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.
Pambula Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Sapphire Coast south of Merimbula: Pambula Lake and its oyster leases, the river mouth, Pambula Beach and the rocks at Haycock Point.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Next tide
Low 12:25 pm model
Air / High
15 °C / 25 °C
Wind
W 1 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Pambula is in its cool-water rhythm: slower presentations and the warmest hours of the day. Today brings cloud cover, wind W around 2 km/h, rising pressure near 1024 hPa and a high of 24 °C. Tides: high 6:39 am and 6:38 pm, low 12:25 pm: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. Water sits around 18 °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.
Bream
Fair
Slow the retrieve right down: blades and lightly weighted plastics along the deeper rock walls and drop-offs, or unweighted bait drifted into the snags.
Flathead
Fair
Fish the deeper channels and the last of the run-out; slower hops with a heavier jighead, and a bait on the bottom as back-up.
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.
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. Cooler at 21 °C with likely rain: fish ahead of the front. 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 Pambula today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:46), sunset (17:59), 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
HIGH6:39 am0.35 m
LOW12:25 pm-0.49 m
HIGH6:38 pm0.57 m
Sat
LOW1:00 am-0.65 m
HIGH7:12 am0.47 m
LOW1:09 pm-0.54 m
HIGH7:15 pm0.55 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp15 °C
High / Low25 °C / 12 °C
WindW 1 km/h, gusts 5 km/h
Pressure1023.9 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain92% cloud, 73%
Sunrise / Sunset05:46 / 17:59
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~18 °C est.
Why the tide matters here: tides and fishing in Australia.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Pambula
The best day on Pambula this week looks like Monday 28 Sept, at 4 out of 5, against 3 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 — Fair
A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
- Solunar majors
- 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM
- Minor period
- 4:55 AM-5:55 AM
- Sun
- 05:46 to 17:59
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 10 km/h
- Rain chance
- 73%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Pambula: 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. Slow the retrieve right down: blades and lightly weighted plastics along the deeper rock walls and drop-offs, or unweighted bait drifted into the snags.
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. Fish the deeper channels and the last of the run-out; slower hops with a heavier jighead, and a bait on the bottom as back-up.
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.
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.
When to come: the Pambula 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 18 °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 Pambula 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 18 °C, wind to 19 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 15 °C, wind to 13 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, from A$7 for three days; our New South Wales licence page has the fees.
About this water
Pambula is a coastal town in New South Wales, Australia, covered from the New South Wales reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Pambula: the full guide
Pambula and its waters
Pambula is the village on the Sapphire Coast of far southern New South Wales, between Merimbula and Eden, with Pambula Lake and its oyster leases behind the dunes, the river running from the lake to the sea at Pambula Beach, the long beach itself, and the rock platforms of Haycock Point and Ben Boyd National Park to the south. Merimbula, a few minutes north, has its own page for its lake and its wharf; this one is scored for Pambula’s coordinates and reads its lake, its river mouth and its beach first.
Species and seasons
Bream are the lake’s fish, all year on the leases, the snags and the entrance rocks, with the biggest in the cooler months; flathead lie on the sand of the lake and the river from spring to autumn; whiting work the flats and the beach in summer; and luderick fish the entrance rocks and the leases in winter. Tailor and salmon run the beach and Haycock Point in the cooler months, mulloway are the night fish of the river mouth and the beach gutters, squid work the weed off the rocks, and the prawns run the lake on the dark nights of summer under the DPIRD rules. The lake sits inside a Batemans Marine Park-style zoning of its own, with sanctuary zones to check.
Reading this report here
The beach faces east and a southerly or a swell closes it and the rocks, a westerly flattens the coast; the wind row tells you which. 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 river mouth runs hard on the tide, so use the curve for the direction and the Bureau of Meteorology for the minute.
Licence, access and rules
The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee applies, from A$7 for three days; our New South Wales licence page has the fees. The lake foreshore, the river mouth, the beach and the Haycock Point track are public, with a ramp at the lake; the DPIRD limits, the prawning rules and the lake’s sanctuary zones are on the pages in the sources.
Common questions
What can I catch in Pambula Lake?
Bream on the oyster leases, flathead on the sand, whiting on the flats in summer, luderick at the entrance in winter and prawns on the dark summer nights.
Do I need a fishing licence in Pambula?
Yes. The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee applies, from A$7 for three days.
Is fishing good at Pambula right now?
Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
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.