Welcome to the Cunningham Pier Fishing Guide. Cunningham Pier is an iconic structure within the township of Geelong built in the 1850s. The pier can be seen from miles away as it stretches way out into Port Phillip Bay. It looks quite spectacular at night time all lit up. The pier was originally built as a necessary port for transporting cargo which is now handled from Corio Quay. Today its mainly used as a great fishing destination for local anglers who can fish in relatively deep waters whilst land-based fishing. The pier is just under 350 meters long and in recent times has been surrounded by restaurants, and walking trails. Seasonally it fishes very well for snapper, whiting, trevally & flathead. This is considered an all year round fishing destination only 1 hour from Melbourne.
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Things to do at Cunningham Pier, Geelong
Geelong is a massive township located 70 kilometers away from Melbourne with many shops, parks, piers, restaurants, cafes, and adventures. The town is home to roughly 75,000 residents making it a large township within Victoria. Some of the local attractions include the beautifully maintained Geelong botanic gardens. Which offers amazing landscaped gardens for the whole family to enjoy. If you’re after a bit more excitement then look no further than Geelong adventure park which has world-class rides and waterslides. Including the new Tsunami waterslide. There is also Serendip Sanctuary is not far closer to Lara which offers free access to Australia’s wildlife and gardens. The Geelong waterfront area is a lovely vibrant spot full of piers and great for walking, picnics, and eating. There are also several local breweries, markets, and art exhibitions.
Fishing at Cunningham Pier, Geelong
Cunningham pier, you can catch
- flathead
- snapper
- King George whiting
- Australian salmon
- leather jackets
- snook
- silver trevally
- mullet
- snot nose trevally
- garfish
- bream
A whole range of methods can work well during different stages of the year. A wise strategy is to have a target species in mind when fishing here this will help greatly with tackle selection and rigging up. For example, your setup for targeting flathead and pinkies will be very different from targeting salmon or garfish. Click here to read our guide on how to catch snapper around Geelong.
Baits that work well in the area will include pilchards, blue bait, yabbies, chicken, pippis, squid & sandworms. When bait fishing simple rigs such as a basic running sinker with a 6/0 long shank or Paternoster rig work well. A paternoster rig will allow you to change the sinker size to suit your desired casting distance. A technique that has proven to work well here is unweighted strips of pilchard hard up against the pier pylons which is a great way to target trevally and pinkies. We also enjoy fishing this pier with soft plastics, blades, and mid diving hard body lures. This will work well pinkies, flathead, bream, mullet, and trevally.
We generally like to use an all-round rod setup which will allow us to target multiple species. A 2–5-kilo class rod capacity, with a 3000 size reel spooled with 10-pound braid and equivalent leader. For small species such as garfish, leather jackets, and whiting, you will want to use an ultralight fishing combo. Ideally a 1-3 or 2-4 kilo fishing rod with a 1000, 2000 or 2500 size reel spooled with light line. Then use small long shank hooks and small baits as these fish have quite small mouths. Good baits for these species include small pieces of pilchard, prawns, silverfish, and maggots. These can be either suspended from a float or a light running sinker rig.
There is a decent distance between the water and the pier so it might be wise to take a long net or gaff to help you land better size fish. I prefer fishing most spots around Geelong in the early morning. High tide usually sees a big run of pinkies in summer, and low tide generally produces a healthy amount of flathead. Cunningham pier is great land-based fishing at night time. The pier is lit up at night and a great place to target pinkies, snapper, whiting, trevally during these times. However many pest species come out at night such as sand eels, scorpionfish, and stingrays.
Watch this video of Alan night fishing for whiting opposite Cunningham pier.
Baits Cunningham Pier Geelong
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.
