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.
Palm Beach Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
Sydney’s northern tip: the Barrenjoey rocks, the Pittwater wharf and the ocean beach, with kingfish, tailor and the mouth of Broken Bay.
2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Next tide
High 6:34 pm model
Air / High
17 °C / 24 °C
Wind
N 9 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Palm Beach rewards patience today, with cool water and short feeding windows. Today brings clear skies, wind N around 10 km/h, rising pressure near 1026 hPa and a high of 23 °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. Similar at 26 °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 (05:40), sunset (17:52), 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
LOW12:57 am-0.67 m
HIGH7:06 am0.58 m
LOW1:02 pm-0.53 m
HIGH7:11 pm0.73 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp17 °C
High / Low24 °C / 14 °C
WindN 9 km/h, gusts 15 km/h
Pressure1026.4 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 29%
Sunrise / Sunset05:40 / 17:52
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 Palm Beach
The best day on Palm Beach this week looks like Wednesday 30 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: Wednesday, 30 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
- 05:40 to 17:52
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Overcast, 18 km/h
- Rain chance
- 29%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
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; 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 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 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 Palm Beach 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 21 °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 19 °C, wind to 11 km/h.
Tue, Sep 22
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Tailor led the card at excellent. High of 17 °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 applies at Palm Beach from A$7 for three days; the New South Wales licence page has the fees.
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, the peninsula that ends at Barrenjoey headland and its lighthouse, with the ocean beach on the eastern side, the Pittwater wharf and the sheltered beach on the western side, the Barrenjoey rock platforms at the tip and Broken Bay and the Hawkesbury mouth beyond. It is a peninsula of two waters, ocean and Pittwater, and the report on this page is scored for the peninsula’s coordinates. Pittwater has its own page.
Species and seasons
Tailor and salmon run the ocean beach and the Barrenjoey rocks in the cooler months at dawn and dusk; kingfish come to Barrenjoey, the Pittwater moorings and the bay in summer and are the peninsula’s prize; bream and luderick fish the wharf, the rocks and the Pittwater weed all year, the luderick in winter; whiting fish the ocean beach in summer; squid work the Pittwater weed and the wharf lights; drummer hold in the Barrenjoey washes; and the reef off the head gives snapper in winter for the boats out of Pittwater.
Where to fish it
The Barrenjoey platforms at the tip, reached by the lighthouse track, are the kingfish and tailor rocks, and the ocean beach south to the surf club is the tailor and whiting beach; on the Pittwater side the wharf and the sand at Snapperman Beach are the bream, squid and whiting marks, fished on the run-in. The ramp is on the Pittwater side at the Governor Phillip Park end.
Reading this report here
The ocean side is open to a southerly and the Pittwater side is sheltered from it, so the wind row decides which side of the peninsula to fish; a westerly flattens the ocean beach and roughs Pittwater. The tide panel is a modelled curve for the coordinates of Palm Beach, labelled as a model, useful for the run at the head and the wharf. Pressure and sky build the score at Palm Beach; the planner shows the day.
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 has the fees. The beach, the wharf and the Barrenjoey track are public, with a ramp on the Pittwater side; DPIRD’s limits and the life-jacket rule for the rocks are in the sources.
Common questions
Can I fish at Barrenjoey?
Yes, from the rock platforms at the tip, reached by the lighthouse track, with the life-jacket rule applying; kingfish in summer, tailor and drummer in the cooler months.
Do I need a licence at Palm Beach?
Yes: the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, from A$7 for three days.
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
- 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.