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.
Hawkesbury River Fishing Report
Updated Sat, 26 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
A tidal river of drowned valleys north of Sydney: jewfish in the deep holes, bream on the rock walls, flathead on the sand and hairtail in winter.
2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Water temp
~18 °C est.
Air / High
17 °C / 32 °C
Wind
N 11 km/h
Sources: Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Hawkesbury River has cool water and fish holding a little deeper and slower. Today brings clear skies, wind N around 11 km/h, rising pressure near 1026 hPa and a high of 32 °C. Water sits around 18 °C for the season (estimated). With the full moon, the solunar majors run 11:16 PM-1:16 AM and 11:16 AM-1:16 PM: the windows to build the day around.
Bream
Fair
Slow the retrieve right down: blades and lightly weighted plastics along the deeper rock walls and drop-offs, or unweighted bait drifted into the snags.
Flathead
Fair
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.
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.
Tie on: Blade or vibe, slow hops · Lightly weighted plastic · Whole pilchard or squid on the bottom · Suspending hardbody. Prime windows: 11:16 PM-1:16 AM, 11:16 AM-1:16 PM, 5:46 AM-6:46 AM. Cooler at 18 °C with likely rain: fish ahead of the front. 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 bream here? Check the size and bag limits with DPIRD NSW before you keep anything; the Bream page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Hawkesbury River today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:40), sunset (17:54), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 11:16 PM-1:16 AM and 11:16 AM-1:16 PM; minor 5:46 AM-6:46 AM. Full Moon, 100% 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 / Low32 °C / 15 °C
WindN 11 km/h, gusts 21 km/h
Pressure1026.1 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 10%
Sunrise / Sunset05:40 / 17:54
MoonFull Moon, 100%
Water temp (seasonal)~18 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Hawkesbury River
The best day on Hawkesbury River this week looks like Thursday 1 Oct, at 5 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: Thursday, 1 Oct — excellent at 5/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
Today, 26 Sept — Tough
Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
- Solunar majors
- 11:16 PM-1:16 AM and 11:16 AM-1:16 PM
- Minor period
- 5:46 AM-6:46 AM
- Sun
- 05:40 to 17:54
- Moon
- Full Moon, 100% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 21 km/h
- Rain chance
- 10%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Hawkesbury River: seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
Bream
Year-round; summer and autumn in the estuaries, winter at the mouths
Yellowfin bream on the east coast, black bream in the southern estuaries. Structure fish: rock walls, jetty piles, oyster racks, snags and pontoons. Slow the retrieve right down: blades and lightly weighted plastics along the deeper rock walls and drop-offs, or unweighted bait drifted into the snags.
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.
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.
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.
When to come: the Hawkesbury River 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
Bream
Flathead
Mulloway
Tailor
SlowPeak
Water temperature through the year
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 18 °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 Hawkesbury River today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataFri, Sep 25
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Tailor led the card at excellent. High of 30 °C, wind to 13 km/h.
Thu, 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 24 °C, wind to 13 km/h.
Wed, Sep 23
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Tailor led the card at excellent. High of 22 °C, wind to 11 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
The state fee applies: A$7 buys three days, A$14 a month and A$35 a year of the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, and the receipt has to be carried, as our New South Wales licence page explains.
About this water
Hawkesbury River is a river in New South Wales, Australia, covered from the New South Wales reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Hawkesbury River: the full guide
The river
The Hawkesbury is the great tidal river of the Sydney region, running from Wisemans Ferry through drowned valleys of sandstone and forest to Broken Bay and the sea, with Brooklyn, the Hawkesbury River bridge, Berowra Creek, Cowan Creek, Mooney Mooney and Patonga among the names anglers use. It is deep, tidal and largely undeveloped along its lower reaches, and it fishes from the banks, the wharves and the boats for tens of kilometres, with Pittwater and Broken Bay at its mouth. The report on this page is scored for the river’s coordinates near Brooklyn.
Species by season
Mulloway are the river’s prize, in the deep holes and along the rock walls at night from spring to autumn, and the reason most people search for the Hawkesbury; bream fish the rock walls, the leases and the wharves all year; flathead lie on the sand flats and the creek mouths in the warmer months; and hairtail are the winter fish of Cowan and the deep creeks, taken at night from anchored boats. Kingfish push into Broken Bay and the lower river in summer, squid work the weed of Pittwater, and tailor and salmon run the mouth in the cooler months.
Reading this report for the river
The river is sheltered from most weather, so the wind row matters mainly at the mouth and on the open reaches; the tide is the thing to read, and the tide panel is a modelled curve for these coordinates, labelled as a model, useful for the direction of the run, which reaches far upstream, with the Bureau of Meteorology for the times. Pressure and sky build the score, and a falling barometer with rain on the way is the classic mulloway trigger the report scores for. The planner shows which night to take.
Licence, access and rules
The state fee applies: A$7 buys three days, A$14 a month and A$35 a year of the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, and the receipt has to be carried, as our New South Wales licence page explains. The wharves at Brooklyn, Mooney Mooney and Patonga, the foreshore reserves and the bridge approaches are public, with ramps at Brooklyn, Berowra, Mooney Mooney and Wisemans Ferry; the DPIRD limits and the river’s closed waters are on the pages in the sources.
Common questions
What is the Hawkesbury River known for?
Mulloway in the deep holes at night, hairtail in the deep creeks in winter, bream on the walls and flathead on the flats.
Do I need a fishing licence on the Hawkesbury?
Yes. The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee applies, from A$7 for three days.
Is fishing good at Hawkesbury River 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.