Garden Route: Victoria Bay

The fantastic fishing spot we found on our trip to Wilderness was the Jetty at Victoria Bay, and what lovely little place it is too.

You often hear about Vic Bay in surfing circles as they have annual comp here, but this was the first time I had been. The surf break is a killer right hander with a lovely long ride. It breaks from the point so you can basically walk along the “little promenade” to the back line (short paddle out), what a pleasure.

It also makes for great surf watching as the rider moves parallel to the board walk. If I had my board with me I would have been out there in a second, and been duly flattened by the 8-9ft swell 🙂 What a gorgeous wave though.

The bay itself is tucked away and has a string of quaint guest houses along the waters edge and a FANTASTIC camp-site above with views over the bay. I am not sure which I would prefer, perhaps a bit of both; 5 days in a tent, and cap it off with the weekend in a guest house. However you work it, Fishing Camping and Surfing in one spot is hard to beat.

The best fishing there occurs at dawn and dusk, (and leading in to hight tide), which is fortunate because the casting point from the jetty is directly overlooking the surfers. I imagine that they put up a great fight in the water, and an even greater one once landed dockside.

I recommend bringing a Gas lamp, or other means of non-hand-held illumination as there is no other light to bait and tackle by. There is also a restaurant and take away by the beach in case you don’t catch, or you neeeed a toasted cheese and ham after a surf.

This website manages some of the guest houses in Vic Bay and has some great pictures of the area.

Other activities in the area include, miles of wonderful walking paths, whale and dolphin watching and all the rest the garden route has to offer.