Point Cook Coastal Park (Skeleton Creek Mouth)

Point Cook Coastal Park runs along the bay north from the RAAF base, and its northern shoreline near the Skeleton Creek mouth sits outside the Point Cooke Marine Sanctuary, which covers the coast further south around the homestead. The water between Altona Pier and Point Cook is one of the best flathead drifts in the bay, and the Skeleton Creek mouth, on the drop-off and channels, can produce big flathead and the occasional gummy shark. It is a quiet, wild-feeling stretch next to the Cheetham Wetlands, with more birdwatchers than anglers. The sanctuary line is the one thing you must get right here.

Wade the shallows in calm weather and cast soft plastics or lightly weighted baits toward the drop-offs and channels off the creek mouth for flathead. Whiting take small baits on the sand patches. Pinkies are mostly a boat fish off this shallow shore, but a long cast with a fresh bait at dusk toward the creek-mouth channel is worth a go. Keep moving until you find fish. The birdwatchers will spot your flathead before you do; take it as a compliment.

Flathead (27 cm, combined bag 20) are the main target in the warmer months. King George whiting (27 cm, bag 20) work the sand patches, and pinkies (28 cm) are possible. Gummy sharks turn up on the channel drop-offs, mostly for anglers in boats and kayaks (45 cm partial length, combined bag 2 with school shark).

Point Cooke Marine Sanctuary, the largest of Victoria's marine sanctuaries at about 290 ha, covers the coast to the south around the homestead — all fishing and bait collection is banned inside; check the boundary markers and fish north of them. Fishing is also banned in the Cheetham Wetlands, RAAF Lake, Spectacle Lake and Lignum Lakes — fish the bay shore only — and dogs are not allowed anywhere in the park. EPA Victoria advises not to eat fish or eels from the lower Skeleton Creek catchment because of PFAS, so don't keep anything caught in the creek itself — if in doubt about a fish from the mouth channel, release it. Bring water and a hat — the shade here was last seen heading for the You Yangs.

The coastal park is reached from Point Cook Homestead Road, with the Bay Trail now running continuously from Williamstown to the park. Parking and facilities are concentrated near the homestead to the south; the northern shoreline is a walk along the trail. It is flat but exposed, with no shade on the shoreline.

The shoreline faces south-east across the bay. Calm northerly or westerly days give clear, flat water for wading; south-easterlies make it choppy and dirty. The flats are shallow, so a rising tide pushes fish in toward the creek mouth. On a still morning the loudest thing out here is a pelican landing.

Wading means stingrays, soft mud and sharp shell — shuffle your feet and wear footwear. The shoreline is remote and exposed; tell someone where you are going. Stay out of the marine sanctuary and the RAAF base land to the south.

Yes, outside the Point Cooke Marine Sanctuary. The sanctuary covers the coast around the homestead to the south and is no-take; the northern shoreline near the Skeleton Creek mouth is outside it. Check the boundary markers.

No — EPA Victoria advises not to eat fish or eels from the lower Skeleton Creek catchment because of PFAS.

Flathead are the main fish (the Altona–Point Cook stretch is one of the bay's best flathead drifts), with King George whiting on the sand, big flathead and the odd gummy shark off the Skeleton Creek drop-offs, and pinkies at dusk.