Bastion Point Beach (Mallacoota)

Bastion Point is Mallacoota's ocean front door: an ocean boat ramp and breakwater built in 2015 to give boats a safer, sheltered launch, with surf beach running away from the point. The ramp was argued over for years before it was built, and the salmon have shown no interest in the outcome. While most Mallacoota anglers fish the inlet, the surf here offers salmon, tailor and silver trevally for anyone who wants waves with their fishing. It is an easy drive from town and a good change of scene when the inlet is crowded. The abalone boats coming and going are the local traffic report.

Fish the beach gutters away from the ramp, casting metal slugs and pilchard baits into the white water for salmon and tailor at dawn and dusk. A paternoster rig in the gutters takes mullet, flathead and trevally. Fish a rising tide and move until you find a defined gutter. Keep well clear of the breakwater and the ramp channel, which is a working launch area.

Salmon and tailor are the main fish, with silver trevally, flathead and mullet in the gutters. Keep only what you need. Salmon have a 21 cm minimum and a combined bag of 20 with Australian herring; tailor are 23 cm with a bag of 20; silver trevally are 20 cm with a combined bag of 20.

Do not fish from the ramp or the breakwater while boats are launching and retrieving — it is a working ramp, and Gippsland Ports has issued warnings about shoaling in the approach channel. Pick days with a small swell and a westerly wind. Cape Howe Marine National Park, near the New South Wales border well to the east, is no-take. For calm-water fishing, the inlet is a few minutes away.

Bastion Point is at the end of Bastion Point Road on the southern edge of Mallacoota, with parking at the boat ramp. The beach is a short walk from the car park; sand access is not wheelchair friendly. There are public toilets at the boat ramp car park; food and supplies are in town. No fee applies to fish.

The beach faces Bass Strait and takes the swell, though the point gives some shelter. A small swell and a westerly or north-westerly wind, offshore here, are ideal; strong easterlies and southerlies bring big surf and weed. The approach channel to the ramp shoals with sand after big seas.

This is an open surf beach with rip currents that form in the same gutters that hold fish; do not wade deep to cast and keep watching the water behind you. Keep clear of boats using the ramp and channel, and do not climb the breakwater rocks in any swell; if you do fish rocks, wear a lifejacket (AS 4758 Level 50S or greater). Mallacoota's surf club patrols the beach in front of the car park in the summer holidays — fish well away from the flags, and treat the rest of the beach, and any time outside patrols, as unpatrolled. Big seas dump on the sand.

Yes, from the surf beach. Keep clear of the boat ramp and breakwater while boats are launching — it is a working ramp.

Salmon and tailor are the main catches, with silver trevally, flathead and mullet.

East Gippsland Shire completed the dual-lane boat ramp and breakwater at Bastion Point in 2015 to give boats a safer, more sheltered launch.