Welcome to the Mallacoota Inlet Fishing Guide. Mallacoota is an exceptional all year round fishing destination located 6 ½ hours drive from Melbourne before the border of NSW. It’s located at the furthest eastern point of Gippsland within the Croajingolong National Park after passing other excellent fishing locations such as the Bemm River, Lakes Tyers, Marlo and many more. The Mallacoota inlet feeds off the Bass Strait which opens intermittently and can be quite challenging seas to navigate when it does. Once inside the Mallacoota Inlet passes scattered islands, multiple snaking channels, and a couple of artificial reefs before joining into the Genoa and Wallagaraugh Rivers.
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Things to do at Mallacoota
Mallacoota is home to roughly 1,000 residents and welcomes a large volume of tourists annually. Therefore, there are plenty of decent accommodation options including powered and unpowered campsites, hotels and house rentals. There are grocery stores, pubs, cafes, bakeries, hardware stores, banks, petrol stations and tackle stores. Before entering the township, you drive through windy roads through scenic forest lands. Then finally reached the township which overlooks the Bass Strait coastline and over the Mallacoota inlet. Behind the inlet is the Cape Howe Wilderness Area which provides a beautiful setting and truly scenic fishing. The area is also well known for surfing, whale watching, the Mallacoota golf course home to many kangaroos, bushwalking, bike riding, and bird watching.
Besides fishing the lake system, you can launch at Bastion Point and fish offshore, surf fish along many of the spectacular beaches the region has to offer, watch whales passing by offshore, go on overnight hikes or bushwalks, go bike riding, surfing, bird watching, yachting or simply go for a drive to explore the scenery. It’s a hub of recreational activity.
Watch the FishingMad team go on an awesome fishing adventure at Mallacoota
Fishing the Mallacoota Inlet
At Mallacoota you can target
- Bream
- Dusky Flathead
- Estuary Perch
- Poddy Mullet
- Trevally
- Tailor
- Australian Salmon
- King George Whiting
- Mullet
- Luderick
Mallacoota Inlet 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. There are 2 main systems known as Top Lake and Bottom Lake separated by a narrow stretch of water known as The Narrows. 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.
In Mallacoota, you will find yellowfin bream, black bream, trophy-size dusky flathead, luderick, King George whiting, 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. Mallacoota offers a wide variety of fishing options for boats and kayaks. For those who will be land-based fishing, there are plenty of fishing platforms, and Gypsy Point Wharf provides excellent fishing access. Good baits here include sandworms, prawns, muscles, crab and frozen options including blue bait. They can also try their luck at surf fishing at the entrance beach or tip beach near the golf club.
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 work a treat you will also catch tailor and estuary perch with this method. 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.
Rod & Reel Setup for Mallacoota
At this location, bream is generally the desired target species so when fishing here with lures and plastics we recommend a light spinning outfit. A 1-3kg or 2-4kg spin rod around 7 feet in length paired with a 1000, 2000 or 2500 spin reel spooled with a 4-8 lb braid and finished with a 1-rod length of 2 or 4 lb fluorocarbon leader. Join the braid and fluoro using an FG, double uni or your preferred knot. Some tournament anglers may choose to fish with straight-through fluoro for extra finesse. The range of rods and reels on the market is massive and the budgets vary greatly so pick something to match your skill level and budget. If you are fishing with baits a 2-4 kg rod paired with a 2500 size reel spooled with a 6-8 lb line would be a great option and beginners can go a little heavier with a 3-5 kilo rod.
If you plan to target bigger fish species such as dusky flathead you will want to fish with a heavier rod and reel combo. This may be a 2-4 or 3-5kg spin rod paired with a 25090 size reel. How heavy you go will depend on the lures and soft plastics you’re casting. Big swimbaits and glide baits will require a significantly heavier combo.
Best baits fishing Mallacoota Inlet
Prawns are often the go-to bait of choice around the Gippsland region. Various other baits like sandworms and maggots will also work very well. 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. Ideally using the smallest sinker you can.
- garfish
- prawns
- pilchards
- yabbies
- scrub worms
- sandworms
- maggots
- mussels
- live baits work well in this system
Best lures and soft plastics fishing Mallacoota Inlet
The volume of soft plastics and lures to choose from these is almost endless. Lightly weighted soft plastics like 2.5-inch grubs and paddle tails are an outstanding choice as well as shallow diving hard body lures, surface lures and crab and yabbie imitations.
- Cranka Crabs
- Mussel Vibes
- OSP bent minnows
- Soft plastics such as Zman grubZ, Zman slim Swimz, Berkley powerbait grub, Daiwa Bait Junkie 2.5-inch grub, Squidge wriggles, Damiki Monster Miki 2.5 sp
- Shallow diving hardbody lures such as Jackall Chubby, Breamin 45, Daiwa Double Clutch, Atomic cranks, Savage Gear Fathead Crank
- Blades such as EcoGear VX range, TT Switchblades, Berkley big eye blades
- Yabby imitations such as Pro lure live Clone prawn, Zman TRD Craw
- Vibes
You can catch dusky flatheads using the soft plastics and lures above but you may also consider bigger soft plastics, glide baits, and swimbaits.
Places to fish near Mallacoota Inlet
Not far from here, you can also try fishing at these destinations
- Bemm River
- Lakes Entrance
- Tanboon Inlet
- Marlo
- Broadribb River
- Metung
- Hollands Landing
- Mitchell River
Artificial reefs at Mallacoota
Targeting Bream at Mallacoota Inlet
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 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 a 6-pound line. We would encourage you to read our detailed guide on Bait fishing for Bream.
Targeting Dusky Flathead at Mallacoota Inlet
Please note the legal size and catch limits for Dusky Flathead typically caught in the East Gippsland region from Lake Tyers to Mallacoota Inlet. Minimum legal size 30cm – Maximum legal size 55cm – Bag Limit of 5 between 30 and 55cm. For regulation purposes, any flathead caught in Lake Tyers or any estuary east of Lake Tyers will be considered to be a dusky flathead.
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 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. Use 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 Estuary Perch at Mallacoota Inlet
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 Mallacoota Inlet
Poddy mullets are a fascinating species. The school is up in massive numbers and grows 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 Tailor at Mallacoota Inlet
A 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, paddle tail soft plastics are great choices. So is full 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 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 you are 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. Any time of day, though some fish will be more active at Dawn and Dusk. Always be careful when the river entrance opens. During this time the tidal flow can be very strong and quite dangerous. Like all rural areas always take notice of areas that might hold snakes.
Images of fish supplied VFA and DEPI. All other images and videos shown on the Mallacoota Inlet Fishing Guide are Fishing Mad originals. Thank you for visiting the Mallacoota Inlet 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
