The township of Portland is situated in south-western Victoria and is well established as Victoria’s prime game fishing port after enjoying consistent runs of southern bluefin tuna over the past six seasons. Despite its popularity as a game fishing port, the region itself provides year-round options for anglers for a variety of species. The best part is there are options for offshore, estuary, surf and breakwater anglers.
Scott Gray takes a closer look.

Offshore
Portland is situated in a unique location, adjacent to the second largest upwelling current in Australia (second only to the East Australian current). In early summer predominant south-easterly winds initiate a series of upwelling events along this part of the coast which bring nutrients to the surface and provide fuel for a very productive food chain. It’s no surprise then that schools of bluefin tuna and albacore become widespread along the continental shelf from around late February as they begin their seasonal migration past this part of the coast. The majority of the school sized bluefin are between 12 and 30 kg in weight, however each year for the last few seasons fish in excess of 100 kg have been a reasonably common capture. As you can imagine it has made this port famous across the country. The port hosts a large charter boat fleet during autumn and with the fine calm conditions that the autumn weather provides it’s not uncommon to see up to 300 or 400 recreational boats launching from this port on the good days when the fish are running. Usually the SBT charter fleet finish up by the end of July as the fish become patchy and the weather more restricting.
Both albacore and bluefin are caught using trolled skirted lures and deep diving hardbodies but more recently anglers have tried cubing with some success. Dolphin fish, striped tuna and even the occasional butterfly mackerel are also a possibility at this time of year. Early in the season most of the bluefin are caught out near the continental shelf which is about 50 km offshore but as the season progresses the fish move in close on the abundant bait and are sometimes caught in water as shallow as 20 m which is easily accessible by anglers in smaller vessels. Albacore are usually only caught in water over 200 m in depth to over the shelf, and some specimens reach respectable sizes of over 30 kilograms. Locations such as the ‘Horseshoe’ which is situated on the continental shelf to the south-west of Portland are the most popular locations to start looking for albacore and bluefin tuna out wide.
Bottom fishing out in 50 to 60 m of water behind Lawrence Rocks is very popular and produces good catches of gummy and school sharks, snapper, queen snapper (morwong) and flathead. Most of these fish can be caught on a year-round basis. Queen snapper are highly prized and are an excellent fighting and table fish.
Mako sharks are commonly encountered from spring to late autumn in the same depth and each year fish over 200 kg are captured, however most fish are between 20 and 100 kilograms. Often anglers will put a berley trail out while bottom fishing in this area which gives you a double chance of landing a nice feed of flake. Thresher sharks and bronze whalers are also a possibility in the same area.
Anglers bottom fishing out deeper between 300 and 1000 m in depth catch a variety of species when the weather is calm enough with their catches consisting of blue eye trevalla, blue grenadier, knife jaw and porbeagle sharks.

A typical gummy shark taken while drifting around 50 m of water.

Kingfish often appear in the shallow waters of the north shore and around Lawrence Rocks during the warmer months when the water temperatures are above 16°C. This usually occurs from October to April, with peak season being late summer and early autumn when conditions are warm and calm.
The north shore provides some excellent fishing for respectable kingfish with fish anywhere from 2 to 18 kg in size a possibility. Fishing with live baits and surface lures, such as poppers and stickbaits are very effective. Just remember that they are kingfish and are moody so don’t expect to catch one every trip. Live squid under a balloon are also very effective at times. One word of advice; don’t go too hard on the fish in the shallow reef terrain as you’ll be left heart broken. Locations such as the ‘Town Reef’ and ‘Abalone Farm’ or ‘Snapper Point’ are great locations to start.
Anglers either actively cast for kingfish or anchor up along the edge of the reef in 6 to 8 m of water and put a couple of baits out under balloons while bottom fishing for gummy and school sharks, whiting and snapper.
Mulloway are also targeted occasionally along the north shore from boats in the same area and each year fish over 15 kg are encountered, often by anglers fishing live baits for kingfish. The best time for a run of these fish is usually from October to November, around a new or full moon.
Fishing shallow amongst the sand and weed patches in 2 to 4 m of water along the north shore is very productive in the summer months for squid, whiting and pinky snapper. Small boats can be launched from the Allestree boat ramp on the beach at the end of Dutton Way. This saves about seven kilometres from the harbour.
During the cooler months; boats fishing just out of the harbour and along north shore target short finned pike or snook along the edges of the reef. One of the best methods is to troll small bibbed lures until you find a school. One good place to start is just out the front of the breakwater at the Town Reef which is only a kilometre from the harbour boat ramp. Lawrence Rocks to the south of the harbour is also a popular location to catch snook.
Schools of large Australian salmon also school up close to the Town Reef, along the outside breakwater and all the way through to Lawrence Rocks. These fish are often in the 1 to 3 kg bracket and are easily caught trolling rubber squid and small skirted or metal lures. While they can be caught all-year-round the cooler months produce the most consistent results.

Settling in for a surf fishing session at the mouth of the Fitzroy River in early summer.

