Bream
Good
Prime bream weather. Cast small vibes, crankbaits and 2 to 3 inch plastics at every piece of structure on the rising tide.
Lake Cathie Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
The lake south of Port Macquarie whose entrance opens and closes: bream, flathead and whiting in the lake and channel, and the beaches of Lake Cathie and Bonny Hills.
2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Next tide
Low 2:38 pm model
Air / High
15 °C / 21 °C
Wind
WSW 11 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Lake Cathie 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 21 °C. Tides: high 8:12 am and 8:30 pm, low 1:38 am and 2:38 pm: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. Water sits around 22 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 11:46 PM-1:46 AM and 11:22 AM-1:22 PM: the windows to build the day around.
Flathead
Good
The best of it. Drift the sand and weed edges, bounce plastics or a strip of bait along the bottom, and cover ground until you find the school.
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.
Tailor
Fair
Rock ledges and beach gutters on the rising tide; metals cast and retrieved fast, or a whole pilchard drifted through the wash.
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: 11:46 PM-1:46 AM, 11:22 AM-1:22 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 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 Lake Cathie today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:45), sunset (19:19), 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 11:46 PM-1:46 AM and 11:22 AM-1:22 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
LOW1:38 am-0.36 m
HIGH8:12 am1.05 m
LOW2:38 pm-0.32 m
HIGH8:30 pm0.62 m
Tue
LOW2:13 am-0.31 m
HIGH8:48 am1.05 m
LOW3:22 pm-0.37 m
HIGH9:05 pm0.46 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp15 °C
High / Low21 °C / 13 °C
WindWSW 11 km/h, gusts 24 km/h
Pressure1019.4 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain2% cloud, 4%
Sunrise / Sunset05:45 / 19:19
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~22 °C est.
Why the tide matters here: tides and fishing in Australia.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Lake Cathie
The best day on Lake Cathie 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
- 11:46 PM-1:46 AM and 11:22 AM-1:22 PM
- Minor period
- 4:48 AM-5:48 AM
- Sun
- 05:45 to 19:19
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Overcast, 31 km/h
- Rain chance
- 4%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Lake Cathie: 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. Prime bream weather. Cast small vibes, crankbaits and 2 to 3 inch plastics at every piece of structure on the rising tide.
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. The best of it. Drift the sand and weed edges, bounce plastics or a strip of bait along the bottom, and cover ground until you find the school.
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.
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.
When to come: the Lake Cathie 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 22 °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 Lake Cathie 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. Bream led the card at good. High of 21 °C, wind to 32 km/h.
Sat, Nov 7
5/5 Excellent. Go now. Everything lines up: pressure, wind and light are in your favor. Bream led the card at excellent. High of 27 °C, wind to 16 km/h.
Fri, Nov 6
5/5 Excellent. Go now. Everything lines up: pressure, wind and light are in your favor. Bream led the card at excellent. High of 23 °C, wind to 16 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 NSW Recreational Fishing Fee applies at Lake Cathie from A$7 for three days; the New South Wales licence page lists the longer periods.
About this water
Lake Cathie is a coastal town in New South Wales, Australia, covered from the New South Wales reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Lake Cathie: the full guide
The lake
Lake Cathie is the coastal lake and village south of Port Macquarie, with a shallow lake behind the dunes, an entrance channel under the road bridge that opens to the sea and closes again as sand builds up, Lake Cathie beach outside and Bonny Hills to the south. The fishing changes with the entrance, and the report on this page is scored for the lake’s coordinates. Port Macquarie has its own page.
Species and seasons
Bream are caught all year around the bridge, the channel and the lake edges; flathead lie on the flats and channel sand from spring to autumn; mulloway are taken in the channel at night when the lake is open; and tailor come in through the entrance and run the beach in the cooler months. Whiting feed on the flats in summer, and luderick come to the bridge in winter.
Where to fish it
The bridge over the entrance channel is the obvious spot for bream and luderick when the lake is open and water is running, and the flats behind the village are for flathead and whiting on light tackle. Lake Cathie beach is for tailor and whiting, and the rocks toward Bonny Hills hold drummer and bream when the swell allows. When the entrance is closed, the lake fishes more like a still, shallow lagoon, and small soft plastics worked slowly over the flats are a good way to find flathead.
Reading this report here
Whether the entrance is open decides whether the lake has a tide, and the modelled tide curve, labelled as a model, only applies when it is. The lake itself is sheltered, so wind matters more on the beaches and rocks, where a southerly can close the coast. Warm, settled weather tends to bring flathead up onto the shallow flats.
Licence, access and rules
The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee applies at Lake Cathie from A$7 for three days; the New South Wales licence page lists the longer periods. Port Macquarie-Hastings is not one of the declared rock fishing lifejacket areas, and DPIRD’s bag and size limits apply in the lake and on the coast.
Common questions
Is Lake Cathie open to the sea?
The entrance opens after the lake fills and closes when sand builds up; this page cannot show its current state, so check locally.
What can I catch at Lake Cathie?
Bream at the bridge and in the channel, flathead on the flats, whiting in summer, luderick in winter and mulloway in the channel when the lake is open.
Do I need a licence at Lake Cathie?
Yes. Unless exempt, you need the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, from A$7 for three days.
Is fishing good at Lake Cathie 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
- 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.