Snapper
Excellent
Fish are thinner inshore. Work the deeper structure and the channel edges with baits on the bottom, and pick the tide change.
Sorrento Fishing Report
Updated Tue, 10 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
The tip of the Mornington Peninsula: the Sorrento and Portsea piers on the bay, the Rip and Point Nepean, and the back beaches on Bass Strait.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Next tide
High 12:41 am model
Air / High
12 °C / 24 °C
Wind
E 17 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Sorrento rewards patience today, with cool water and short feeding windows. Today brings clear skies, wind E around 18 km/h, steady pressure near 1017 hPa and a high of 23 °C. Tides: high 12:41 am and 12:21 pm, low 6:39 am and 6:19 pm: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. Water sits around 17 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 12:16 AM-2:16 AM and 12:44 PM-2:44 PM: the windows to build the day around.
Southern calamari
Excellent
Spring and autumn are the seasons: the weed beds on the rising tide, slow sinking jigs.
Flathead
Good
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.
Australian salmon
Slow
The main season. Beach gutters, rock platforms and bay edges on the rising tide; metals, surf poppers and bait all work.
Tie on: Blade or vibe, slow hops · Lightly weighted plastic · Whole pilchard or squid on the bottom · Suspending hardbody. Prime windows: 12:16 AM-2:16 AM, 12:44 PM-2:44 PM, 5:38 AM-6:38 AM. Cooler at 17 °C. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.
Before you go
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.
Fishing times for Sorrento today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (06:03), sunset (20:05), the moon and today's score, with the modelled tide changes in the panel below. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 12:16 AM-2:16 AM and 12:44 PM-2:44 PM; minor 5:38 AM-6:38 AM. New Moon, 1% lit.
Water and weather
A modelled tide curve for these coordinates and the forecast for the day.
Tides (modelled)
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.
Tue
HIGH12:41 am0.85 m
LOW6:39 am-0.43 m
HIGH12:21 pm0.52 m
LOW6:19 pm-1.01 m
Wed
HIGH1:22 am0.99 m
LOW7:22 am-0.50 m
HIGH1:03 pm0.49 m
LOW7:04 pm-1.16 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp12 °C
High / Low24 °C / 11 °C
WindE 17 km/h, gusts 35 km/h
Pressure1016.5 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain1% cloud, 18%
Sunrise / Sunset06:03 / 20:05
MoonNew Moon, 1%
Water temp (seasonal)~17 °C est.
Why the tide matters here: tides and fishing in Australia.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Sorrento
The best day on Sorrento this week looks like Friday 13 Nov, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today.
Best day this week: Friday, 13 Nov — good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
Today, 10 Nov — Fair
A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
- Solunar majors
- 12:16 AM-2:16 AM and 12:44 PM-2:44 PM
- Minor period
- 5:38 AM-6:38 AM
- Sun
- 06:03 to 20:05
- Moon
- New Moon, 1% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 18 km/h
- Rain chance
- 18%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Sorrento: seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
Snapper
Best: October to January in the southern bays
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.
King George whiting
Best: December to May in SA; spring and summer in Port Phillip
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
Spring and autumn peaks in the southern bays
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.
Australian salmon
Winter and spring on the southern beaches
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.
Flathead
Best: November to April
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.
When to come: the Sorrento calendar
Activity by species and month for the southern year, and how the water warms and cools. Tap any cell.
Species activity by month
1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted. January is midsummer here.
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Snapper
King George whiting
Southern calamari
Australian salmon
Flathead
SlowPeak
Water temperature through the year
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 17 °C (estimated, not a reading).
Angler reports
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.
No angler reports yetBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Sorrento today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataMon, Nov 9
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Snapper led the card at excellent. High of 19 °C, wind to 26 km/h.
Sun, Nov 8
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Snapper led the card at excellent. High of 15 °C, wind to 24 km/h.
Sat, Nov 7
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Snapper led the card at excellent. High of 13 °C, wind to 32 km/h.
Before you go
Licence
Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence (RFL), from A$10.00, the same for residents and visitors. Details and where to buy →
Regulations
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.
Access
Victoria’s Recreational Fishing Licence applies at Sorrento unless you are exempt; our Victoria page lists the 2026/2027 prices.
About this water
Sorrento is a coastal town in Victoria, Australia, covered from the Victoria reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Sorrento: the full guide
Sorrento and the Heads
Sorrento is the old resort town near the tip of the Mornington Peninsula on Port Phillip, with the Sorrento and Portsea piers on the bay side, the ferry across the Rip to Queenscliff, Point Nepean National Park at the very end, with its forts and quarantine station, and the ocean back beaches on Bass Strait. It fishes from the piers, the bay beaches and the back beaches, and from boats over the southern bay. Much of the water around it belongs to the Port Phillip Heads Marine National Park, which takes in Portsea Hole, Popes Eye, the intertidal reefs at Point Nepean and the Rip itself. Queenscliff, across the water, has its own page. The conditions on this page are calculated for Sorrento.
Species and seasons
Squid are the piers’ fish, over the weed at Sorrento and Portsea through the cooler months and under the lights at night, and the reason most people search for the pier; King George whiting feed over the weed and sand of the southern bay from spring to autumn; Australian salmon run the back beaches and the heads in the cooler months; and garfish, silver trevally and flathead are pier and bay fish. Snapper come into the southern bay in spring and early summer, and gummy shark feed over the sand at night.
Reading this report here
The bay side is sheltered from a southerly and exposed to a northerly, and the back beaches the reverse, so the wind row tells you which shore to fish. The Rip runs hard on every tide, and the tide panel, a modelled curve for these coordinates labelled as a model, is for its direction, with the Bureau of Meteorology’s Port Phillip Heads times the ones that decide whether the entrance is safe to cross. Sorrento’s score is completed by the barometer and the sky, and the planner marks the days worth the drive.
Licence, access and rules
Victoria’s Recreational Fishing Licence applies at Sorrento unless you are exempt; our Victoria page lists the 2026/2027 prices. The piers, the bay beaches and the back beaches are public, and boats launch from the peninsula’s public ramps. The Port Phillip Heads Marine National Park, whose boundaries take in several of the best-known marks around the heads, is managed by Parks Victoria, and the VFA limits are on the pages in the sources.
Common questions
What can I catch from Sorrento pier?
Squid over the weed in the cooler months and under the lights at night, whiting, garfish, silver trevally and flathead, and the odd snapper in spring.
Are Portsea Hole and Popes Eye in a marine park?
Yes. Both lie within the Port Phillip Heads Marine National Park, together with the Rip and the reefs at Point Nepean; check Parks Victoria’s rules before fishing near them.
Is fishing good at Sorrento right now?
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.
Nearby waters
Where this page's numbers come from
- Tide curve (modelled)
- Open-Meteo Marine, sea level height including tides
- Open-Meteo forecast model
- https://open-meteo.com/
- Moon and solunar windows
- Calculated on this site
- Pages checked
- The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
Readings 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.