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.
Shellharbour Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
A harbour village south of Wollongong: the boat harbour and its breakwater, Bass Point, the beaches and the southern end of Lake Illawarra.
2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Next tide
Low 12:21 pm model
Air / High
16 °C / 24 °C
Wind
WNW 5 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Shellharbour has cool water and fish holding a little deeper and slower. Today brings clear skies, wind WNW around 5 km/h, rising pressure near 1026 hPa and a high of 24 °C. Tides: high 6:35 am and 6:38 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 29 °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 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 Shellharbour today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:42), sunset (17:54), 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
HIGH6:35 am0.44 m
LOW12:21 pm-0.47 m
HIGH6:38 pm0.68 m
Sat
LOW12:58 am-0.64 m
HIGH7:10 am0.58 m
LOW1:04 pm-0.50 m
HIGH7:14 pm0.69 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp16 °C
High / Low24 °C / 15 °C
WindWNW 5 km/h, gusts 10 km/h
Pressure1025.5 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain3% cloud, 63%
Sunrise / Sunset05:42 / 17:54
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 Shellharbour
The best day on Shellharbour 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
- 05:42 to 17:54
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 14 km/h
- Rain chance
- 63%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Shellharbour: 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 Shellharbour 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 Shellharbour 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 16 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 11 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 16 °C, wind to 14 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
Shellharbour is a coastal town in New South Wales, Australia, covered from the New South Wales reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Shellharbour: the full guide
Shellharbour and its coast
Shellharbour is the village and the growing city south of Wollongong, with the small boat harbour and its breakwater in the village, the Bass Point rock platforms and the marine reserve to the south, the beaches from Shellharbour to Killalea and Minnamurra, the Shell Cove marina, and the southern end of Lake Illawarra to the north. It is a rock-fishing and harbour coast with the lake a few minutes away, and it fishes from the breakwater, the rocks and the beaches, and from boats over the reefs off Bass Point. The report on this page is scored for the village’s coordinates.
Species and seasons
Tailor and salmon run the beaches and the rock platforms in the cooler months, with Bass Point the classic mark at dawn and dusk; bream and luderick fish the harbour walls and the rocks, luderick in winter; drummer hold in the washes; and kingfish come to Bass Point and the reefs in summer. Squid work the harbour weed and the lights, flathead and whiting fish the beaches and the lake in the warmer months, mulloway are the night fish of the harbour and the beaches, and the reefs outside give snapper in winter for the boats. Bass Point’s aquatic reserve has its own rules.
Reading this report here
The wind row and the swell decide the coast: a southerly or an easterly swell closes the rock platforms, a westerly flattens the coast and gives the calm mornings the rock anglers wait for. 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, useful for the run around the harbour and at the lake entrance, with the Bureau of Meteorology for the times.
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 harbour, the breakwater, the beaches and the Bass Point platforms are public, with ramps in the harbour and at Shell Cove; the DPIRD limits and the Bass Point aquatic reserve rules are on the pages in the sources, and rock fishing here is subject to the life-jacket rules the council applies.
Common questions
What can I catch at Bass Point?
Tailor and salmon in the cooler months, bream, luderick and drummer off the rocks, and kingfish in summer; the aquatic reserve has its own rules, linked in the sources.
Do I need a fishing licence in Shellharbour?
Yes. The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee applies, from A$7 for three days.
Is fishing good at Shellharbour 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.