Bridgewater Bay Surf Beach

Bridgewater Bay is the long, curving surf beach west of Portland that runs to Cape Bridgewater. It is a big, scenic beach with plenty of room, and it fishes like the rest of this coast: salmon in the gutters on a rising tide, gummy sharks after dark and the odd mulloway for the patient. The rock platform near the blowholes on the cape is one of Victoria's 11 mandatory lifejacket zones, so anyone fishing it must wear one. It is the sort of beach where the view does most of the work and the fish are a welcome bonus.

Start at the Cape Bridgewater end, where the cape knocks the edge off the swell and the gutters are easier to read, then walk east if it is quiet. Salmon take metal slugs and pilchards in the gutters on a rising tide. Gummies and mulloway are a night game on fresh fillet, and the long, empty beach means you can spread out. Leave the rocks below the cape alone unless the sea is flat and you are wearing a lifejacket.

Salmon are the most likely catch, with gummy sharks at night and the occasional mulloway. Victorian limits: Australian salmon 21 cm with 20 combined with Australian herring, gummy shark 45 cm partial length with 2 combined with school shark. Mulloway are 60 cm with a bag of 5 for now, but a change has been proposed, so check VFA before keeping one. Gummy sharks must be kept whole until you leave the beach.

The rock platform near the blowholes car park at Cape Bridgewater is a mandatory lifejacket zone — anyone fishing there must wear an AS 4758 lifejacket of Level 50S or greater, and children Level 100 or greater. Discovery Bay Marine National Park starts about 650 m north-west of the blowholes platform and is no-take, so never cast into it. Rock lobster has closed seasons and can only be taken by hand or with up to two hoop nets (hoop nets also have their own closed season on this coast). You must register in the GoFishVic RL app before you fish, and tag and tail-clip any lobster you keep — check the VFA guide first. Portland Surf Life Saving Club patrols the western end in summer — fish well away from the red and yellow flags.

Bridgewater Bay is reached by road from Portland towards Cape Bridgewater, with parking near the beach at the Cape Bridgewater settlement. Short tracks lead onto the sand. There are toilets, showers and a café by the surf club at the western end, but little else, so bring bait and supplies from Portland. The beach is long and the sand soft, so pack light. Whatever you forgot is back in Portland, which is exactly far enough away to be annoying.

The bay faces south and takes Southern Ocean swell, though the cape gives some shelter at the western end. A small to moderate swell is fishable; a big swell makes it dangerous. Northerly winds clean the water up. Dawn and dusk on the flood are the windows.

Open surf with rips — do not wade out to cast. The rocks at Cape Bridgewater are wave-washed and the blowholes platform is a mandatory lifejacket zone; never fish rock alone, and face the water. Check the swell, tide and wind for several days before going. If someone is washed in, throw something that floats and call 000.

On the rock platform near the blowholes car park, yes — it is one of Victoria's 11 mandatory lifejacket zones. Wearing one on any rock is good sense.

Salmon are the most likely catch, with gummy sharks at night and the occasional mulloway.

The surf beach is not, but Discovery Bay Marine National Park lies to the west around Cape Bridgewater and is no-take.