Toora Jetty (Corner Inlet)

Toora Jetty is the short pontoon-style jetty beside the Toora boat ramp on the northern shore of Corner Inlet, below the town of Toora and looking across the inlet to the hills of Wilsons Promontory. It is a modest structure — a ramp jetty rather than a destination pier — but it puts a land-based angler on the edge of the Toora channel, one of the marked channels that drain the inlet's vast seagrass flats. Corner Inlet is one of the best whiting and squid waters in the state, and the jetty is the quiet, local way to sample it without the long walk of Port Welshpool. The water around it is Corner Inlet Marine and Coastal Park, where recreational fishing is allowed. It will never make a postcard, but the whiting have never asked for one.

Everything here happens on the top half of the tide. Corner Inlet's northern shore is broad and shallow, so the useful window is the run-in and the first of the run-out, when water floods the seagrass and fish move up the channel edges. A light running sinker rig with pipi, mussel or squid strip cast to the channel edge is the whiting approach; a small soft plastic or pilchard strip worked along the bottom finds flathead. Squid come over the seagrass at dawn and dusk — a size 2.5–3.0 jig cast and slowly retrieved is all it takes.

King George whiting, flathead and squid are the target species, with silver trevally and yelloweye mullet the common fillers. Bigger fish such as snapper and gummies are mainly caught from boats further out in the inlet. Victorian limits: King George whiting 27 cm and 20 a day; flathead 27 cm with a combined 20; squid no minimum and a combined 10 with octopus and cuttlefish; silver trevally 20 cm. Rays cannot be taken within 400 m of a jetty.

Plan around the BoM tide tables and the wind — Corner Inlet water levels are heavily wind-affected, so a strong westerly can hold the tide up or push it out early. Keep lines clear of boats using the ramp. Fresh squid caught on the spot makes the best bait for everything else. Corner Inlet Marine National Park, further south in the inlet, is no-take; the jetty is well clear of it.

The boat ramp and jetty are reached from Toora down to the Corner Inlet foreshore, with parking at the ramp and a short, flat walk to the jetty. Facilities at the ramp are basic; Toora township has a general store and food. There are no fees to fish the jetty.

The inlet is sheltered from Bass Strait swell, but Corner Inlet is a high-wind area exposed to strong westerly, southerly and easterly winds. Light winds and a big incoming tide are the ideal combination; a strong onshore wind dirties the shallow water and makes light-line fishing hard work. Because the water levels are so wind-driven, the actual tide can run well ahead of or behind the published times. The tide chart here is more of a suggestion than a timetable.

The flats around the jetty are soft and drain a long way at low tide; do not wade out after fish on a falling tide, as channels refill quickly. The tide can run hard along the channel — supervise children at the jetty edge. Watch for cars and trailers at the ramp, and carry a jacket: Corner Inlet winds come up fast.

Yes. The jetty beside the Toora boat ramp on Corner Inlet is open to anglers. It sits in Corner Inlet Marine and Coastal Park, where recreational fishing is allowed; keep lines clear of boats using the ramp.

King George whiting, flathead and squid are the main targets on the Toora channel, with silver trevally and yelloweye mullet as regular extras. Fish the top half of the tide.

No. The Toora foreshore is in Corner Inlet Marine and Coastal Park, where fishing is allowed. Corner Inlet Marine National Park, where all fishing is banned, lies further south in the inlet.