Point Gellibrand

Point Gellibrand Coastal Heritage Park was one of the first European settlements and seaports of the Port Phillip District, and its bluestone seawall — repaired in recent years — now fronts some of the best inshore ground in Hobsons Bay. A large reef sits outside the Williamstown Football Ground, sloping from about 6 to 9 metres before dropping to sand, with patches of reef inshore as shallow as 4 metres. Pinkies and salmon are caught there year-round and bigger snapper arrive in the warmer months. Most anglers fish it from kayaks and small boats, but the rocky foreshore puts a long cast within reach of the inshore patches. On a footy Saturday at the ground next door, the reef is usually the quieter of the two crowds.

Cast baits or soft plastics from the foreshore rocks toward the reef patches and work them slowly near the bottom for pinkies. When salmon schools show, metal lures and long casts are the quickest way into them. Flathead sit on the sand edges between reef patches. Dawn and dusk tide changes are the windows, and a light berley trail helps hold garfish and trevally. Ned Kelly may have laid some of this seawall; he'd have been a better caster than most of us.

Pinkies and salmon are the year-round fish here, with snapper proper from spring (28 cm, bag 10, no more than 3 at 40 cm or more). Flathead (27 cm) work the sand edges in summer, and silver trevally (20 cm) and garfish turn up under berley. Salmon are 21 cm with a combined bag of 20 with herring.

Jawbone Marine Sanctuary lies around the corner to the west, just past Williamstown Beach — it is no-take, including bait collection, so check the boundary markers if you wander that way. In the bay's intertidal zone only worms, bass yabbies and cephalopods may be taken, so leave the rock pools alone. Glass is banned at the Hanmer Street picnic shelter. Kayakers will get to the reef first; take it on the chin and fish the edges they leave.

Access is via Battery Road, Williamstown, with car parks around the Timeball Tower in the east and the Quarry Picnic Area in the west; the nearest accessible toilets are at the Quarry Picnic Area. The Bay Trail runs through the park. The shoreline is rock and seawall, so footing is uneven; the paths themselves are flat and family-friendly. Dogs are not allowed at playgrounds.

The point faces south into the top of Port Phillip and catches southerly and south-westerly chop, while northerlies leave it calm. Big salmon schools can show up at any time. Clear water after settled weather suits the reef fishing; heavy rain colours Hobsons Bay from the Yarra and can bring snapper inshore.

The seawall and foreshore rocks are slippery and drop into deep water — wear grippy shoes and keep kids off the rocks. A southerly can wash spray over the lower rocks. A lifejacket is sensible if fishing the rocks alone. Watch for cyclists on the Bay Trail.

Yes, from the foreshore and seawall. Stay out of the Jawbone Marine Sanctuary to the west, where all fishing and bait collection is banned.

Pinkies and salmon are caught on the reef outside the Williamstown Football Ground year-round, with snapper in the warmer months. Flathead, trevally and garfish are also common.

Yes — Jawbone Marine Sanctuary, which is no-take, starts a few hundred metres west of the beach, so keep your casts east of it. For the reef, Point Gellibrand to the east is the better shore option.