Princes Pier

Princes Pier was built between 1912 and 1915 and is heritage-listed as one of the largest timber-piled wharves in Australia. It closed for decades with rotting timber and reopened to the public in 2011 after restoration; the restored deck runs about 190 metres, with the remaining several hundred metres of the old pier left as a forest of cut-down stumps. Those stumps are the whole story — they have become structure for snapper and pinkies, bream, flathead and the occasional mulloway. Few piers in Melbourne come with their own built-in reef, and fewer of them have a heritage overlay.

Cast toward the stumps rather than away from them: fish hold in and around the old piles. Soft plastics in the 3–4 inch range on light jig heads are the local favourite for pinkies around the timber, and a running-sinker or paternoster bait does the same job for those who prefer bait. Bream sit tight to the structure and want small baits or lures placed close. Expect to lose rigs — that is the toll for fishing a stump field. Walkers stop to ask what all the stumps are for, and "fish habitat" is now the correct answer.

Pinkies are the everyday target with bigger snapper in spring and summer (28 cm, bag 10, no more than 3 at 40 cm or more). Black bream (28 cm, bag 10) live in the timber, flathead (27 cm) on the sand edges, and salmon and garfish pass by in season. Mulloway turn up now and then: 60 cm minimum, bag of 5 (changes have been proposed — check the VFA guide). Skates and rays can't be taken within 400 m of any pier.

High tide is the usual call for snapper and bream around the stumps, and first and last light beat the middle of the day on this busy promenade. Station Pier next door is a security-regulated port; don't wander from Princes Pier onto port land. In the bay's intertidal zone, bait collection is limited to worms, bass yabbies and cephalopods. The stumps take their share of rigs; think of it as the price of a reef nobody had to build.

Princes Pier sits at the end of Beach Street in Port Melbourne, just west of Station Pier, with the beachfront path and cafes nearby. Parking along Beach Street is time-limited and busy on warm days. The restored deck is flat and wide, which suits families and wheelchairs. It is a popular walking and picnic spot, so expect company.

The pier points south into the top of the bay, so northerlies are offshore and calm, while southerlies and south-westerlies push chop along the deck. Snapper around Port Melbourne often fire after rain flushes the Yarra into Hobsons Bay. Clear, settled water suits the bream and flathead.

The stump field is a snag graveyard and a hazard for anyone who falls in — keep children back from the edges and don't climb onto the old piles. Wet timber is slippery. Ships manoeuvre at Station Pier next door, creating wash. Watch your back-cast on a crowded promenade.

Yes. The restored deck has been open since 2011, and the old stumps beyond it are the reason to bring a rod.

Only part of the original pier was restored — the remaining old stumps form a large underwater structure that holds snapper, pinkies, bream and flathead within casting range.

Snapper (including pinkies) are 28 cm minimum in Victoria, with a bag of 10 per person of which no more than 3 may be 40 cm or longer.