Hopkins River Mouth (Point Ritchie)

The Hopkins estuary runs about 9.5 km from Tooram Stones near Allansford down to the mouth at Point Ritchie, and it is one of the best recreational estuaries west of Melbourne — a designated Premier River. The lower reach around Point Ritchie and the jetties by Proudfoots Boathouse is where the river meets the surf, which means the estuary regulars (bream, estuary perch, mullet) share water with salmon and the odd mulloway pushing in on the tide. Bream run to 1.6 kg, estuary perch to 1.7 kg and mulloway to 4 kg. The mouth also closes over in dry spells, which changes everything, so read the river before you read the forecast.

When the mouth is open, fish the run-in tide in the lower reaches — the week after a fresh opening produces excellent bream fishing below the Hopkins Point Road bridge. Work structure: the jetties, rock walls, channel drop-offs and weed edges. Soft plastics and small bibbed lures do the damage in clear water; bait (sandworm, crab, minnow, whitebait, cockles) wins when it is murky. Mulloway and estuary perch feed at night, so the dark hours around the tide change are worth the cold fingers.

Black bream are the main target and come year-round, with estuary perch a close second for lure casters. Yellow-eye mullet fill in on bait, salmon run in from the surf, and a mulloway is the fish that turns a regular session into a phone call. Victorian limits: bream 28 cm with a combined bag of 10, estuary perch 27 cm with a combined bag of 5 (no more than 2 Australian bass), mulloway 60 cm and 5 (changes are pending — check the current VFA guide before you keep one), Australian salmon 21 cm and 20 combined with Australian herring, and mullet no minimum with a combined 40. Bream and estuary perch cannot be filleted on or in Victorian waters.

Check whether the mouth is open before you drive — a closed mouth can leave the deeper holes low in oxygen, and the fish then move to water under about 4 m over weed beds and flats. Low light is prime time, especially along the shallow margins. Upstream, much of the east bank is private property, so stick to the public access on the Warrnambool side. If the mouth is shut, the pelicans usually know before you do, and they are rarely wrong about where the fish went.

Point Ritchie is reached from the Warrnambool side, with the Proudfoots Boathouse jetties and a boat ramp nearby on Simpson Street. There is bank access below and from the Hopkins Point Road bridge and at various spots within Warrnambool, with fish-cleaning tables near the main boat ramps. The jetties give easy, flat footing for kids; the open sand at the mouth is a different proposition once the swell is running.

Wind and current can be punishing near the entrance, and the mouth itself takes ocean swell straight in. A light northerly and a rising tide are the pick when the mouth is open. Heavy rain flushes fresh water down and pushes fish toward the mouth or out to sea; a long dry spell closes the mouth and slows things right down.

The entrance takes ocean swell and strong current — do not wade the mouth or the bar. The surf side at Point Ritchie is an unpatrolled ocean beach with rips. Jetty edges are slippery and the water drops off quickly. Between June and October the waters off nearby Logans Beach are a southern right whale nursery with a powered-craft exclusion zone, so boaters launching here need to know the boundary.

Good numbers of estuary perch to 1.7 kg, bream to 1.6 kg, mulloway to 4 kg, and yellow-eye and sea mullet.

It varies. The mouth closes during low flow, usually in summer and autumn, and reopens after rain. The week after a fresh opening is one of the best times to fish below the Hopkins Point Road bridge.

Bream 28 cm with a bag of 10, estuary perch 27 cm with a combined bag of 5 (no more than 2 Australian bass), and mulloway 60 cm with a bag of 5 — changes to the mulloway limits are pending, so check the current VFA guide.

Upstream of the mouth, much of the east side is private property, so get permission before entering; Logans Beach at the mouth is public.