Tailor
Excellent
The main run. Fish the gutters and headlands into the evening; ganged pilchards, metals, and a wire-free trace only if you accept the bite-offs.
Central Coast Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
Brisbane Water, Tuggerah Lakes, The Entrance and a coast of beaches and headlands: the Central Coast fishes three estuaries and the sea between Sydney and Newcastle.
2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Water temp
~17 °C est.
Air / High
17 °C / 29 °C
Wind
NNW 9 km/h
Sources: Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Central Coast has cool water and fish holding a little deeper and slower. Today brings clear skies, wind NNW around 10 km/h, rising pressure near 1027 hPa and a high of 29 °C. Water sits around 17 °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.
Australian salmon
Good
The main season. Beach gutters, rock platforms and bay edges on the rising tide; metals, surf poppers and bait all work.
Mulloway
Fair
The estuary fish move to the deeper reaches. Long, quiet sessions on the bottom with fresh bait across the top of the tide.
Yellowtail kingfish
Slow
The fish thin out as the current cools; jig the deeper offshore marks and work the harbours on the warmer afternoons.
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. Warmer at 32 °C. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.
Before you go
New South Wales requires a fishing licence for most fishing, from A$7.00. New South Wales fishing licence: cost, rules and where to buy →
Chasing tailor here? Check the size and bag limits with DPIRD NSW before you keep anything; the Tailor page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Central Coast today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:41), sunset (17:53), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
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.
Water and weather
Conditions here are modelled from weather, season and the nearest stations.
No live gauge on this water
Water readings appear when a Bureau of Meteorology station covers it. Until then the seasonal curve below is the estimate.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp17 °C
High / Low29 °C / 12 °C
WindNNW 9 km/h, gusts 17 km/h
Pressure1026.7 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain18% cloud, 39%
Sunrise / Sunset05:41 / 17:53
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~17 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Central Coast
The best day on Central Coast this week looks like Wednesday 30 Sept, at 4 out of 5, against 2 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: Wednesday, 30 Sept — good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
Today, 25 Sept — Tough
Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
- Solunar majors
- 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM
- Minor period
- 4:55 AM-5:55 AM
- Sun
- 05:41 to 17:53
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Overcast, 13 km/h
- Rain chance
- 39%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Central Coast: seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
Tailor
Autumn and winter on the east coast; August to September on Fraser Island
The surf and rock fish of the east coast, running north in autumn and winter. Fast, toothy and best at dawn, dusk and into the dark. The main run. Fish the gutters and headlands into the evening; ganged pilchards, metals, and a wire-free trace only if you accept the bite-offs.
Mulloway
Best: summer and autumn, especially after rain
Jewfish. The big silver prize of the estuaries, breakwalls and surf beaches: nocturnal, tide-driven and unforgiving of noise. The estuary fish move to the deeper reaches. Long, quiet sessions on the bottom with fresh bait across the top of the tide.
Yellowtail kingfish
Best: December to April
The hardest-pulling fish within reach of the shore. Headlands, harbour markers, offshore reefs and the warm current in summer. The fish thin out as the current cools; jig the deeper offshore marks and work the harbours on the warmer afternoons.
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.
When to come: the Central Coast 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
Tailor
Mulloway
Yellowtail kingfish
Australian salmon
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 Central Coast today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataThu, Sep 24
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Tailor led the card at excellent. High of 23 °C, wind to 14 km/h.
Wed, Sep 23
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Tailor led the card at excellent. High of 22 °C, wind to 10 km/h.
Tue, Sep 22
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Tailor led the card at excellent. High of 16 °C, wind to 14 km/h.
Before you go
Licence
NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, from A$7.00, 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 DPIRD NSW and change: confirm the current rules on the agency page linked from the New South Wales licence page before you keep anything.
Access
This is New South Wales water, so the Recreational Fishing Fee applies, from A$7 for three days to A$85 for three years, with the details on our New South Wales licence page.
About this water
Central Coast is a coastal town in New South Wales, Australia, covered from the New South Wales reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Central Coast: the full guide
The coast and its waters
The Central Coast of New South Wales is the stretch between the Hawkesbury and Lake Macquarie, and it has more fishable water than most regions of the state: Brisbane Water, the drowned valley behind Gosford and Woy Woy that opens to Broken Bay; the Tuggerah Lakes, three shallow coastal lakes joined to the sea at The Entrance; the beaches and headlands from Umina to Norah Head; and the reefs and the shelf outside. Terrigal, Avoca, The Entrance and Norah Head are the names anglers use for the coast; the lakes and Brisbane Water for the calm water. The report on this page is scored for the region’s coordinates near Gosford.
Species by season
Flathead fish the sand of Brisbane Water, the lakes and the channel at The Entrance from spring to autumn; bream the rock walls, the wharves and the leases all year with a winter run to the entrances; whiting the flats and the beaches in summer; and mulloway are the night fish of The Entrance channel and the Brisbane Water holes. Tailor and salmon run the beaches and the rocks in the cooler months, kingfish come to the headlands and the Terrigal Haven in summer, luderick fish the walls in winter, snapper come onto the reefs in winter, and the Tuggerah Lakes give prawns on the dark nights of summer.
Reading this report here
The wind row decides between the estuaries and the coast: a southerly or a swell closes the rocks and the beaches and puts the fishing in Brisbane Water and the lakes, a westerly flattens the coast. Pressure and sky build the score and the planner shows the day; the tide panel is a modelled curve for these coordinates, labelled as a model, useful for the run in Brisbane Water and at The Entrance channel, where the lakes are barely tidal beyond, with the Bureau of Meteorology for the times.
Licence, access and rules
This is New South Wales water, so the Recreational Fishing Fee applies, from A$7 for three days to A$85 for three years, with the details on our New South Wales licence page. The wharves, the foreshores, the beaches and the headlands are public, with ramps throughout Brisbane Water, on the lakes and at Terrigal; the DPIRD limits and the closed waters of the estuaries are on the pages in the sources.
Common questions
Where can I fish on the Central Coast?
Brisbane Water, the Tuggerah Lakes, The Entrance channel, the beaches and headlands from Umina to Norah Head and the reefs outside.
Do I need a fishing licence on the Central Coast?
Yes. The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee applies, from A$7 for three days.
Is fishing good at Central Coast right now?
Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Nearby waters
Where this page's numbers come from
- Open-Meteo forecast model
- https://open-meteo.com/
- Moon and solunar windows
- Calculated on this site
- 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.