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.
Lake Illawarra Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The big coastal lake south of Wollongong: flathead flats, bream on the entrance walls, prawns on the dark summer nights and a tide that reaches everything.
2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Next tide
Low 12:21 pm model
Air / High
16 °C / 24 °C
Wind
WNW 5 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Lake Illawarra is in its cool-water rhythm: slower presentations and the warmest hours of the day. Today brings clear skies, wind WNW around 5 km/h, rising pressure near 1026 hPa and a high of 24 °C. Tides: high 6:35 am and 6:38 pm, low 12:21 pm: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. Water sits around 18 °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.
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: 10:25 AM-12:25 PM, 10:25 PM-12:25 AM, 4:55 AM-5:55 AM. Warmer at 29 °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 Lake Illawarra today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:42), sunset (17:54), 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 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
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.
Fri
HIGH6:35 am0.44 m
LOW12:21 pm-0.47 m
HIGH6:38 pm0.68 m
Sat
LOW12:58 am-0.64 m
HIGH7:10 am0.58 m
LOW1:04 pm-0.50 m
HIGH7:14 pm0.69 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp16 °C
High / Low24 °C / 15 °C
WindWNW 5 km/h, gusts 10 km/h
Pressure1025.5 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain3% cloud, 63%
Sunrise / Sunset05:42 / 17:54
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~18 °C est.
Why the tide matters here: tides and fishing in Australia.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Lake Illawarra
The best day on Lake Illawarra 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
- 05:42 to 17:54
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 14 km/h
- Rain chance
- 63%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Lake Illawarra: 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 Lake Illawarra 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 Lake Illawarra 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 22 °C, wind to 16 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 20 °C, wind to 11 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
The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee applies, from A$7 for three days; our New South Wales licence page has the fees.
About this water
Lake Illawarra is a bay or coastal water in New South Wales, Australia, covered from the New South Wales reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Lake Illawarra: the full guide
The lake
Lake Illawarra is a large, shallow coastal lake between Wollongong and Shellharbour, opening to the sea through a channel at Windang with rock walls and a bridge, and surrounded by suburbs, foreshore reserves and the islands and flats of its western shore. It is a flats fishery: sand and weed in a metre or two of water over most of its area, deeper channels near the entrance, and the entrance itself where the sea fish come and go. The lake was opened permanently to the sea in recent decades and is now tidal throughout. The report on this page is scored for the lake’s coordinates.
Species and seasons
Flathead are the lake’s fish, on the flats and the weed edges from spring to autumn; bream fish the entrance walls, the bridge and the rock edges all year with the winter run to the sea; whiting work the flats and the entrance sand in summer; and mulloway are the night fish of the entrance channel and the bridge. Tailor push into the lake through the entrance in the cooler months, luderick fish the walls in winter, squid work the weed near the entrance, and the prawn run on the dark nights of summer is a fishery of its own, with the DPIRD rules on nets and seasons.
Reading this report for the lake
The lake is open and shallow, so the wind row decides which shore fishes: a nor’-easter roughs up the western flats in the afternoon and a southerly the eastern shore. 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, and the entrance runs hard while the lake follows slowly, so read the curve for the direction and take the times from the Bureau of Meteorology.
Licence, access and rules
The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee applies, from A$7 for three days; our New South Wales licence page has the fees. The foreshore reserves, the entrance walls, the bridge and the beaches at Windang are public, with ramps at Windang, Berkeley, Primbee and Oak Flats; the DPIRD limits and the prawning rules are on the pages in the sources.
Common questions
What can I catch in Lake Illawarra?
Flathead on the flats, bream and luderick on the entrance walls, whiting in summer, tailor and mulloway at the entrance, and prawns on the dark summer nights.
Do I need a fishing licence on Lake Illawarra?
Yes. The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee applies, from A$7 for three days.
Is fishing good at Lake Illawarra 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.