Sorrento Back Beach

Sorrento Back Beach sits about 1.5 km south of Sorrento township on the Bass Strait side, with rock pools at low tide, a cafe and kiosk, and walks to Sphinx Rock and along the Coppins Track to Diamond Bay. It is pitched at swimmers, surfers and walkers, but the gutters between the reefs hold salmon and mullet, and gummies come in after dark. It is the most civilised back beach on the Peninsula, which still leaves it well short of civilised when a south-westerly is blowing.

Fish the sand gutters away from the flags with metals for salmon or a paternoster baited with pipi or squid for salmon and mullet. Night sessions with fresh fillet into the deeper gutters are for gummies. Avoid casting near swimmers or the rock-pool crowd at low tide.

Salmon and mullet in the wash, gummy sharks at night. Salmon 21 cm and 20 combined with Australian herring. Gummy shark 45 cm partial length and 2 combined with school shark, kept whole or as a carcass until you are off the water. Mullet no minimum and 40 combined.

The area is in Mornington Peninsula National Park: no dogs anywhere in the park, including beaches and car parks. The beach is patrolled on summer weekends and holidays — fish well away from the flags, and resist explaining salmon to the people in the rock pools. Keep below the high-tide line where shorebirds feed.

There is a large car park, picnic area, toilets and a cafe and kiosk. A 0.5 km circuit track runs to a lookout, a 1.2 km loop to Sphinx Rock, and the Coppins Track follows the coast to Diamond Bay. Access to the sand is by paths and steps. Sphinx Rock does look like a sphinx, provided someone tells you first.

The reefs off Sorrento Back Beach take the edge off the Bass Strait swell, so the fishable gutters sit between reef bars near the rock pools rather than along open sand. A moderate south-westerly swell opens them up; a big one sends white water over the reefs and the beach is best left alone. Northerlies are offshore and clean it up. Look at the gutters on the low tide, when the rock pools are exposed, and fish them on the flood.

Parks Victoria warns that ocean beaches are dangerous for swimming. Stay out of the rips and don't wade to cast. This coast is inside one of VFA's 11 mandatory-lifejacket zones — all rock platforms between Point Nepean and West Head — so anyone fishing from the rocks must wear a lifejacket (AS 4758 level 50S or greater, children in your care Level 100 or greater), and fines apply.

Yes — fish the gutters away from the patrolled flags for salmon and mullet, and gummies at night. No dogs in the national park.

Yes — a large car park, picnic area, toilets and a cafe and kiosk.

Yes. All rock platforms between Point Nepean and West Head are a mandatory-lifejacket zone for anglers (AS 4758 level 50S or greater). Fines apply.