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.
Manly Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
Manly on both sides: the harbour wharf and Fairy Bower, the ocean beach and the North Head rocks, with kingfish, bream, squid and tailor a ferry ride from the city.
2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Next tide
High 6:34 pm model
Air / High
19 °C / 24 °C
Wind
N 12 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Manly has cool water and fish holding a little deeper and slower. Today brings clear skies, wind N around 11 km/h, rising pressure near 1026 hPa and a high of 24 °C. Tides: high 6:34 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 17 °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.
Australian salmon
Good
The main season. Beach gutters, rock platforms and bay edges on the rising tide; metals, surf poppers and bait all work.
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.
Yellowtail kingfish
Slow
The fish thin out as the current cools; jig the deeper offshore marks and work the harbours on the warmer afternoons.
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 27 °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 (05:41), sunset (17:53), 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
HIGH6:34 am0.44 m
LOW12:21 pm-0.50 m
HIGH6:34 pm0.68 m
Sat
LOW12:58 am-0.66 m
HIGH7:06 am0.58 m
LOW1:04 pm-0.53 m
HIGH7:10 pm0.72 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp19 °C
High / Low24 °C / 15 °C
WindN 12 km/h, gusts 22 km/h
Pressure1026.2 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 4%
Sunrise / Sunset05:41 / 17:53
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~17 °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 Monday 28 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: Monday, 28 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
- 05:41 to 17:53
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Overcast, 18 km/h
- Rain chance
- 4%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
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; 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.
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.
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. The fish thin out as the current cools; jig the deeper offshore marks and work the harbours on the warmer afternoons.
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. The main season. Beach gutters, rock platforms and bay edges on the rising tide; metals, surf poppers and bait all work.
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 17 °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 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 21 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 10 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 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, from A$7 for three days, applies at Manly; our New South Wales licence page has the fees.
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 a harbour on one side and the ocean on the other, the ferry wharf and Manly Cove on the harbour, the Corso across to the ocean beach, Shelly Beach and Fairy Bower under the headland, and the North Head rock platforms and the Quarantine Station reaches beyond. It is the most accessible of the harbour’s fisheries, and the report on this page is scored for the suburb’s coordinates. Sydney has its own page.
Species and seasons
Kingfish come to the wharves, the harbour markers and the North Head washes in summer and are the reason Manly is fished; bream fish the wharf, the cove and the rocks all year; squid work the cove weed and the wharf lights and are the harbour’s everyday catch; tailor and salmon run the ocean beach and the head in the cooler months; whiting fish the ocean beach in summer; luderick fish the rocks in winter; and the Cabbage Tree Bay aquatic reserve at Shelly Beach is a no-take zone to know. Trevally and yellowtail fill the wharf year-round.
Where to fish it
Manly wharf and the cove are the bream, squid and kingfish marks, fished at night under the lights, and the North Head platforms past the Quarantine Station are the tailor and drummer rocks; the ocean beach from Queenscliff to South Steyne takes the tailor at dawn and the whiting in summer. Fairy Bower and Shelly Beach are inside the Cabbage Tree Bay reserve and are for looking, not fishing.
Reading this report here
The harbour side is sheltered from a southerly and the ocean beach is open to it, so the wind row decides the side; a westerly roughs the cove and flattens the beach. The tide panel is a modelled curve for the coordinates of Manly, labelled as a model, useful for the run at the wharf and the head. Pressure and sky build the score at Manly; the planner shows the day.
Licence, access and rules
The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, from A$7 for three days, applies at Manly; our New South Wales licence page has the fees. The wharf, the cove, the beach and the North Head tracks are public; the Cabbage Tree Bay aquatic reserve, where fishing is banned, and the DPIRD limits are in the sources, and the harbour’s dioxin advisory on eating fish west of the bridge is on the NSW Food Authority page.
Common questions
Can I fish at Shelly Beach?
No. Cabbage Tree Bay, from Shelly Beach to Fairy Bower, is an aquatic reserve where fishing is banned; the wharf, the cove and the ocean beach are the spots.
Do I need a licence at Manly?
Yes: the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, from A$7 for three days.
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
- 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.