Fishing in Mornington Peninsula National Park

Mornington Peninsula National Park runs along the exposed ocean coast of the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, from Portsea in the north down to Cape Schanck in the south.

The fishing here is almost entirely shore-based and surf-focused — this is open Bass Strait coastline, not sheltered bay water, and it fishes accordingly.

London Bridge and Gunnamatta are the main access points for shore anglers, where tracks lead down to sandy beaches suited to surf fishing. The stretch from Portsea to Cape Schanck is the core of it.

Species typical of the broader peninsula — Australian salmon, whiting, flathead, gummy shark — are what anglers are working for along this coast, with conditions varying considerably depending on swell and wind direction.

The small creeks in the park's hinterland — Main Creek, Stockyard Creek, Double Creek, Lightwood Creek — drain through the park to the coast, but are not fishing destinations in their own right.

One critical boundary: parts of the coastline adjacent to the park fall within Victoria's marine national parks and marine sanctuaries network.

Under the National Parks Act 1975 (Vic), all recreational and commercial fishing — including shore fishing, bait collection, netting, and spearing — is prohibited in those designated marine protected areas, with serious penalties for breaches.

The boundaries matter here. Check with Parks Victoria before you fish any section of this coastline, because the rules are not uniform along the park's edge. State fishing regulations apply throughout the rest of the park.

The fishing is real, but so is the obligation to know exactly where you're standing before you cast.