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 Macquarie Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
Australia’s largest coastal saltwater lake, by DPIRD’s account: flathead flats, bream on the walls, 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 2:39 pm model
Air / High
16 °C / 18 °C
Wind
SSW 12 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Lake Macquarie has the water in the comfortable band where most of its fish feed through the day. Today brings clear skies, wind SSW around 11 km/h, rising pressure near 1020 hPa and a high of 18 °C. Tides: high 8:12 am and 8:35 pm, low 1:46 am and 2:39 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 11:52 PM-1:52 AM and 11:28 AM-1:28 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: 11:52 PM-1:52 AM, 11:28 AM-1:28 PM, 4:50 AM-5:50 AM. Warmer at 21 °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 (05:48), sunset (19:27), 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 11:52 PM-1:52 AM and 11:28 AM-1:28 PM; minor 4:50 AM-5:50 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
LOW1:46 am-0.33 m
HIGH8:12 am0.98 m
LOW2:39 pm-0.35 m
HIGH8:35 pm0.55 m
Tue
LOW2:17 am-0.32 m
HIGH8:46 am0.92 m
LOW3:22 pm-0.43 m
HIGH9:14 pm0.40 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp16 °C
High / Low18 °C / 13 °C
WindSSW 12 km/h, gusts 22 km/h
Pressure1019.5 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain9% cloud, 24%
Sunrise / Sunset05:48 / 19:27
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 Macquarie
The best day on Lake Macquarie this week looks like Thursday 12 Nov, at 5 out of 5, against 2 today.
Best day this week: Thursday, 12 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
- 11:52 PM-1:52 AM and 11:28 AM-1:28 PM
- Minor period
- 4:50 AM-5:50 AM
- Sun
- 05:48 to 19:27
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 26 km/h
- Rain chance
- 24%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
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. 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 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 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 Macquarie 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 17 °C, wind to 34 km/h.
Sat, Nov 7
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Bream led the card at good. High of 26 °C, wind to 35 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 21 °C, wind to 23 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
Lake Macquarie is fee water: the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee costs A$7 for a short trip of three days and 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 big coastal saltwater lake south of Newcastle, about 110 square kilometres by DPIRD’s figure, which the department calls the largest coastal saltwater lake in Australia and places about an hour’s drive north of Sydney. It is joined to the sea by the Swansea Channel and its bridge and surrounded by suburbs, bays, islands and long stretches of weedy shoreline, and it is a Recreational Fishing Haven with a series of DPIRD artificial reefs. It fishes from almost every shore: Belmont, Toronto, Wangi Wangi, 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 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. DPIRD’s guide adds that big schools of Australian salmon often take up residence in the channel in the cooler months and that kingfish are taken on surface lures and live baits around Swansea Bridge and the Drop Over, where the channel meets the lake. Squid work the weed and the jetty lights, luderick fish the channel walls in winter, and Dora, Cockle and Stoney creeks drain into the lake.
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
Lake Macquarie is fee water: the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee costs A$7 for a short trip of three days and 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 three at Swansea on the Transport for NSW list. DPIRD bans traps other than bait traps and digging with a spade or fork throughout the lake, and prawn nets in its eastern end, and Lake Macquarie is a declared area where lifejackets are compulsory on the high-risk ocean rock platforms.
Common questions
What can I catch in Lake Macquarie?
Flathead on the flats, bream on the walls and jetties, whiting in summer, mulloway, salmon and kingfish in and around the channel, and squid under the lights.
Do I need a fishing licence on Lake Macquarie?
Yes. The lake, the channel and the ocean rocks around it all need the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, which starts at 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
- Pages checked
- dpird.nsw.gov.au/fishing/recreational/recreational-fishing-fee
- dpird.nsw.gov.au/fishing/recreational/resources/info/fishing-locations
- dpird.nsw.gov.au/fishing/closures/location-closures/lake-macquarie
- nsw.gov.au/environment-land-and-water/coasts-waterways-and-marine/rock
- data.nsw.gov.au/data/dataset/0c6429c3-1ef8-4c17-be66-92e5fc293edd
- 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.