Yellowtail kingfish
Good
Prime. Cast stickbaits and poppers at surface activity, jig the deeper reefs, and keep a live bait out under a balloon.
Manly Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
Manly on both shores: the harbour side inside the North Harbour Aquatic Reserve and the ocean beach, with the no-take Cabbage Tree Bay between.
2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Next tide
Low 2:47 pm model
Air / High
15 °C / 18 °C
Wind
SSW 11 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Manly sits in the warm band: moving baits, moving tides and fish on the edges. Today brings clear skies, wind SSW around 11 km/h, rising pressure near 1019 hPa and a high of 18 °C. Tides: high 8:14 am and 8:39 pm, low 1:46 am and 2:47 pm: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. Water sits around 20 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 11:53 PM-1:53 AM and 11:29 AM-1:29 PM: the windows to build the day around.
Tailor
Fair
Rock ledges and beach gutters on the rising tide; metals cast and retrieved fast, or a whole pilchard drifted through the wash.
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.
Australian salmon
Slow
Look for birds and surface splashes along the beaches and in the bays; cast metals, plastics or ganged pilchards into the school.
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: 11:53 PM-1:53 AM, 11:29 AM-1:29 PM, 4:49 AM-5:49 AM. Warmer 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 tailor here? Check the size and bag limits with DPIRD NSW before you keep anything; the Tailor page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Manly today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:48), sunset (19:30), 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 11:53 PM-1:53 AM and 11:29 AM-1:29 PM; minor 4:49 AM-5:49 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
HIGH8:14 am0.93 m
LOW2:47 pm-0.39 m
HIGH8:39 pm0.51 m
Tue
LOW2:16 am-0.32 m
HIGH8:47 am0.88 m
LOW3:26 pm-0.44 m
HIGH9:19 pm0.39 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp15 °C
High / Low18 °C / 11 °C
WindSSW 11 km/h, gusts 26 km/h
Pressure1019.4 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain10% cloud, 64%
Sunrise / Sunset05:48 / 19:30
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~20 °C est.
Why the tide matters here: tides and fishing in Australia.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Manly
The best day on Manly 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
- 11:53 PM-1:53 AM and 11:29 AM-1:29 PM
- Minor period
- 4:49 AM-5:49 AM
- Sun
- 05:48 to 19:30
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 24 km/h
- Rain chance
- 64%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Manly: seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
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.
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.
Yellowtail kingfish
Best: December to April
The hardest-pulling fish within reach of the shore. Headlands, harbour markers, offshore reefs and the warm current in summer. Prime. Cast stickbaits and poppers at surface activity, jig the deeper reefs, and keep a live bait out under a balloon.
Australian salmon
Winter and spring on the southern beaches
Not a salmon at all: a hard-fighting schooling fish of the surf and the bays, from WA around to NSW. Great on light gear, poor on the plate. Look for birds and surface splashes along the beaches and in the bays; cast metals, plastics or ganged pilchards into the school.
When to come: the Manly 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
Tailor
Mulloway
Yellowtail kingfish
Australian salmon
SlowPeak
Water temperature through the year
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 20 °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 Manly 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. Yellowtail kingfish led the card at good. High of 17 °C, wind to 31 km/h.
Sat, Nov 7
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Yellowtail kingfish led the card at good. High of 29 °C, wind to 34 km/h.
Fri, Nov 6
5/5 Excellent. Go now. Everything lines up: pressure, wind and light are in your favor. Yellowtail kingfish led the card at excellent. High of 22 °C, wind to 19 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, from A$7 for three days, applies at Manly, and our New South Wales licence page sets out the other durations.
About this water
Manly is a coastal town in New South Wales, Australia, covered from the New South Wales reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Manly: the full guide
Manly and its two shores
Manly is the Sydney beach suburb with the harbour on one side and the ocean on the other: Manly Cove and the ferry wharf on the harbour, the ocean beach across the Corso, Cabbage Tree Bay and Shelly Beach to the south, and North Head beyond. Two aquatic reserves shape the fishing here. The report is scored for the suburb’s coordinates, with a modelled tide curve for the same point. Sydney has its own page.
Species and seasons
Yellowtail kingfish come into the harbour and around North Head in the warmer months; tailor and Australian salmon run the ocean beach and the headland in the cooler months; and mulloway are taken at night from the beach and harbour. Bream, trevally and yellowtail are caught year round from the harbour shore, whiting feed on the ocean beach in summer, and luderick come to the rocks in winter.
Where to fish it
North (Sydney) Harbour Aquatic Reserve covers the harbour between North Head and Dobroyd Head, including Manly Cove. Line fishing for finfish is allowed there, but spearfishing is banned and no invertebrates may be taken, which means no squid or cuttlefish fishing and no bait collecting. Cabbage Tree Bay, from the southern end of Manly Beach to Shelly Beach Headland, is a no-take reserve where no fishing is allowed. The ocean beach north of that reserve is open under the normal rules.
Reading this report here
The harbour side is sheltered from a southerly and the ocean beach exposed to it, so the wind row decides which shore to fish; a westerly roughens the cove and flattens the beach. The tide panel is a modelled curve for Manly, labelled as a model, and useful for timing the run at the harbour entrance.
Licence, access and rules
The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, from A$7 for three days, applies at Manly, and our New South Wales licence page sets out the other durations. Northern Beaches is a declared rock fishing lifejacket area. NSW Health advises that seafood caught east of the Sydney Harbour Bridge should generally be limited to 150 grams a month because of dioxins, and none caught west of the bridge should be eaten.
Common questions
Can I fish at Shelly Beach?
No. Cabbage Tree Bay, from the southern end of Manly Beach to Shelly Beach Headland, is a no-take aquatic reserve.
Can I catch squid at Manly wharf?
No. Manly Cove is inside the North Harbour Aquatic Reserve, where only line fishing for finfish is allowed; squid, cuttlefish and other invertebrates are protected.
Is it safe to eat fish from Manly Cove?
NSW Health’s dioxin advice for seafood caught east of the Sydney Harbour Bridge is generally no more than 150 grams a month; releasing your catch is the simplest option.
Is fishing good at Manly 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/marine-protected-areas/aquatic-reserves/north
- dpird.nsw.gov.au/fishing/marine-protected-areas/aquatic-reserves/cabba
- health.nsw.gov.au/environment/factsheets/Pages/dioxins.aspx
- nsw.gov.au/environment-land-and-water/coasts-waterways-and-marine/rock
- dpird.nsw.gov.au/fishing/recreational/recreational-fishing-fee
- 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.