Mount Martha Rocks

Welcome to the Mount Martha Fishing Guide. This location is widely accepted as one of Melbourne’s best land-based fishing locations. Roughly 60 kilometres or a 1-hour drive from Melbourne along the Mornington Peninsula. Overlooking Port Philip Bay with several kilometres of scenic and rocky cliff faces. Seasonally, this location is a hotspot for snapper, squid, garfish and salmon but provides great year-round fishing. It’s very popular for its squid fishing, but also has a solid reputation for big land-based snapper caught from the rocks in the warmer months. You can also target both whiting and garfish in good numbers during the year.

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Things to do at Mount Martha

Access to the rocks is steep and quite dangerous, and extreme caution must be taken. Don’t take unnecessary risks, especially when carrying fishing gear down to fishable areas. The rocks are accessible off The Esplanade and are best accessed via Hearn Road, Ian Road, or Broadford Road.

Mount Martha is a scenic seaside township within the Mornington Peninsula. This stretch is a little less commercial and busy than other popular areas in the peninsula, such as Rye and Sorrento. However, it has cafes, restaurants, boutique shops, and a golf course. There are scenic walking trails, which allow you to take in the views, local wildlife and birdlife, and historic buildings. In the not-too-far distance, you have the Peninsula hot springs, wineries, lighthouses, championship golf courses, mazes and gardens, adventure playgrounds, and much more. The Mornington Peninsula is an excellent destination for families, with many activities to suit everyone. Nearby townships include Cape Schnack, Rye, Sorrento, and many more. The rocks, popular for fishing, have ample parking on gravel stretches along the main road. This is a beautiful spot, but probably not a great location for the kids due to its dangerous and challenging access.

Watch this video of Fishing Mad squid fishing at the Mount Martha rocks, it’s a ripper.

Fishing at Mount Martha Rocks

At Mt Martha Rocks or Cliffs, you can target

• Snapper
• Squid
• Garfish
• Australian Salmon
• King George Whiting
• Trevally
• Flathead
• Gummy Sharks
• Leather Jackets

What a scenic fishing destination with breathtaking views. There are many different species of fish that you can target at Mount Martha rocks, and all of them require significantly different setups. Let’s start by saying you can catch good volumes of squid and garfish. With persistence, a prized size snapper. You can also catch whiting, salmon, flathead, garfish, gummy shark, and leather jackets at this destination. Big pods of dolphins are often standard in this area.

This stretch of shoreline is full of thick weed and reef, making a perfect ecosystem for species like squid and King George Whiting. They are found in big numbers here, especially on calm days when the water is clear. If you are chasing squid, a light fishing rod between 7.5 feet and 9 feet is ideally paired with a 2500 or 3000 size reel spooled with 10 to 15-pound braid and an equivalent leader. There are plenty of egi rods on the market fit for purpose. Targeting squid on low tide here can be challenging as the water levels are shallow and full of thick weed, so your squid jigs are prone to snagging. For this reason, we highly recommend you take some slow-sinking squid jigs and squid jigs in smaller 2.5 and 3.0 sizes. You may also need to work these jigs constantly, slowly, rather than letting them sink to the bottom.

It’s best to target Snapper of the rocks casting out as far as possible, ideally with a light to medium surf rod. Snappers will arrive in these areas in spring and summer, and they can fish very well after windy days, which bring the snapper into the shallows. Longer rods and heavier sinkers allow you to cast greater distances to get fresh baits in prime areas. Fresh baits like freshly caught squid and salmon chunks will help your catch rates immensely. If you’re chasing pinkies and flathead, a paternoster rig with pilchard tail or raw chicken breast on a size 2/0 or 3/0 will fish very well. Fishing at dawn or dusk on the incoming high tide will be your best chance, especially after wind and choppy conditions. Often, species like snappers come in after a few days of strong breeze.

We recommend using a dropper or paternoster rig at this location, allowing you to change sinkers and get ample casting distance. Then, finish with a squid strip, pilchard tail, full pilchard, or silver whiting on 4/0 or 5/0 hooks, as the images below show.

The below shows a double-snelled rig, and the above shows an Ezi rig slider with interchangeable sinkers. This is great for land-based fishing using whole baits like pilchards and silver whiting. 

You can also use Paternoster rigs to present 2 chunks or strip bats like squid, and pilchards. Having an interchangeable sinker at the bottom allows you to get ample casting distance. 

