does the trick in this location. Using burley really does help keep the fish around.
MOST PRODUCTIVE TIMES
You can catch fish here at any time, but I generally would always suggest at dawn and dusk. Ideally an hour on either side. Some will fish through the night chasing the prize of a mulloway.
FAMILY FRIENDLY
This is generally a great spot for kids. I like fishing directly on the beach where the kids can run around and play in the sand and shallow water whilst some rods are setup ready for a fish to strike. They certainly don’t get bored fishing like this.
KNOWN HAZARDS
Not a lot of hazards but the beaches can get crowded, so you’ll just want to be careful and make sure your keeping safe distance of those playing on the beach, swimming or paddle boarding.
I haven’t seen any snakes in Barwon heads but closer to Geelong along the Barwon River you need to be extremely careful as Tiger snakes are very common around this area. I have bumped into a few Tiger snakes in this area along the way and urge people fishing the Barwon river to be careful and always wear strong protective gumboots and pants.