Welcome to the Lake Tyers Fishing Guide. Lake Tyers is 4 hours drive from Melbourne, in east Gippsland about 20klm northeast of Lakes entrance. The Gippsland region stretches from East Melbourne to the New South Wales border. Gippsland is around 42,000 square kilometres home to 14 National Parks. Lake Tyers is renowned as one of the best fisheries for large flathead in Victoria with flathead up to a meter in size is not uncommon and a prized catch. It also holds a healthy number of bream and other estuary species. A great fishing location for land-based anglers, kayakers and boats.
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watch our feature video of fishing lake tyers
Things to do at Lake Tyers
East Gippsland is a beautiful location surrounded by beaches, lakes and rivers. It’s truly a magnificent location for those who love the outdoors, camping, scenic views, mountainside walks and recreational water activities. Close by there is a good range of shops, cafes, restaurants and accommodation including Lake Tyers Caravan park which is only 2 minutes drive to lake tyers boat ramp. There are many playgrounds for the kids including Patterson Park. Nearby attractions include the Lakes entrance beach, Buchan caves, Footbridge mini golf centre, Art gallery, Wyanga park winery, Lakes entrance boat cruises and fishing charters, Griffiths seashell museum, and Raymond island. Nearby townships include Lakes Entrance, Paynesville, Bairnsdale, Metung,
Fishing Lake Tyers
Lake Tyers is a beautiful fishing destination and offers great fishing for land-based anglers as well as boats and kayaks. Lake Tyers is the mecca of flathead fishing. With regular catches of flathead up to a meter in size. It’s also a great fishery for bream, luderick, tailor, leather jacket, trevally, estuary perch, whiting, poddy mullet and mullet. Nearby areas are also considered great fishing destinations such as Lakes Entrance and Marlo.
The choice of bream lures is almost endless to make things easier 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.
The Lake is huge and separates into many individual channels and arms including Fisherman’s landing arm, blackfellows arm, Toorloo arm, Nowa Nowa, Reedy arm and Camerons arm. Each of these channels and arms has unique fishing characteristics which can take some time to master. There are several areas where you can launch your boat or kayak at lake tyers. The main boat ramp is located off Lakeside Drive which has a good ramp and parking facilities. You can also launch at Fishermans Landing off Mill Point road which also has good launching and parking facilities. There is also a launching facility of Nowa Nowa but this has not been possible to use recently due to water levels Likewise with ramp 2 close to town.
Toorloo and Nowa Nowa are the 2 main divided estuary systems that eventually connect and head out to sea. Flathead is best targeted in the warmer months towards the bottom reaches of the estuary, whilst in the cooler months, they will migrate closer to the mouth entrance. The longer Nowa Nowa arm is the best spot to target estuary perch amount with a high volume of the structure, particularly in the warmer months. You will need to give consideration to what your target species is when picking a fishing outfit. For the most part, light fishing gear will serve you well here, but you do risk getting busted off by a large flathead, tailor or poddy mullet.
Poddy Mullet are fascinating species within Lake Tyers. They congregate in massive numbers and continually leap out of the water and put on an aerial display. They are however very tricky to catch and will frequently swim right past a well-presented bait or lure. When you do catch one hold on as the fight is quite epic. For land base fishing fisherman’s landing jetty on the way to Mill point is a wonderful option. A well-designed jetty with ample parking and rod holders well constricted into the jetty. Here you often see massive schools of poddy mullet swimming by and does present good catches of flathead tailor and bream. Other good land base fishing options include along the banks at Mill Point especially for bream, near the overhanging power lines and the top end of Nowa Nowa.
Lake Tyers Artificial Fishing Reefs
There are 4 artificial reefs scattered around Lake Tyers. Three of the reefs are situated in the bottom lake and a fourth is situated out from Mill Point in the Toorloo Arm. including
Recommended baits Lake Tyers
- yabbies
- Scrub worms
- sandworms
- maggots
- mussels
- pilchards
- prawns
Recommended lures and soft plastics Lake Tyers
- 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
- Dawia 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
Targeting Flathead at Lake Tyers
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 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 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 targeting 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 Bream at Lake Tyers
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 a 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 a 6-pound line. We would encourage you to read our detailed guide on Bait fishing for Bream.
Targeting Estuary Perch at Lake Tyers
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 with 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 a 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 Tailor at Lake Tyers
Tailor is an aggressive predatory fish with sharp teeth that fight hard. 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, and paddle tail soft plastics are great choices. So is full pilchard mullet, blue bait and garfish. Either on a single hook, ganged hooks and even on light wire trace if there cutting through your leaders.
Picking a suitable outfit for a 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 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.
Targeting Poddy Mullet at Lake Tyers
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 Trevally at Lake Tyers
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 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 Whiting at Lake Tyers
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 25-minute whiting masterclass as we guide you through everything you need to know to catch whiting.
Lake Tyers Map
We recommend watching our guide on great lures to catch bream.
Images of fish supplied VFA and DEPI. All other images and videos shown on the Lake Tyers Fishing Guide are Fishing Mad originals.
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