Kerferd Road Pier
Summary for 12 Oct 2026
Bite Compass is showing a medium fish activity bite score on 12 Oct 2026. Wind is around SW at 20 km/h. Solunar feeding windows are listed below.
Feeding Windows
Local Knowledge
Kerferd Road Pier pokes out from the beach where Albert Park meets Middle Park, and along with St Kilda Pier it's one of the bay's two best-known flathead piers. The bottom here is sand with scattered weed, ideal for flathead and a regular path for pinkies, trevally and garfish. It is also a pier that thousands of people walk every week without noticing anyone is fishing — until a flathead comes up.
For flathead, fish a paternoster with pilchard, whitebait, prawn or squid, or soft plastics retrieved along the sand — fan casts around the pier and slow retrieves find them. Pinkies take baits on the bottom at dawn and dusk. Garfish need a float, tiny hooks and a light berley trail on the run-in tide. Squid jigs worked near weed patches pick up calamari when the water is clear. Flathead strike like they've been waiting all morning — they have.
Flathead are the specialty from October to March (27 cm, combined bag 20). Pinkies are around year-round and bigger snapper in spring (28 cm, bag 10 with no more than 3 at 40 cm or more). Silver trevally, garfish, salmon and calamari make up the mixed bag. Skates and rays can't be taken within 400 m of any pier, jetty or rock wall, so banjos and stingrays go back.
Flathead can be caught throughout the day, with a few hours either side of high tide the best window — handy on a pier where dawn is crowded with joggers rather than fishers. Keep the walkway clear; it is a heavily used promenade. Jumping and diving are prohibited on Parks Victoria piers. In the bay's intertidal zone you can't collect mussels or crabs for bait, so buy them. Flathead do not care about your 5 km run; neither, sadly, do the joggers about your flathead.
Access & Conditions
The pier sits at the beach end of Kerferd Road, Albert Park, on the Bay Trail. There is metered and time-limited parking along Beaconsfield Parade and Kerferd Road. The pier is flat and walkable for prams and wheelchairs. Dogs must be on a lead.
The pier runs south-west into the bay. Northerlies are offshore and give calm, clear water; southerlies and south-westerlies push waves at the beach and stir up the sand. Flathead like clear, settled conditions; snapper prefer the stirred-up water after a blow. The afternoon sea breeze in summer makes mornings the better session. Bring a jacket whatever the forecast says; Middle Park can run through every season of the year before your bait has been touched.
Shallow water and submerged objects around the pier — no jumping or diving. Swimmers, kitesurfers and paddleboarders use the beach either side, so cast carefully. Wet decking is slippery and the end catches the southerly chop. Handle flathead carefully — their gill spikes cut deep.
Gear & Rigs
A 7 ft 2–4 kg spin rod, 2500 reel and 8–10 lb braid with a 12–15 lb leader; 3 inch paddle-tails on 1/8–1/4 oz heads; or a paternoster with size 1–2/0 hooks on pilchard, whitebait or squid. Snapper: step up to 4–6 kg and 20 lb leader. Garfish: quill float, size 10–12 hooks, prawn or dough. Calamari: size 2.5–3.0 jigs.
Seasons
Warm months are flathead months — October to March is the peak window. Spring brings the big snapper run up the eastern side of the bay into the St Kilda area, with pinkies year-round. Garfish run late spring into winter. Autumn and winter bring salmon and calamari.
If This Spot's Blown Out
Frequently Asked
Yes — Kerferd Road Pier and St Kilda Pier are the bay's flathead hot spots. Pinkies, silver trevally, garfish, salmon and calamari are also caught.
Yes. Pinkies and calamari are dusk-and-after fish here, and the dawn crowd is joggers, not anglers.
October to March for flathead, a few hours either side of high tide by the BoM tide tables; dawn and dusk for pinkies. Calm northerly mornings give the clearest water.