Welcome to the Gippsland Lakes Fishing Guide. Gippsland Lakes is a labyrinth of lakes and lagoons in east Gippsland that spans over 354 square kilometres. The largest of the lakes is Lake Wellington, Lake King, and Lake Victoria. The lakes are engaged by the Avon, Thomson, Latrobe, Mitchell, Nicholson and Tambo rivers. These lakes are separated from the ocean by the dunes of Ninety Mile Beach. It’s an exceptional all year round fishing destination.
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Things to do at Gippsland Lakes
Gippsland Lakes is roughly a 3 1/2 hours drive from Melbourne. A beautiful part of Victoria that spans popular townships including Lakes Entrance, Metung, Paynesville, Loch Sport and Seaspray. These townships offer excellent accommodation, cafes, boutique shops and access to the water. Popular activities to do in this area includes visiting 90-mile beach, boating across to Raymond Island, hiking, camping and an unlimited amount of recreational water activities particularly fishing, kayaking, and boating. Further up from Gippsland Lakes you have fishing delights such as Marlo, lake Tyers and Bemm River.
Fishing Gippsland Lakes
At Gippsland Lakes, you can target
- Bream
- Flathead
- King George Whiting
- Australian Salmon
- Garfish
- Estuary Perch
- Australian Bass
- Poddy Mullet
- Trevally
- Tailor
- Mullet
- Luderick
Gippsland Lakes is an exceptional bream fishery and home to many fishing tournaments locally including the Vic Bream Classic, Hobie Fishing series, and ABT Australian Bream Tournaments. Here you will find yellowfin bream, black bream, trophy-size dusky flathead, luderick, King George Whiting, Australian salmon, garfish, and tailor. As you move further up towards the river you will also find estuary perch and bass. Towards the entrance, you will find mulloway, pinkie snapper, and silver trevally, particularly within the deeper sections. There is a wide variety of fishing options for boats and kayaks. For those who will be land-based fishing, there are plenty of fishing platforms. Good baits here include sandworms, prawns, muscles, crab, and frozen options including blue bait.
Fishing with vibes and blades is a great option here as it allows you to target multiple species at once including bream flathead and tailor. These cast a fair distance, work well along drop-offs and can be fished slowly with hops, lifts, and pauses. Good options here would include eco-gear VX35s, strike pro micro vibe, Berkley big eye blades, and TT switchblades. Lightly weighted soft plastics work well in the shallows where you flick towards the banks or areas between 3 and 5 meters deep. Shallow diving hard body lures also work really well but will attract lots of attention from the aggressive tailor.
The choice of bream lures is almost endless we created a detailed video on the best bream lures and how to use them. We also recommend reading our guide on the best lures to catch bream.
A large portion of the river is shallow and weedy and for this reason surface lures, shallow diving hard body lures, shallow diving cranks, and very lightly weighted soft plastics will work well. usually using a 1/16 jig head and higher. Bream will congregate within the weed, edges, and drop-offs so these are good areas to specifically target. In extremely weedy areas surface lures worked slowly works a treat you will also catch tailor and estuary perch with this method. When flicking lures and plastics you will need an ultralight spinning outfit. This would start with a light rod around 7 foot in length either a 1-3 or 2-4 kilo class. There are so many great options to choose from in this range which can be quite confusing for beginners. When choosing a reel make sure you pick a 1000, 2040, or 2500 size is best, spooled with 4-6 pound braid and finished with a 2 or 4-pound leader. Again the range of reels on the market is amazing and the budgets vary greatly depending on your skill level and spending habits.
If you plan on fishing with baits then we would highly recommend using Sandworms, maggots, scrub worms, pilchards, mussels, yabbies, & chicken. For bait fishing again a light rod setup is best. A 2-4 kilo class rod with a 2500 size reel would be a great option spooled with 6-pound line. Beginners can go a little heavier with a 3-5 kilo rod.
