Victorian Fish Size and Bag Limits: Snapper, Whiting, Flathead and the Rest

Checked against the VFA on 14 October 2026

“In total” means one shared bag: ten of any mix of bream species, not ten of each.

The Gippsland Lakes bream rule covers the lakes and their tributaries but not Lake Tyers.

The snapper bag is 10, but no more than 3 can be 40 cm or longer. Fill it with pinkies all you like; the big reds are rationed. Once your bag is full you can’t keep catching snapper for someone else, or release earlier fish to keep bigger ones — the VFA calls that “high-grading”, and it’s illegal.

The kingfish bag dropped from 5 to 2 in the 2026 guide. The VFA reissued that notice in September 2026.

Victoria works differently from some other states. The VFA defines the bag limit as the most of a species you can take in one calendar day and have with you in, on or next to Victorian waters. Yesterday’s catch can sit in the caravan fridge, but it can’t come back to the beach with you.

A possession limit — what you can hold anywhere, including at home — only applies to a short list: southern bluefin tuna, Murray cod, abalone, yabbies, Murray spiny freshwater crayfish, and pipis.

Fish in a live well, keeper net, catch bag or esky count toward your bag. So do fish you give to someone else. Catching a mate’s bag for them is still catching your own.

• Scale fish — measure from the tip of the snout, mouth closed, to the end of the tail. Check the size straight away and release undersize fish immediately.
• Sharks — measure the partial length, from the rear-most gill slit to the base of the tail fin.
• No filleting at the water for snapper, King George whiting, black bream, dusky flathead, estuary perch, gummy and school shark, other sharks and rays, and the tunas, among others. Keep them whole or in carcass form — gutted, gilled or scaled only — until you’re away from the water. The fish cleaning tables at a boat ramp are fine.

• Lines and hooks — up to 4 lines per person in marine waters, each with no more than 2 hooks or 1 bait jig. Keep every line in sight and within 50 m of you.
• Bait jigs are legal. A bait jig is up to 6 unbaited lures with hooks under 2 cm, on a rig no longer than 3 m.
• Cast nets are illegal. A bait net of up to 6 m is allowed only in some waters, and never in Port Phillip Bay or Western Port.
• Hoop nets — up to 2, labelled with your full name and phone number. From 15 September to 15 November they’re banned in marine waters except Port Phillip Bay, Western Port, the Gippsland Lakes and other inlets.
• Spearguns and hand spears — not within 30 m of any jetty or pier, or in any marine national park or sanctuary.

The intertidal zone runs from the high-water mark out to where the water is 2 m deep. In Port Phillip Bay you can only collect marine worms, burrowing shrimp, squid, octopus and cuttlefish there. Crabs, pipis, mussels, scallops, snails and shells are off limits.

Outside the bay, you can take bivalves such as pipis and mussels from the intertidal zone, plus crabs, worms, shrimp and cephalopods. Abalone, limpets, periwinkles and turbo shells are protected. Digging tools are banned in the intertidal zone everywhere, which is why pipis are a hands-only job.

The water at St Kilda Pier is a good spot for squid, but not for rock-pool crabbing.

These marine and estuary species are protected. You must not catch them, keep them or use them as bait:

• Blue groper — eastern and western
• Black cod
• Seahorses, seadragons and pipefish
• White shark and grey nurse shark

If you hook one, release it quickly with as little harm as possible.

All fishing is banned in Victoria’s marine national parks and marine sanctuaries — no line fishing from shore or boat, no bait collecting, no spearing, no traps or nets. Around the bay that includes Port Phillip Heads Marine National Park and the Ricketts Point, Jawbone and Point Cooke marine sanctuaries. The VFA app’s “Can I fish here?” check uses your phone’s GPS to warn you as you approach a boundary.

• Frankston Pier — pinkies and calamari: two bag limits from one pier.
• Mornington Pier — snapper season regular. Count the 40 cm fish.
• Rye Pier — King George whiting and calamari country, and the whiting has to stay whole until you’ve left the pier.
• Portarlington Pier — snapper on the Bellarine side of the bay. Same 28 cm minimum as everywhere else in Victoria.

Rules can and do change. Check the VFA or call 136 186 before you fish — it’s cheaper than finding out from a fisheries officer.