Yellowtail kingfish
Good
Prime. Cast stickbaits and poppers at surface activity, jig the deeper reefs, and keep a live bait out under a balloon.
Crowdy Head Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
The small harbour and headland north of the Manning: the breakwater, the lighthouse rocks and Crowdy Bay, with kingfish, drummer and the reef outside.
2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Next tide
Low 2:39 pm model
Air / High
15 °C / 20 °C
Wind
WSW 11 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Crowdy Head has the water in the comfortable band where most of its fish feed through the day. Today brings clear skies, wind WSW around 11 km/h, rising pressure near 1019 hPa and a high of 20 °C. Tides: high 8:12 am and 8:30 pm, low 1:41 am and 2:39 pm: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. Water sits around 20 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 11:47 PM-1:47 AM and 11:23 AM-1:23 PM: the windows to build the day around.
Tailor
Fair
Rock ledges and beach gutters on the rising tide; metals cast and retrieved fast, or a whole pilchard drifted through the wash.
Mulloway
Fair
Fish the deep holes and the rock walls through a tide change after dark; live mullet, yellowtail or a large soft plastic worked slowly.
Australian salmon
Slow
Look for birds and surface splashes along the beaches and in the bays; cast metals, plastics or ganged pilchards into the school.
Tie on: Soft plastic on a 1/4 oz jighead · Small hardbody, shallow diver · Squid jig, size 3.0 · Fresh pipi or worm on a small hook. Prime windows: 11:47 PM-1:47 AM, 11:23 AM-1:23 PM, 4:48 AM-5:48 AM. Similar at 22 °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 Crowdy Head today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:45), sunset (19:20), 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 11:47 PM-1:47 AM and 11:23 AM-1:23 PM; minor 4:48 AM-5:48 AM. New Moon, 0% 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.
Mon
LOW1:41 am-0.37 m
HIGH8:12 am1.04 m
LOW2:39 pm-0.33 m
HIGH8:30 pm0.60 m
Tue
LOW2:13 am-0.31 m
HIGH8:46 am1.03 m
LOW3:22 pm-0.38 m
HIGH9:07 pm0.46 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp15 °C
High / Low20 °C / 13 °C
WindWSW 11 km/h, gusts 31 km/h
Pressure1019.3 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain1% cloud, 11%
Sunrise / Sunset05:45 / 19:20
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~20 °C est.
Why the tide matters here: tides and fishing in Australia.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Crowdy Head
The best day on Crowdy Head this week looks like Friday 13 Nov, at 5 out of 5, against 2 today.
Best day this week: Friday, 13 Nov — excellent at 5/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
Today, 9 Nov — Tough
Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
- Solunar majors
- 11:47 PM-1:47 AM and 11:23 AM-1:23 PM
- Minor period
- 4:48 AM-5:48 AM
- Sun
- 05:45 to 19:20
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Overcast, 31 km/h
- Rain chance
- 11%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Crowdy Head: 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; the run reaches K'gari (Fraser Island) in late winter, where the east beach from Waddy Point to Indian Head is closed to all fin fish from 1 August to 29 September
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. Rock ledges and beach gutters on the rising tide; metals cast and retrieved fast, or a whole pilchard drifted through the wash.
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. Fish the deep holes and the rock walls through a tide change after dark; live mullet, yellowtail or a large soft plastic worked slowly.
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. Prime. Cast stickbaits and poppers at surface activity, jig the deeper reefs, and keep a live bait out under a balloon.
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. Look for birds and surface splashes along the beaches and in the bays; cast metals, plastics or ganged pilchards into the school.
When to come: the Crowdy Head 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 20 °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 Crowdy Head today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataSun, Nov 8
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Yellowtail kingfish led the card at good. High of 19 °C, wind to 35 km/h.
Sat, Nov 7
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Yellowtail kingfish led the card at good. High of 27 °C, wind to 40 km/h.
Fri, Nov 6
5/5 Excellent. Go now. Everything lines up: pressure, wind and light are in your favor. Yellowtail kingfish led the card at excellent. High of 23 °C, wind to 19 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
Fishing Crowdy Head takes the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, A$7 for three days at the cheapest; the New South Wales licence page on this site has the rest.
About this water
Crowdy Head is a coastal town in New South Wales, Australia, covered from the New South Wales reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Crowdy Head: the full guide
Crowdy Head and the harbour
Crowdy Head is the village on the headland north of Harrington and the Manning mouth, with its small harbour and breakwater, the lighthouse and the rock platforms under it, Crowdy Bay beach running toward Harrington and, to the north, the beaches of Crowdy Bay National Park running to Diamond Head. NSW National Parks lists four campgrounds in the park, Diamond Head, Kylies Beach, Indian Head and Crowdy Gap. It is a harbour-and-rocks village, and the report on this page is scored for the village’s coordinates. Harrington has its own page.
Species and seasons
Bream, luderick and drummer hold on the breakwater and the lighthouse platforms, the luderick and drummer mostly in winter; tailor and salmon run Crowdy Bay beach and the rocks in the cooler months at dawn and dusk; kingfish come to the headland and the reef in the warmer months; whiting fish the beach in summer; mulloway are the night fish of the beach gutters; and the reef off the head gives snapper for the boats, with mackerel in summer.
Where to fish it
The harbour breakwater is the walk-on mark for bream, luderick and drummer, and the platforms under the lighthouse are the tailor and drummer rocks, fished on a westerly when the swell is down; Crowdy Bay beach toward Harrington takes tailor and mulloway in the gutters, and the beaches north through the national park to Diamond Head are the quiet water. Cabbage weed and cunjevoi on a light running rig are the drummer baits on these platforms.
Reading this report here
The head faces the ocean, and the wind row and the swell decide the platforms and the beach: a southerly or an easterly swell closes them, a westerly opens them. The tide panel is a modelled curve for the coordinates of Crowdy Head, labelled as a model. Pressure and sky build the score at Crowdy Head; the planner shows the day. The platforms are exposed to the open ocean, so wear a life jacket on the rocks and never turn your back on the sea.
Licence, access and rules
Fishing Crowdy Head takes the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, A$7 for three days at the cheapest; the New South Wales licence page on this site has the rest. The harbour, the platforms and the beaches are public, with the national park campgrounds to the north; DPIRD’s bag and size limits and the national park page are in the sources.
Common questions
What can I catch at Crowdy Head?
Bream, luderick and drummer on the breakwater and the rocks, tailor and salmon on the beach in the cooler months, kingfish off the head in the warmer months, snapper on the reef for the boats.
Do I need a licence at Crowdy Head?
Yes: fishing at Crowdy Head needs the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, from A$7 for three days.
Is fishing good at Crowdy Head 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
- 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
- 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.