Yellowtail kingfish
Good
Prime. Cast stickbaits and poppers at surface activity, jig the deeper reefs, and keep a live bait out under a balloon.
Palm Beach Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
Sydney’s northern tip: the Barrenjoey rocks, the Pittwater side and the ocean beach, where Broken Bay meets the sea.
2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Next tide
Low 2:44 pm model
Air / High
15 °C / 17 °C
Wind
SSW 13 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Palm Beach has the water in the comfortable band where most of its fish feed through the day. Today brings clear skies, wind SSW around 13 km/h, rising pressure near 1019 hPa and a high of 17 °C. Tides: high 8:12 am and 8:39 pm, low 1:46 am and 2:44 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, 4:50 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 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 Palm Beach today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:48), sunset (19:29), 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 4:50 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 am0.95 m
LOW2:44 pm-0.38 m
HIGH8:39 pm0.52 m
Tue
LOW2:16 am-0.32 m
HIGH8:50 am0.89 m
LOW3:22 pm-0.44 m
HIGH9:19 pm0.39 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp15 °C
High / Low17 °C / 11 °C
WindSSW 13 km/h, gusts 27 km/h
Pressure1019.3 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain2% cloud, 29%
Sunrise / Sunset05:48 / 19:29
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 Palm Beach
The best day on Palm Beach 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
- 11:53 PM-1:53 AM and 11:29 AM-1:29 PM
- Minor period
- 4:50 AM-5:50 AM
- Sun
- 05:48 to 19:29
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 27 km/h
- Rain chance
- 29%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Palm Beach: 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 Palm Beach 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 Palm Beach 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 34 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 27 °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. Yellowtail kingfish led the card at excellent. High of 21 °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
The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee applies at Palm Beach from A$7 for three days; the New South Wales licence page carries the full price list.
About this water
Palm Beach is a coastal town in New South Wales, Australia, covered from the New South Wales reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Palm Beach: the full guide
Palm Beach and Barrenjoey
Palm Beach is the northernmost of Sydney’s beaches, on the peninsula that ends at Barrenjoey Head and its lighthouse, with the ocean beach on the eastern side, Pittwater on the western side and Broken Bay and the mouth of the Hawkesbury beyond. The rocky shore around Barrenjoey Head is an aquatic reserve. The report is scored for the peninsula’s coordinates, with a modelled tide curve for the same point. Pittwater has its own page.
Species and seasons
Tailor and Australian salmon run the ocean beach and the Barrenjoey rocks in the cooler months; yellowtail kingfish come to the headland and Pittwater in the warmer months; and mulloway hunt the beach gutters and deeper water around the head at night. Bream and luderick feed around the rocks and Pittwater’s edges, whiting come onto the sand in summer, and squid are caught over Pittwater’s weed beds.
Where to fish it
Barrenjoey Head Aquatic Reserve covers the rocky shore from the northern end of Palm Beach around the head to the northern end of Station Beach, out to 100 metres. Line fishing and spearfishing are allowed there, but collecting is restricted: apart from abalone, rock lobster, sea lettuce and bait weed, no invertebrates or cunjevoi may be taken, so gathering bait on those rocks is out. The ocean beach and the Pittwater shore are the other options.
Reading this report here
The ocean side is exposed to southerly swell and the Pittwater side sheltered from it, so the wind row decides which side of the peninsula to fish; a westerly flattens the ocean beach and roughens Pittwater. The tide panel is a modelled curve for Palm Beach, labelled as a model, and useful for the run of tide around the head.
Licence, access and rules
The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee applies at Palm Beach from A$7 for three days; the New South Wales licence page carries the full price list. Northern Beaches is a declared area under the rock fishing lifejacket law, so a lifejacket is compulsory on the high-risk rock spots shown on the government’s map, and DPIRD’s bag and size limits apply.
Common questions
Can I fish at Barrenjoey?
Yes. Line fishing is allowed in the Barrenjoey Head Aquatic Reserve, but collecting invertebrates other than abalone and rock lobster is banned, and a lifejacket is compulsory on declared rock spots.
Do I need a licence at Palm Beach?
Yes. The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee applies; a three-day receipt is A$7.
Is fishing good at Palm Beach 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
- 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.