You will want to use an ultralight fishing combo for small species such as garfish, leather jackets and whiting. 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 small mouths. Good baits for these species include small pieces of pilchards, prawns, silverfish, and maggots. These can be suspended from a float or a light running sinker rig. Mt Martha Rocks is also great for kayak fishing and small runabout boats. Here you can catch good volumes of squid and garfish quickly. Especially if you anchor and berley up an isolated area, if you are new to fishing and not sure where to begin, then perhaps go with a general-purpose fishing rod combo that will allow you to target multiple species at once. This might be a 3-5 kilo fishing rod coupled with a 3000 size reel spooled with 8-pound line. You’re most likely to catch many small pinkies, whiting, garfish, leather jackets, and flathead, so you don’t need to fish too heavily, but you must be prepared for the odd large snapper. If you specifically target garfish, whiting, and leather jackets, consider using small hooks, as these species have small mouths. Small hooks, such as a size 12 long shank, will increase your catch rates. We would also recommend berleying the area you are fishing, which is a great way to attract garfish and whiting. You can buy premade berley or make your own using breadcrumbs and tuna oil. 

Good bait options include pilchards, silver whiting, pipis, raw chicken, squid strips, maggots, and silverfish. You can fish this area with soft plastics to target pinkies and flathead. Picking the right conditions will ensure you can cast your soft plastics far enough. Also, remember that this area is all rock, so you are prone to having your sinkers and jig heads snagging up on the rocks. Working out how to fish this area effectively might take some time without losing too much gear.

Recommended baits Mt Martha

At this location, we 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 depend on the species you are targeting and conditions such as wind and tidal strength.

• Squid
• Salmon
• Pilchards
• Silver whiting
• Silverfish ( Good for Garfish )
• Maggots ( Good for Garfish )
• Pipis ( Good for Whiting )
• Sandworms
• Blue bait

Recommended lures and soft plastics, Mt Martha

• Squid Jigs ( squid )
• Long Casting Metal Slugs ( Australian Salmon )
• Zman 2.5 inch GrubZ
• 5 inch Jerk shads
• Berkley gulp turtleback worm ( 4 inch and 7 inch )
• 4 inch curltails
• Zman slim Swimz
• Berkley powerbait grub
• Gulp 3-inch minnow
• eco gear ZX40
• Daiwa Double Clutch
• Squidges biotough grub
• Zman StreakZ

Targeting Squid at Mt Martha Rocks

Squid is a commonly targeted species here as it is full of weed beds, making it the perfect squid ecosystem. You can learn more about targeting squid here by reading our detailed guide on How to catch squid. Stay nimble and look for signs on the pier, such as ink stains and visible weed beds. The best way to catch squid is with squid jigs cast out and worked with a series of lifts and pauses. Suspending a silver whiting or flesh bait on a prong can also work well.

There are plenty of egi rods on the market fit for purpose. Generally, a whippy medium to light rod between 7.5 feet and 9 feet in length is ideal. Paired with a 3000-size reel spooled with 10-pound braid and leader. Squid jigs can be prone to snagging in this area, and we have found a lot of locals using the smaller size of 2.5 and 3.0-gram jigs and working them slowly to avoid this problem. If the tide is running too strongly and your squid jig is not reaching the bottom, you can always add a small chin weight to get it into the strike zone. Targeting squid is a fun form of fishing growing in popularity with the reward of fresh calamari. Squid can be caught all year round. You will find them in shallow weedy areas, and they respond well to jigs in clear water conditions. Cast your squid jig to allow time for the jig to sink, then do a series of lifts and pauses to imitate a wounded prawn. The natural temptation is to strike. Instead, a subtle lift to keep line tension and a constant, slow reel is required.

Check out this instructional video guide on squid locally in Port Phillip Bay.

Targeting Snapper at Mt Martha Rocks Cliffs

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. The best times to catch snapper are Dawn, Dusk, and tide changes. 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. Regarding 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 various colours. We encourage you to read our detailed guide on how to catch snapper.

Check out this instructional video guide on how to catch snapper with soft plastics filmed locally in Port Phillip Bay.

Targeting garfish at Mount Martha

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 snouts but tiny mouths, so the key to catching them is using tiny hooks. Small, long shanks between sizes 10 and 14 are ideal choices.  The preferred rig setup should consist of using a pencil or quill float, and 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 an essential tool when targeting garfish. You can purchase premade berley pellets or powder from your local tackle shop or make your own using tuna oil, chook pellets and bread. Catching gars is about finesse and an ultralight 1-3 or 2-4 kilo nibble tip rod, 7 to 9 feet long. Paired with a 1000, 2000 or 25000 size reel spooled with 4-6 lb line will be a great choice.

Watch a detailed guide on how to catch garfish with FishingMad.