
Southern calamari
Spring and autumn are the seasons: the weed beds on the rising tide, slow sinking jigs.
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
Anderson Inlet and the surf beach: whiting and flathead on the inlet flats, salmon on the beach and the Eagles Nest rocks, with a tide that runs.
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Inverloch is in its cool-water rhythm: slower presentations and the warmest hours of the day. Today brings cloud cover, wind SSE around 2 km/h, rising pressure near 1026 hPa and a high of 21 °C. Tides: high 9:30 am and 9:39 pm, low 2:38 am and 3:25 pm: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. Water sits around 13 °C for the season (estimated). With the full moon, the solunar majors run 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM: the windows to build the day around.

Spring and autumn are the seasons: the weed beds on the rising tide, slow sinking jigs.

The main season. Beach gutters, rock platforms and bay edges on the rising tide; metals, surf poppers and bait all work.

Fish are thinner inshore. Work the deeper structure and the channel edges with baits on the bottom, and pick the tide change.


Fish the deeper channels and the last of the run-out; slower hops with a heavier jighead, and a bait on the bottom as back-up.
Tie on: Blade or vibe, slow hops · Lightly weighted plastic · Whole pilchard or squid on the bottom · Suspending hardbody. Prime windows: 10:25 AM-12:25 PM, 10:25 PM-12:25 AM, 4:55 AM-5:55 AM. Cooler at 13 °C with likely rain: fish ahead of the front. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.
Victoria requires a fishing licence for most fishing, from A$10.00. Victoria fishing licence: cost, rules and where to buy →
Chasing snapper here? Check the size and bag limits with VFA before you keep anything; the Snapper page has the seasons and the tactics.
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (06:02), sunset (18:16), the moon and today's score, with the modelled tide changes in the panel below. Tap a bar to see why.
Solunar majors 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM; minor 4:55 AM-5:55 AM. Full Moon, 99% lit.
A modelled tide curve for these coordinates and the forecast for the day.
Modelled sea level curve from Open-Meteo Marine for these coordinates, datum mean sea level. Fish the moving water either side of each change.
A model, not the official prediction: times can drift by tens of minutes inside bays and estuaries. Check the Bureau of Meteorology tide predictions for the exact times before you rely on them.
Latest readings
Why the tide matters here: tides and fishing in Australia.
The best day on Inverloch this week looks like Sunday 27 Sept, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today. Every day is scored by the same engine as the report above: pressure trend first, then wind, sky and season. Pick a species and the plan for that day changes with it.
Best day this week: Sunday, 27 Sept — good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
The species that matter on Inverloch: seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

The southern headline fish. Runs into Port Phillip, Western Port, the gulfs and the WA sounds in spring to spawn; holds on reef and rubble the rest of the year. Fish are thinner inshore. Work the deeper structure and the channel edges with baits on the bottom, and pick the tide change.

The table fish of the south. Feeds over sand patches between weed and reef in 2 to 10 metres, mostly by day, mostly on the moving tide. Deeper sand patches and the middle of the day; slower bites, bigger fish.

Southern calamari over weed and sand in 2 to 10 metres of the bays and gulfs; a jig fishery at dawn, dusk and under the jetty lights. Spring and autumn are the seasons: the weed beds on the rising tide, slow sinking jigs.

Not a salmon at all: a hard-fighting schooling fish of the surf and the bays, from WA around to NSW. Great on light gear, poor on the plate. The main season. Beach gutters, rock platforms and bay edges on the rising tide; metals, surf poppers and bait all work.

Dusky flathead in the eastern estuaries, sand flathead in the southern bays. An ambush predator lying on sand and mud edges waiting for whatever the tide brings. Fish the deeper channels and the last of the run-out; slower hops with a heavier jighead, and a bait on the bottom as back-up.
Activity by species and month for the southern year, and how the water warms and cools. Tap any cell.
1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted. January is midsummer here.
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 13 °C (estimated, not a reading).
Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. Nothing here is copied from a shop or a charter. The water log below tracks each day automatically.
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Southern calamari led the card at excellent. High of 22 °C, wind to 14 km/h.
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Southern calamari led the card at excellent. High of 16 °C, wind to 13 km/h.
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Southern calamari led the card at excellent. High of 15 °C, wind to 18 km/h.
Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence (RFL), from A$10.00, the same for residents and visitors. Details and where to buy →
Size and bag limits, closed seasons and marine park zones are set by VFA and change: confirm the current rules on the agency page linked from the Victoria licence page before you keep anything.
A Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence is needed at Inverloch unless you are exempt; the fees are on our Victoria page.
Inverloch is a coastal town in Victoria, Australia, covered from the Victoria reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Inverloch is the town on Anderson Inlet on the Bass Coast east of Phillip Island, with the inlet’s sand flats and channels behind the town, the entrance at Point Smythe, the surf beach running east toward Cape Paterson and the Eagles Nest and Flat Rocks platforms along it. It is an inlet-and-beach town on a tide, and the report on this page is scored for the town’s coordinates. Venus Bay has its own page.
King George whiting fish the inlet’s sand flats and channel edges from spring to autumn and are the town’s fish; flathead lie on the flats and the channels from spring to autumn; Australian salmon run the surf beach and the entrance in the cooler months; black bream fish the inlet’s upper reaches and the Tarwin mouth all year; silver trevally and mullet fill the jetties; gummy shark fish the entrance at night; and the platforms give salmon and sweep. Estuary perch push up the Tarwin from the inlet.
The inlet’s jetties along the Esplanade and the sand flats in front of the town are the whiting and flathead water, fished on the rising tide from the sand and from small boats, and the Tarwin mouth at Venus Bay is the bream water; the surf beach east of the town and the Eagles Nest platforms are the salmon spots. The ramps are on the inlet at the town and at Mahers Landing. Point Smythe at the entrance is the salmon and gummy mark on the run-out.
The inlet runs hard on the tide and the modelled tide curve, labelled as a model, is for the direction, with the Bureau for the minute; the surf beach faces south and a south-westerly closes it while the inlet stays fishable. Pressure and sky build the score at Inverloch; the planner shows the day.
A Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence is needed at Inverloch unless you are exempt; the fees are on our Victoria page. The jetties, the foreshore and the beaches are public, with ramps on the inlet; the VFA limits are in the sources.
Whiting on the flats from spring to autumn, flathead on the channels, bream in the upper reaches, salmon at the entrance in the cooler months, gummy shark at night.
Yes, unless exempt: the Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence.
Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Pablo Ruiz QuinteroReadings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on How our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.