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 Macquarie Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The largest coastal lake in the country, an hour north of Sydney: flathead flats, bream on the leases, jew in the channel and a tidal entrance at Swansea.
2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Next tide
Low 12:21 pm model
Air / High
19 °C / 25 °C
Wind
N 12 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Lake Macquarie rewards patience today, with cool water and short feeding windows. Today brings clear skies, wind N around 11 km/h, rising pressure near 1027 hPa and a high of 25 °C. Tides: high 6:30 am and 6:34 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 28 °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 Macquarie today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:39), sunset (17:51), 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
HIGH6:30 am0.44 m
LOW12:21 pm-0.52 m
HIGH6:34 pm0.68 m
Sat
LOW12:57 am-0.69 m
HIGH7:08 am0.59 m
LOW1:00 pm-0.55 m
HIGH7:13 pm0.76 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp19 °C
High / Low25 °C / 15 °C
WindN 12 km/h, gusts 25 km/h
Pressure1027.0 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain1% cloud, 15%
Sunrise / Sunset05:39 / 17:51
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 Macquarie
The best day on Lake Macquarie this week looks like Thursday 1 Oct, 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: Thursday, 1 Oct — good at 4/5, rising pressure behind a front, typically the slowest.
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
- 05:39 to 17:51
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Overcast, 18 km/h
- Rain chance
- 15%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Lake Macquarie: 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 Macquarie 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 Macquarie 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 19 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 16 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 17 °C, wind to 21 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 here means paying the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee first, A$7 for a three-day trip or A$85 for three years, as read from DPIRD on our New South Wales licence page.
About this water
Lake Macquarie 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 Macquarie: the full guide
The lake
Lake Macquarie is a huge coastal saltwater lake south of Newcastle, more than twice the size of Sydney Harbour, joined to the sea by the Swansea Channel and its bridge and surrounded by suburbs, bays, islands and long stretches of weedy shoreline. It is a fishery of flats and drop-offs, jetties and rock walls, and it fishes from almost every shore: Belmont, Toronto, Wangi Wangi, Marks Point, Swansea and the western bays are the names anglers use. The channel is where the lake’s water meets the ocean and where the biggest fish enter.
Species by season
Flathead are the lake’s fish, on the flats and the drop-offs from spring to autumn; bream fish the leases, the rock walls and the jetties all year with a winter run to the channel; whiting work the flats and the channel sand in summer; and mulloway are the night fish of the channel, the bridge and the deeper holes. Tailor and salmon push into the lake through the channel in the cooler months, squid work the weed and the jetty lights, luderick fish the channel walls in winter, and the channel entrance gives trevally and kingfish on the tide in summer.
Reading this report for the lake
The lake is sheltered but big enough to make a chop, so the wind row decides which shore fishes; a nor’-easter roughs up the western bays in the afternoon and a westerly 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 lake’s tide is small and delayed away from the channel while the channel itself runs hard, so read the curve for direction and take the times from the Bureau of Meteorology.
Licence, access and rules
Fishing here means paying the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee first, A$7 for a three-day trip or A$85 for three years, as read from DPIRD on our New South Wales licence page. The jetties, the foreshore parks, the channel walls and the bridge are public, with ramps in most bays and at Swansea; the DPIRD limits and the lake’s closed areas are on the pages in the sources.
Common questions
What can I catch in Lake Macquarie?
Flathead on the flats, bream on the leases and walls, whiting in summer, mulloway and tailor in the channel, and squid under the lights.
Do I need a fishing licence on Lake Macquarie?
Yes. The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee applies, from A$7 for three days.
Is fishing good at Lake Macquarie 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.