Seaford Pier

Welcome to the Seaford Pier Fishing Guide. The Seaford pier is a lovely fishing destination located on the Nepean Highway overlooking Port Phillip Bay. It’s often overlooked by many as a good land base fishing destination. But can provide good fishing for garfish, mullet and flathead.

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Things to do at Seaford

Seaford is a popular residential area 36 kilometres southeast of Melbourne part of the city of Frankston only 5 kilometres away. Home to roughly 17,000 residents. local attractions include Seaford foreshore reserve a beautiful walk through lush vegetation and tee trees to the beach. You can also enjoy Keast park, edithvale wetlands, and Kanancook reserve. Close by there is the aquatic centre, artistic sculptures, botanic gardens, golf course and adventure playgrounds. During summer the sand sculptures are often a great attraction to the area. Frankston is also the gateway to the Mornington peninsula and attractions such as the hot springs and highly acclaimed golf courses.     

Fishing at Seaford Pier

At Seaford pier, you can target

• garfish
• mullet
• salmon
• flathead
• pinkies

Underneath the pier, you will find shallow waters and plenty of weed beds making a great ecosystem for garfish. Pick a spot pull up a chair and berely an isolated area as berleying is a very important tool when targeting garfish, You can purchase premade berley pellets or powder from your local tackle shop or make your own use tuna oil, chook pellets and bread. Good bait options for this will include glassies, silverfish, maggots or small pieces of pilchard or chicken. For garfish a light and sensitive rod are essential. Ideally, an 8-foot fishing rod with a 1-3 kilo rod with a 2000 reel spooled with 4-pound line is ideal. Then suspending your baits from a float and hook small enough to fit in a gars mouth. You will also catch a good number of mullet using the same fishing techniques with small hooks and small baits.

From time to time you can catch bigger fish here such as snapper. Check out our guide on targeting snapper around Melbourne. In the cooler months, schools of salmon will congregate around Seaford pier. We would recommend having with you some long casting metal lures around 40grams in weight and a 9 to 10-foot rod ready in case a school of salmon come by. Catching salmon from piers can be amazing fun if you happen to be there at the right moment. For other species of fish, an all-around rod setup will allow me to target a different range of fish and sizes. Either a running sinker rig or a paternoster rig with a sinker attached to suit your desired casting distance. A 7 foot 2-4 or 3-5 kilo fishing rod, with a 3000 size reel spooled with a 10-pound line and equivalent leader is a great starting point. You can go heavier or lighter depending on what you’re targeting. Good bait options include pilchards, raw chicken, squid and blue bait.

Baits Seaford Pier

• silverfish
• maggots
• pipi
• prawns
• snadworms
• pilchard
• blue bait
• silver whiting
• salmon
• raw chicken strips
• squid
• mussels

Lures and soft plastics for Seaford Pier

• Daiwa Bait Junkie 2.5 inch grub
• Zman slim Swimz
• Daiwa Baitjunkie 5 inch jerk shads
• Berkley gulp turtleback worm
• Savage Gear Fat Curl tails
• Daiwa Bautjunkie 4 inch grubs
• Berkley powerbait grub
• Gulp 3 inch minnow
• Dawia Bait Junkie paddle tail minnow
• Zman grubZ
• eco gear ZX40
• Daiwa Double Clutch
• EcoGear SX40
• Squidges biotough grub
• Zman StreakZ
• Munroes 3.75 inch paddle tails
• Kietech swim impact fat
• Zerek fish trap
• Samaki Vibelicious

Targeting garfish at Seaford Pier

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 snout but very small mouth so the key to catching them is to use very small size hooks. Small long shanks between size 10 and size 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 a very important tool when targeting garfish, You can purchase premade berley pellets or powder from your local tackle shop or make your own use tuna oil, chook pellets and bread.

Catching gars is all about finesse and an ultralight 1-3 or 2-4 kilo nibble tip rod that’s 7 to 9 foot in length Paired with a 1000, 2000 or 25000  size reel spooled with 4-6 lb line will be a great choice.

Targeting mullet at Seaford Pier

This is a great location to mullet a bread and butter species which school up in big numbers. They are fun to catch on light spinning gear and a great fish species to introduce beginners into 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 prawn. remember that Mullet have small mouths 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 mullets are 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 a 2-6-pound braid and equivalent leader.

Here are some helpful tips on catching Mullet with soft plastics.

Targeting Salmon at Seaford Pier

Winter is a great time to target salmon as they’re active and schooling up in big numbers. Salmon is a powerful sports fish that punches well above its weight. When hooked they produce strong bursts of speed, powerful runs, vigorous head shakes. Do keep an eye out for gutters which are patches of deeper water that Salmon will swim through in schools. These can be identified by a darker colour of the water. When bait fishing pick a surf rod between 12-15 foot in length which allows for long casts with heavy sinkers and to keep your lines high above the crashing surf. These will be 6-10 kilo class. We recommend a Paternoster rig with a star sinker. Giving you 2 baits at different heights. You could also attach a surf popper above. Port Phillip Bay Fishing Guide

When lure fishing first consider what weight lures your likely to be casting. We would recommend rods between 9-12 foot in length in 5-10 kilo class paired with a 3000 size reel spooled with 15-pound braid. Good lure options include Savage Gear Missile, Halco twisty, Ecogear Teibo, JM Gilles pilchard baitfish, Rapala X-Rap SXR, Lazer spoons, Zman slim swimz, trick swimz, Halco laser pro

Targeting Snapper at Seaford Pier

We encourage you to read our detailed guide on how to catch snapper. Snapper season locally starts around October and finishes after March. The big reds migrate inshore during this time of year because water temperatures have increased providing ideal spawning conditions. With dawn and dusk are generally considered the best times to be on the water. The most common snapper rods are 7 foot 6 inches in length with a weight class of 4-7 kilos paired with a 4000 or 5000 size reel spooled with 15-30 pound braid or mono and 40 pound leader. You can choose to fish lighter or heavier. Recommended bait options include pilchards either full or half, silver whiting, squid, garfish, mackerel and mullet. The best soft plastics are large jerk shads, whip baits, curl tails or paddle tails. Most between 4 and 7 inches in size generally coupled with a ½ or ¼ ounce jig head. Some good options include Savage Gear Fat Curl Tails, Daiwa Bait Junkie Jerk shads & Berkley 7 inch turtleback worm, Zman curl tails.

Targeting Flathead at Seaford Pier

Images of fish supplied VFA and DEPI. The header from flickr.com All images and videos shown on the Seaford Pier Fishing Guide are Fishing Mad originals.

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