Portsea Back Beach (Portsea Ocean Beach)

Portsea's back beach faces Bass Strait on the national-park side of the Peninsula, and ocean fishing sits alongside surfing and walking as what people come here for. It is a beach of reefs, gutters and serious surf, a short drive over the hill from Portsea's bayside pier. Salmon are the staple, gummy sharks come out of the deeper gutters after dark, and the surf club kiosk in summer is the only thing on the beach that is reliably biting.

Walk the beach at low tide and pick the gutters — the darker, deeper water and breaks in the wave line — then fish them on the rising tide. Cast metal lures into the wash for salmon, or fish a paternoster with pipi, squid or pilchard. For gummies, fish fresh fish or squid baits on a running sinker into the deepest gutter at dusk and into the night.

Australian salmon are the main catch, with gummy sharks at night and whiting or snapper over the sand near the reefs. Salmon 21 cm and 20 combined with Australian herring. Gummy shark 45 cm partial length (rear gill slit to tail base) and 2 combined with school shark — and they can't be filleted until you are off the water. King George whiting 27 cm and 20. Snapper 28 cm and 10 (no more than 3 of 40 cm or over).

Hooded plovers feed on this beach — give them room, keep off fenced nesting areas and fish below the high-tide line. The beach is in Mornington Peninsula National Park: no dogs anywhere in the park, including the beaches and car parks. Fish away from the patrolled flags in summer. This is ocean water, so Port Phillip's intertidal rule doesn't apply, but the 10-litre berley cap still does (it covers all waters within 1 nautical mile of the coast), and so do national-park rules.

There are four large car parks, two toilet blocks and an observation car park with lookouts, and food at the surf club kiosk in summer holidays. The beach is patrolled in summer and school holidays only. Access to the sand is by paths from the car parks. Portsea's polo-and-mansions set mostly stays on the bay side of the hill, which leaves the back beach to the salmon and the people chasing them.

A moderate south-westerly swell builds good gutters; a big swell makes the beach dangerous and fills the gutters with white water. Northerly winds are offshore and clean the water up; strong south-westerlies blow it out. Dawn, dusk and a rising tide are the windows.

Like the rest of this coast, Portsea back beach has rips, reefs and a heavy shore break — swim only between the flags and don't wade out to cast. Hooded plovers nest on the beach, so watch where you walk. Any rock platform on this coast falls inside VFA's mandatory-lifejacket zone — all rock platforms between Point Nepean and West Head — so if you step off the sand onto the rocks you must wear one (AS 4758 level 50S or greater, children in your care Level 100 or greater), and fines apply.

Yes — ocean fishing is one of the beach's main uses. It is in Mornington Peninsula National Park, so no dogs, and give nesting hooded plovers room.

Australian salmon are the staple from the surf gutters, with gummy sharks at night and the occasional whiting or snapper over the sand. Gummy and school shark are 2 combined per person per day.

Yes, on the rocks: every rock platform between Point Nepean and West Head is a mandatory-lifejacket zone for anglers — AS 4758 Level 50S or greater, children in your care Level 100 or greater, and fines apply. On the sand, wearing one is still the safe choice whenever you fish near the rocks.