- pilchard
- pipis
- silver whiting
- raw chicken strips
- prawns
- maggots
- squid
- mussels
Lures and soft plastics for Cunningham Pier Geelong
Check out this instructional video guide on how to catch snapper with soft plastics filmed locally in Port Phillip Bay
- Daiwa Bait Junkie 2.5 inch grub
- Zman slim Swimz
- Daiwa Baitjunkie 5 inch jerk shads
- Berkley gulp turtleback worm
- Savage Gear Fat Curl tails
- Daiwa Bautjunkie 4 inch grubs
- Berkley powerbait grub
- Gulp 3 inch minnow
- Dawia Bait Junkie paddle tail minnow
- Zman grubZ
- eco gear ZX40
- Daiwa Double Clutch
- EcoGear SX40
- Squidges biotough grub
- Zman StreakZ
- Munroes 3.75 inch paddle tails
- Kietech swim impact fat
- Zerek fish trap
- Samaki Vibelicious
Targeting Flathead at Cunningham Pier Geelong
Flathead is a year-round prospect that can be caught at any time of the day. They are an ambush predator that waits in disguise for smaller fish to swim by for 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 is a great location 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 would highly recommend reading our detailed guide on the best lures and soft plastics to catch flathead. Top choices include worm and yabby imitations, paddle tail soft plastic, curl tail soft plastics, deep diving hard body lures, vibes, swimbaits, and blades. If you are targeting flathead with bait, we recommend using a paternoster rig or running sinker rig. Using a small ball sinker to swivel, then 50cm of 8-12 leader to a size 6 long shank hook. Good bait choices include pilchards, mussels, squid, chicken, whitebait, Pipis, blue bait, and prawns.
Targeting Snapper at Cunningham Pier Geelong
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 great. 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.
Targeting Whiting at Cunningham Pier Geelong
Whiting is a bread and butter species which are fun to catch on light spinning gear and tastes great. Whiting school up in big numbers and they respond well to berley, so berley an isolated area with a mix of chicken pellets, Tuna oil, and pilchards. Whiting fishing requires finesse, so we recommend a light 1-3 or 2-4 kilo spin rod around 7 feet in length. Coupled with a light 1000-2500 size reel, spooled with 4 pounds or 6-pound line and leader. When bait fishing a simple running rig with a small sinker to swivel, then 40cm of 4-pound leader to a small baitholder long shank hook or a paternoster rig with 2 hooks and a size sinker depending on your conditions.
Watch our whiting masterclass as we guide you through everything you need to know to catch whiting.
Targeting Salmon at Cunningham Pier Geelong
Salmon are powerful sports fish that school up in big numbers. They punch well above their weight and when hooked produce strong bursts of speed, powerful runs, and vigorous head shakes. Keep an eye for gutters which are patches of deeper water that Salmon will swim through in schools. These can be identified by the darker color of the water. Salmon will happily take a range of soft plastics, lures, and baits. Including 3 and 4-inch soft plastics and long-casting metal spoons. You can target them with light spinning gear such as a 2-4 kilo rod and 2500-size reel. However, if you are targeting them land-based on the beach or surf then you will likely jump up to a 5-10 kilo rod that’s between 9-12 feet in length paired with a 3000-size reel spooled with 15-pound braid.
Check out this instructional video guide on how to catch salmon on soft plastics. Crazy action in this one.
Targeting garfish at Cunningham 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 large snout but very small mouth so the key to catching them is to use very small size 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, 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 a very important tool when targeting garfish, You can purchase premade berley pellets or powder from your local tackle shop or make your own use 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 foot in length Paired with a 1000, 2000 or 25000 size reel spooled with 4-6 lb line will be a great choice.
Targeting Snook at Cunningham Pier Geelong
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. Add 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.
Targeting Trevally at Cunningham Pier Geelong
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 plastics 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 than 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 mullet at Cunningham Pier Geelong
This is a great location to mullet a bread and butter species which school 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 mouth so remember to cut these baits up 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 helps. Most mullet 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 2-6-pound braid and equivalent leader.
Always be careful with young kids when fishing on piers. Ensure there supervised and staying away from anglers casting. I have caught a couple of sea snakes from cunningham pier, and some nasty gurnards which have poisonous spikes. Flathead is very common here so be careful of the spines behind the back of there heads which can cause lots of bleeding.
Images of fish supplied VFA and DEPI. All images and videos shown on the Cunningham Pier Fishing Guide are Fishing Mad originals.
Thanks for reading our Cunningham Pier Fishing Guide. If you feel this location guide is missing key information or needs any corrections made, then please let us know by emailing our team at enquiries@fishingmad.com.au with specific details in the email. Please also feel free to share any fishing pictures you have from this location with us. Thank you