Places to fish near Gippsland Lakes
Not far from here you can also try fishing at these destinations
- Lake Tyers
- Lakes Entrance
- Tanboon Inlet
- Marlo
- Broadribb River
- Metung
- Hollands Landing
- Mallacoota
- Mitchell River
- Bemm River
Recommended baits Gippsland Lakes
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.
- yabbies
- Scrub worms
- sandworms
- maggots
- mussels
- pilchards
- prawns
Watch our video on how to catch bream with bait or read our detailed guide on Bait fishing for Bream.
Recommended lures and soft plastics Gippsland Lakes
- Cranka crab
- Zman slim Swimz
- Berkley powerbait grub
- Damiki Monster Miki 2.5 sp
- Jackall Chubby
- Savage Gear Fathead Crank
- Daiwa Bait Junkie 2.5 inch grub
- Gulp 3-inch minnow
- Daiwa Bait Junkie paddle tail minnow
- Zman grubZ
- Squidge wrigglers
- eco gear ZX40
- Daiwa Double Clutch
- EcoGear SX40
- Squidges biotough grub
- Nories laydown minnow
- StrikePro cyber vibe
- Pro lure live yabby
- OSP bent minnows
- Hurricane twitch 50 shallow
Targeting Bream at Gippsland Lakes
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 imitation, shallow diving cranks, paddle tail soft plastics, curl tail soft plastics, minnow imitations, vibes, and blades. Also, try your luck with surface lures which is an exciting form of fishing with 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 structures 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.
Targeting Estuary Perch at Gippsland Lakes
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 truly 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 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 that the EPs are actively feeding on. We would recommend mixing up the retrieval speeds and pauses and playing around 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 small running sinker to a swivel and very fine leader.
Targeting Poddy Mullet at Gippsland Lakes
Poddy Mullet are a fascinating species. The school up in massive numbers and grow up to 75cm in length. They frequently jump out of the water and create an amazing spectacle for onlooking anglers. They are a dream to catch as they are strong, fast and like steam trains go on massive bursts of big runs of energy. The fascination for the species is how to catch them. I have seen schools of thousands of poddy mullet swim right past a well-presented bait or lure right in front of them. However, we have had some success using small paddle tail and grub soft plastics with scent applied. Catching them with light spinning gear is great fun and they will put your reel through its paces.
Targeting Flathead at Gippsland Lakes
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 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 target flathead with bait, we recommend using a paternoster rig or running sinker rig. Use a small ball sinker to swivel, then 50cm of 8-12 leader to a size 6 long shank hook. Good baits choices include pilchards, mussels, squid, chicken, whitebait, Pipis, blue bait, and prawns.
Targeting Tailor at Gippsland Lakes
Tailor is an aggressive predatory fish with sharp teeth with great fighting qualities. They have a similar profile to a salmon and leap out of the water when hooked. They school up in big numbers hunting baitfish in packs and breaking water often a sign that there feeding. You can catch them trolling, casting lures or bait fishing from the banks or surf. Small metal slugs, curl tail soft plastics, paddle tail soft plastics are great choices. So are staple baits like pilchard mullet, blue bait, and garfish. Either on a single hook, ganged hooks or even on light wire trace if there cutting through your leaders.
Picking a suitable outfit for tailor can be tricky as they have sharp teeth and can shred your leaders with ease. When fishing in estuary systems we would typically use a 7-foot rod in a 2-4, 3-5 or 4-6 kilo class, paired with a 2500 or 3000 reel spooled with 6-8-pound braid and slightly stronger leader. If your targeting them in the surf then a long casting surf rod spooled with 14-20 pound braid and equivalent leader would be suitable. Handle them carefully they have sharp teeth that can do some damage. If you’re getting hook-ups but dropping a lot of fish then consider using a stronger leader or light wire trace.
Images of fish supplied VFA and DEPI. All other images and videos shown on the Gippsland Lakes Fishing Guide are Fishing Mad originals. Thank you for visiting the Gippsland Lakes 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 our team at enquiries@fishingmad.com.au with specific details in the email. Thank you
