Elwood Canal Mouth (Point Ormond)

The Elwood Canal meets the bay at Point Ormond, where a seawall and rock groynes line the shore below Point Ormond Reserve. The canal outlet brings fresh water, food and the usual estuary crowd — bream and mullet — to the mouth, while the reef and weed patches off Point Ormond hold calamari, King George whiting and flathead, with pinkies on the shallower heavy ground out from Elwood. It is a small, local spot between the big piers. After rain, the canal's contribution is mostly stormwater, which the bream appreciate more than the swimmers do.

At the canal mouth, fish small baits or soft plastics close to the walls for bream, and a float with fine berley for mullet. Off the seawall and groynes, cast squid jigs over the weed in clear water and paternoster rigs on the sand patches for whiting. A pilchard cast wide at dusk is the pinkie play. Fish the run-in tide. Elwood's dog walkers take a keen interest in an open bait bucket, so keep the lid on.

Bream (28 cm, bag 10) and mullet (no minimum, combined bag 40) at the outlet; calamari (squid combined bag 10), King George whiting (27 cm, bag 20) and pinkies (28 cm, bag 10 with no more than 3 at 40 cm or more) off the wall. Skates and rays can't be taken within 400 m of rock walls. The outlet bream run small, so measure every one.

Give the stormwater a day or two to clear after heavy rain before keeping anything caught at the outlet. In Port Phillip Bay's intertidal zone only worms, bass yabbies and cephalopods may be taken, so the rocks are not a bait source. Point Ormond's hill has the view; the canal mouth has the bream. Choose wisely.

Point Ormond Reserve sits off Marine Parade, Elwood, with parking around the reserve and the Bay Trail running past. The seawall top is uneven and the groynes are rock, so footing needs care; the reserve paths are flat. Cafes are nearby along the foreshore. Melbourne Water's drain works toward Elwood Pier mean occasional Bay Trail and foreshore path closures to the south — follow the detour signs.

The shore faces west into the bay. Calm easterly or northerly days give clear water for squid and whiting; westerlies push chop onto the wall and colour the water, which can bring pinkies in. Heavy rain sends a plume out of the canal.

Slippery seawall and rocks — wear grippy shoes and stay off them in a big westerly. Swimmers and paddlers use the beaches either side in summer. Avoid the outlet water straight after storms.

Yes, from the canal-mouth walls, seawall and groynes at Point Ormond. Bream and mullet at the outlet, squid and pinkies off the wall.

Bream and mullet at the canal outlet, and calamari, King George whiting and pinkies over the reef and weed between Sandringham and St Kilda.

No. In Port Phillip Bay's intertidal zone you may only take marine worms, burrowing shrimp, squid, octopus and cuttlefish.