Estuaries
The region itself is in close proximity to the Surry and Fitzroy rivers to the north-west of the township which both hold good populations of bream, mullet and the occasional estuary perch and mulloway. These rivers are fishable all-year-round. Both are reasonably small waters, with plenty of bank access in their lower reaches and they also suit small vessels less than 4.5 metres. The Surry River does not have a boat ramp so it requires launching from the bank, while the Fitzroy has a small ramp near the river mouth. Both estuaries are only navigable by boat for a few kilometres upstream. All forms of fishing produce fish with bait anglers finding most of their success using fresh baits of shrimp, Bass yabbies, spew worm and small greyback (or mullet). Lure fishing with soft plastics and hardbodies is also popular and accounts for bream and perch. The lower reaches usually fish well in the winter months when freshwater flows push the estuarine fish downstream. This can be a good option when the weather is a bit rugged out in the ocean.
Situated about an hour to the west of Portland is the mighty Glenelg River estuary which at times can be up to 60 km in length depending on the time of year. This system is well known for producing good numbers of school mulloway with larger specimens taken each year, sometimes to 20 kg in weight. Mulloway can be caught all-year-round, but usually fish better in the spring months when larger schools of fish occasionally move in from the ocean when the spring river flows subside. This creates some exceptional fishing for fish in the 2 to 8 kg class. Lures and live baits of salmon and mullet account for most of the fish, with ‘The Poles’ downstream of the Nelson Township being one of the most popular places to fish for them. The river also holds good numbers of bream, estuary perch and mullet which are often caught right through the system, although the lower reaches tend to fish exceptionally well during high river flows in the winter and early spring.

Surf
The Portland region boasts many surf beaches and produces a range of fish species seasonally. Australian salmon can be caught all-year-round on most of the open beaches with the cooler months producing the larger fish often to three kilograms in weight. The spring to autumn period produces the best beach fishing not only due to a wider variety of species on offer, but because it produces the best beach fishing conditions. This of course is ideal, especially at night when fish like mulloway, snapper, school and gummy sharks are often prolific. Fresh fillet baits of salmon or squid are preferred, but cured eel is also very effective to use on the gummy sharks and stays on the hook well as lice and pickers can be a problem some nights.
Fishing around new or full moons with small swells and light northerly winds make for the best conditions for fishing the surf at night. Suitable locations start from Portland’s north shore (about five kilometres to the east of Portland) from Snapper Point through to the mouth of the Surry and the Fitzroy Rivers. Other popular locations include Narrawong Beach and ‘Hole in the Wall’. All of the locations are easily accessible by vehicle. On the other side of the township, Bridgewater Bay, situated about 20 km to the west also fishes well during the same conditions for the same species, with Discovery Bay (just on the other side of Bridgewater Bay to the west) well-known for producing plenty of gummy and school sharks.

Breakwater
If the sea is too rough or you don’t own a boat there are plenty of landbased options in the Portland harbour, right in the central township. While there is not complete access to the entire harbour, the ‘Lee breakwater’ situated on the north side is several hundred metres long and makes for an excellent year-round fishery.
On the outside of the Lee and for those fishing after dark there is the possibility of snapper, bronze whalers, seven gill sharks, school and gummy sharks but on the inside and from the reclaimed area silver trevally, pinky snapper, King George whiting, calamari and warehou (or snotties) are regular visitors. Silvers and warehou are common in the winter months and can be caught using fresh baits fished under floats or with a paternoster rig. Fresh chicken and fillet baits are most effective; just remember to berley up to keep the school of fish around.
Occasionally schools of pelagic fish like salmon will move in close enough to cast at from the breakwall and can be caught by casting metal lures. While the cooler months see more schools of salmon, in the warmer months there’s always the chance of hooking into a yellowtail kingfish from anywhere between 2 and 10 kg in weight. These kings often surprise anglers bait fishing for snapper in the warmer months, but anglers fishing exclusively with live baits under floats tend to have the most success at the harbour entrance.
Black bream can also be caught in the harbour and up in the canal (which flows in at the southern end of the harbour near the trawler wharf). These respond best to fresh sandworm, Bass yabbies or peeled prawn baits.
In the spring months good sized whiting (sometimes more than a kilogram) become more abundant. Calamari are more prolific from around September with specimens over two kilograms a real possibility both inside and outside the breakwater. Calamari fishing is probably at its best from October to December with baited jigs and artificial both effective methods.
With the arrival of calamari usually comes a good run of big snapper around October or November and the outside of the Lee breakwater is well known for producing plenty of pinky snapper as well as specimens over 10 kg each season. This often attracts large numbers of anglers, with night time being prime for chasing big red.
So there’s a round up of what Portland has to offer, a town with something for everybody and options for anglers all-year-round, including some world class game fishing!

Scott Gray is located in south-west Victoria, but spends plenty of time chasing fish across Australia and the South Pacific. While he enjoys all forms of fishing you will often find him spinning for big brown trout in the region’s rivers and lakes or stickbaiting for kingfish or tuna along the coast. He has a rich background in fisheries science and education and is currently sponsored by Rapala VMC Australia.