Fishos with a 4WD and a kayak can best enjoy the secluded Red River and Wingan Inlet region.
There is also good surf and rock fishing.
For those fit enough to carry their fishing gear long distances, the area has a superb 100km bushwalking track, which includes many small sections that fishermen find well worthwhile.
From Betka River, the Old Coast Road leads to a 4WD track past little Shipwreck Creek, to the larger Benedore River, which is often landlocked.
The Benedore can be fished by cartopper or canoe for bream.
Between Benedore River and Red River is Sandpatch Point, which has rock fishing on the east side.
Further west, on a 4WD track, is Red River and Easby Creek.
Access is on the East Wingan Road off the Princes Highway.
The track forks off to Red River and Easby Creek.
Both creeks can be fished by canoe or cartopper.
Red River is often landlocked and has only limited bank access.
Lakes Entrance is one of Victoria’s great fishing regions. Photo by Phil Whitehouse/flickr
Lakes Entrance is a town located near the sea entrance of Victoria’s tidal Gippsland Lakes, a vast area of interconnected tidal waterways.
The lakes cover an area of about 350sqkm between Lakes Entrance, Bairnsdale and Sale.
The largest waterways are Lake Wellington, Lake King and Lake Victoria. These are fed by the Avon, Thomson, Latrobe, Mitchell, Nicholson and Tambo Rivers, and the lakes drain into the Bass Strait through the sea mouth 2km southwest of Lakes Entrance CBD.
To the east is the separate Lake Tyers, a small tidal waterway often closed to Bass Strait, but sometimes opened by prevailing weather and water levels. Though smaller than the above-mentioned lakes it is mostly navigable by recreational vessels and fishes well.
Lakes Entrance and the Gippsland Lakes region offers a bit of everything, including surf, estuary, offshore and freshwater fishing.
The sea opening is not safe for trailer boats, but the lakes themselves produce plenty of fish.
Landbased anglers can try the following fishing spots …
*Eastern Beach off Eastern Beach Rd for salmon, tailor and mullet; *Kalimna Jetty for bream, luderick, flathead, tailor and salmon; *Kalimna Wall for luderick and bream; *Nungurner Jetty and the north side of Reeve Channel; *Fishermen’s Wharf at Paynesville; *Crane Jetty at Shaving Point (mulloway); *Raymond Island Jetty; (bream and flathead) *Montague Point (bream and big flathead); *Point Harrington spit (flathead and flounder); *Resides Jetty north of Point Scott.
Using lures is a way to avoid some of the juvenile bream.
Artificial reefs have been installed in the lakes and these host a range of species.
The Tambo River has good bream, with bankside fishing spots.
Access to the Tambo is below the Princes Hwy Bridge via the Metung Rd and above the bridge via the Upper Tambo Rd.
Downstream access is via McFarlanes Rd. Launch boats at the Johnsonville ramp.
The river mouth into the lake is a great place for big bream, especially after rain.
Marshalls Flat on the west bank is a popular landbased area, as is Rough Rd, off Metung Rd.
The upper river fishes best in dry weather. mulloway are caught.
The Nicholson River has little landbased access, but the small area called The Pear Tree, on the west bank about 1.5km below the Princes Hwy bridge, is a good spot.
The Mitchell River has a boat ramp at Eagle Point gives access to good spots such as The Cut, where the river flows into Jones Bay. Bream, estuary perch, flathead, mullet and garfish are caught.
Landbased fishing is at East Riverbank Rd and at the jetty next to the Lucknow Bridge.
The upper river’s snags fish best in summer.
Lake King fishes best after rain, which forces fish out of the rivers.
Eagle Point Bay is good after rain when fish are flushed from Mitchell River.
The same applies for Tambo Bay and Salt Creek near the Tambo River.
Jones Bay is good for pumping bait, and fishes best after heavy rain. Lake Wellington is a large lake with an average depth of only 2.5m.
It is fed by the Avon, Perry and Latrobe Rivers, and at the south-east end drains into Lake Victoria through McLennans Strait.
There is no tidal influence.
On the north shore, Marley Landing, which is 1km west of the Avon River entrance into the lake, gives access to the Avon River mouth, with flathead, whiting and bream.
On the south bank, Bull Bay has a launch site on a track off Seacombe Rd.
A boat ramp is at Seacombe at the top of the strait. The strait has bream and estuary perch, with luderick in autumn. The lake can become rough.
Lake Victoria
Lake Victoria is 25km long and 2.5km wide, with an average depth over 5m.
It has very little tidal influence. Water flows through McLennans Strait if wind or rain changes the lakes’ levels.
Good access, travelling south, is at Paradise Beach, Golden Beach, Delray Beach, Seaspray – from Longford – and Woodside and Reeves Beaches further south.
Fishing near Merrimans Creek mouth near Seaspray during flooding produces mulloway.
Edithburgh is on the east side of the “foot” of Yorke Peninsula, about a three-hour road trip from Adelaide.
The town’s small jetty punches above its weight for tommy ruffs and squid. Night fishing is best.
king george whiting are caught from the jetty, and occasional salmon and snapper.
Edithburgh has a modern boat harbour with all-tide multi-lane ramp.
Most local species can be caught at Troubridge Shoals, Tapley Shoal and Marion Reef, but currents can be strong and fishing is best done at the turn of the tide.
This is an area that should only be fished by boat in ideal weather.
Gar are dabbed at night in calm summer weather, preferably when there is no moon.
Flounder are speared in shallow areas.
Rocks between Edithburgh and Troubridge Point produce salmon, snook, snapper and squid.
Not far from Edithburgh, the long jetty at Port Giles produces loads of tommy ruffs, chow, squid and slimy mackerel. The jetty has produced snapper in years past.
