Metung Boardwalk & Wharf

Metung is the village on a peninsula almost entirely surrounded by Lake King and Bancroft Bay, and its boardwalk and town jetties are where shore anglers start. The boardwalk is a popular shore-based spot, with bream, mullet and whiting the common catches. Spring sees Metung's town jetties fish well for bream on cut crab, soft-shell crab and local prawns. Deeper holes nearby hold tailor and pinkie snapper, and the creeks and canals give bream plenty of corners to hide in. It is the lakes at their most polished — the moored yachts cost more than most houses, and the bream are entirely unimpressed.

Fish the boardwalk and jetty edges close to the pylons and moored boats, where bream feed on barnacles and shellfish. A lightly weighted bait — cut crab, soft-shell crab, local prawn or sandworm — drifted down beside the structure on a moving tide is the standard method. Whiting want small baits on the sand patches away from the structure. Lure anglers cast small soft plastics and hard-bodies along the edges and around the boats in the early morning. Keep it quiet; bream in clear lake water spook easily under a busy boardwalk.

Black bream are the main catch, with yelloweye mullet and King George whiting the other regulars. Dusky flathead turn up on the sandy edges in the warmer months, and the deeper water off Metung holds tailor, pinkie snapper and silver trevally. Black bream inside the Gippsland Lakes and their tributaries carry a slot — 28 cm minimum and 38 cm maximum — and a bag of 7, and they must stay whole or in carcass form until you are off the water (filleting on a boat-ramp cleaning table is fine). Dusky flathead are 30–55 cm with a bag of 5 and, like bream, must stay whole until you leave the water. Snapper are 28 cm minimum with a bag of 10, of which no more than three may be 40 cm or longer.

Use the local baits: soft-shell crab, cut crab and local prawns for bream; sandworm or pipi for whiting. Fish dawn and dusk before the boardwalk fills with walkers and diners. Respect the private moorings and marina berths — fish the public boardwalk and jetties, not someone's boat. Fisheries artificial reefs off Metung and Nungurner suit anyone with a boat or kayak. Mullet runs come through in winter if you want a feed of something that is not bream.

The boardwalk runs along the Metung foreshore off Metung Road in the village centre, with parking in the village. The boardwalk is mostly flat and easier going than most lake shorelines, though jetty edges have no rails in places. The village's cafes and shops are within a short walk. It is kid-friendly with supervision, and there is no fee. Parking gets tight on summer weekends and during events.

Metung sits between Bancroft Bay and Lake King, so there is usually a sheltered side whichever way the wind blows. Out of season, the loudest thing in the village is a halyard tapping on a mast. Strong south-westerlies and easterlies whip up Lake King, and conditions on the lake change quickly with those winds. Tidal movement is modest this far from the entrance but still matters — fish a moving tide rather than slack water. Heavy rain in the Tambo catchment can discolour the water for days.

Low-risk fishing: the main hazards are jetty edges without rails, slippery boards after rain and boats manoeuvring around the marina. Watch small children on the boardwalk. Keep casts clear of moored boats and walkers. In summer, check for any blue-green algae warnings for the Gippsland Lakes before you keep fish.

The Metung boardwalk and nearby Nungurner Jetty are the popular shore-based spots, with bream, mullet and whiting the common catches. The town jetties fish well for bream, especially in spring.

Cut crab, soft-shell crab and local prawns are the go-to bream baits, with sandworm also effective. Fish them lightly weighted close to the jetty pylons on a moving tide.

Yes. Fisheries has installed artificial reefs in the Gippsland Lakes at Metung and Nungurner, built from concrete modules that attract bream and other estuary species. They are reached by boat or kayak.