Port Phillip Bay Snapper: The Spring Run, Piers, Rigs and Limits

The VFA’s acoustic tagging study tracked 85 adult snapper over about three years. Its findings set the calendar:

• September–October: the fish arrive. Adults start entering the bay in September and peak in October, as the water warms through 13–16°C. A separate VFA study put the main push at about 15°C — usually reached in October.
• November–December: the spawning peak. Tagged adults gathered in the Carrum Bight–Hobsons Bay region — roughly the bay’s north-east shore from Carrum to Williamstown. Spawning likely happens wherever the fish happen to be across the north and east of the bay.
• Mid-December to February: the big fish leave as the water passes about 19°C. Some stay until April–May, and adults gather again in deeper water off Mornington in late summer and autumn.

So October is the front half of the run: the fish are in, they’re spreading out, and they’re feeding before the spawn.

The outlook is good. The VFA called 2024 “an unprecedented snapper season” for catch rates, and in June 2026 VRFish reported that the strong 2022 year class has reached the 28 cm legal size, while the 2018 fish are now over 40 cm.

Same fish, different ages. Snapper take three to four years to reach the 28 cm legal size, and six to seven years to reach 40 cm and join the adult fishery, according to the VFA. Pinkies are the juveniles — the VFA describes smaller pinky snapper as fish up to about 35 cm. Pinkies live in the bay and Western Port for much of the year. The big spring fish that locals call reds are the migrants.

Checked against the VFA on 14 October 2026.

• Minimum size: 28 cm, measured from the snout tip (mouth closed) to the end of the tail.
• Bag limit: 10 per person per day, of which no more than 3 can be 40 cm or longer.
• No filleting at the water. Keep snapper whole or in carcass form until you’re away from the water. The cleaning tables at the boat ramp are fine.
• Licence: you need a Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence unless you’re exempt.

For everything else in the esky, see our Victorian size and bag limits.

The VFA lists no closed season for snapper. The three-over-40 rule does the rationing instead.

Piers produce mostly pinkies, with the odd big red in low light. Fish the last hour of dark into dawn, or dusk into the night. A tide change at either end of the day is the pick.

• St Kilda Pier — the closest snapper water to the CBD. Fish from the pier only: Parks Victoria prohibits fishing on the breakwater at all times, because it’s home to a little penguin colony.
• Frankston Pier — a reliable east-side pier for pinkies in spring. The calamari are a decent consolation prize.
• Mornington Pier — a Peninsula favourite, and the tagging study found adults regrouping in the deeper water off Mornington late in the season.
• Portarlington Pier — the Bellarine’s spring snapper pier, across the bay from the Melbourne crowds.
• Rye Pier — the southern bay is more whiting and calamari country than snapper ground, but a good fallback when the reds go quiet.
• Kerferd Road Pier — a couple of kilometres up the beach from St Kilda, with the same spring pinkies.
• Mordialloc Pier — in the Carrum-to-Williamstown stretch where the tagged adults gathered to spawn.
• Cunningham Pier — Geelong’s waterfront pier, for Corio Bay pinkies in spring.

The tagging study’s map of the run is a good map for a tinny: the north and east of the bay, from Hobsons Bay down through Carrum Bight. Tagged snapper also spent a lot of time around the bay’s artificial reefs. Anchor up-current of structure or a show on the sounder, berley lightly and let the baits sit.

Two rules to know before you head south:

• Don’t fish in a marine park. All fishing is banned in Port Phillip Heads Marine National Park and in the Ricketts Point, Jawbone and Point Cooke marine sanctuaries. The VFA app’s “Can I fish here?” check will warn you as you approach a boundary.
• Wear a lifejacket. In a powerboat up to 4.8 m — most tinnies — Victorian law requires everyone in an open area to wear one while the boat is underway, and in Port Phillip Heads everyone in an open area of a boat under 12 m must wear one. Everywhere else, the VFA says wear one every time.

Bait rig. Use a running sinker or a two-hook paternoster — two hooks per line is the legal maximum in Victoria. Run 15–20 kg fluorocarbon leader to 4/0–6/0 circle or octopus hooks for reds, or drop to 2/0–3/0 on a 6–8 kg leader for pinkies. Use just enough sinker to hold bottom — 1–3 ball sinkers from a pier on a slow tide, more in the boat once the run picks up.

Baits. Fresh beats frozen. Good choices:

• half pilchards
• squid or calamari strips
• silver whiting
• fillets of Australian salmon or trevally

A fresh calamari head is hard to beat — catching it yourself off the same pier is half the fun.

Lures. Soft plastics on 1/4–1/2 oz jig heads — 5–7 inch jerk shads such as Berkley Gulp Jerk Shad or Z-Man in pilchard or nuked-chicken colours. Work them slowly near the bottom. Soft vibes and micro jigs work from the boat once you’ve found fish on the sounder.

Rod and reel. A 7–8 ft 4–8 kg spin rod with a 3000–4000 reel and 10–15 lb braid covers the piers and most of the bay. Bring a landing net for bigger fish — pier rails are a long way above the water.

Snapper bite hardest around low light and the change of tide, and many anglers find big fish bolder when the water is a little dirty after a blow. An easterly is offshore on the eastern-shore piers. A strong southerly makes the whole bay unpleasant for small boats.

The Victoria bite forecast combines tide, moon and weather into a bite window for each spot, and Victoria tide times give you the changes to plan the trip around.

You’ll release a lot of snapper during the run, especially once you have three fish over 40 cm. Keep released fish in the water, use circle hooks so most are hooked in the jaw, and cut the leader rather than digging out a deep hook. VRFish’s Snapper Stewards campaign covers the details.