Welcome to the Sanctuary Lakes Fishing Guide. Sanctuary Lakes is located 20 kilometres west of the Melbourne CBD within the surrounding suburb of Point Cook. An interesting fishing location built around the highly acclaimed Greg Norman-designed golf course. The lake roams around an established residential area. The lake itself is a shallow and weedy water system with pumps located at the back circulating water from Port Phillip Bay. It’s quite possibly one of the worst kept secrets in Melbourne and on its day it can be a great fishing destination for bream and mullet with suspending hard body lures and soft plastics.
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Please note the following key points.
- This is a residential area and respect must be shown to all residents.
- Ensure you don’t leave any litter ( clean up after yourself and leave it as you found it )
- Show respect to local wildlife and birdlife. Take care to properly dispose of any unwanted or tangled fishing line. Fishing line bins have been scattered around the lake.
- Fish only in the areas that you are permitted to fish. Keep a lookout for signs or ask the security gate at the entrance which can explain the allowable fishing zones. The prohibited areas include the sandy areas and all the channels.
- Keeping or eating any fish is not recommended. This fishery should be treated as a pure catch and release system. The lake is a stormwater drain and the water quality is very poor. Major Algal Blooms have been regularly noted here which can cause respiratory illness, skin irritation and allergic reactions.
- Do not fish with too many rods, we recommend using a maximum of 1 rod per person.
Things to do at Sanctuary Lakes
Sanctuary Lakes is a residential area with around 3000 lots and 7000 residents. This is all built around the highly acclaimed 18 holes of Greg Norman championship golf course. A links-style course that has hosted some prestigious golfing events. The clubhouse has available conference rooms, a bar and a restaurant. There is also an on-premise gym and fitness centre. You can walk or cycle around the lake with paved pathways. Or you can hit the water on your kayak or canoe. Just keep in mind that the system is quite shallow and weedy. The weed is dredged periodically throughout the year. And of course, there is fishing a popular activity form this location.
Have a look at our video which highlights the quality fish that can be caught at this location.
Fishing at Sanctuary Lakes
At sanctuary lakes, you can target both bream and mullet which are in healthy numbers and grow to good sizes. Fish can be caught any time of day, the mullet often get a little more aggressive at sunrise and sundown. This is a great location for catch and releases fishing and in particular fishing with lures and soft plastics. We highly recommend using an ultralight spin rod. Starting with a 1–3 or 2-4 kilo capacity rod coupled with a 1000, 2000 or 2500 size reel. The reel should be spooled with light line 4 to 6-pound braid finished with a rod length of 4-pound leader would be our preference. This would make a great and sensitive outfit to feel the bites and inquiries of timid bream and mullet. When fishing Sanctuary Lakes the best options are shallow diving hard body lures and small soft plastics. My favourite in the warmer months when bream are sitting in the edges are shallow diving hard body lures.
The choice of lures is almost endless to make things easier we created a detailed video on the best lures and how to use them.
If you plan to fish with bait then yabbies, scrub worms, prawns, sandworms, maggots, pilchards, mussels, & chicken are good options. When bait fishing a 2-4 kilo rod with a 2500 size reel spooled with 6-pound line would make a suitable choice. Have a read of our detailed guide on how to catch bream with bait.
Recommended baits Sanctuary Lakes
- yabbies
- Scrub worms
- sandworms
- maggots
- mussels
- pilchards
- prawns
Recommended lures and Sanctuary Lakes
- Zman slim Swimz
- Pontoon 21 Crackerjack
- Berkley powerbait grub
- Damiki Monster Miki 2.5 sp
- Jackall Chubby
- Cranka crab
- 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
Targeting Bream at Sanctuary 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 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 6-pound line. We would encourage you to read our detailed guide on Bait fishing for Bream.
Watch our detailed video on the best lures and soft plastics to use when fishing sanctuary lakes. Or our detailed guide on catching bream with lures.
Targeting Mullet at Sanctuary Lakes
This is a great location to mullet a bread and butter species that 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 prawns. remember that Mullet have a 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 help. Most mullet is 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.
Here are some helpful tips on catching Mullet with soft plastics.
Images of fish supplied VFA and DEPI. All other images and videos shown on the Sanctuary Lakes Fishing Guide are Fishing Mad originals.
Thanks for reading our Sanctuary Lakes 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