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.
South West Rocks Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The mouth of the Macleay and Trial Bay: the breakwalls, the gaol beach, the Smoky Cape rocks and the Fish Rock grounds outside, with a tide people search for.
2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Next tide
High 6:30 pm model
Air / High
18 °C / 23 °C
Wind
N 18 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
South West Rocks rewards patience today, with cool water and short feeding windows. Today brings clear skies, wind N around 18 km/h, rising pressure near 1030 hPa and a high of 23 °C. Tides: high 6:26 am and 6:30 pm, low 12:18 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 23 °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 South West Rocks today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:34), sunset (17:45), 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
HIGH6:26 am0.58 m
LOW12:18 pm-0.48 m
HIGH6:30 pm0.81 m
Sat
LOW12:55 am-0.65 m
HIGH7:02 am0.67 m
LOW12:58 pm-0.56 m
HIGH7:10 pm0.83 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp18 °C
High / Low23 °C / 17 °C
WindN 18 km/h, gusts 39 km/h
Pressure1030.3 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 1%
Sunrise / Sunset05:34 / 17:45
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 South West Rocks
The best day on South West Rocks this week looks like Saturday 26 Sept, at 3 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: Saturday, 26 Sept — fair at 3/5, steady pressure, neither help nor hindrance.
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
- 05:34 to 17:45
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Overcast, 23 km/h
- Rain chance
- 1%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on South West Rocks: 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 South West Rocks 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 South West Rocks 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 23 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 22 °C, wind to 21 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 21 °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 South West Rocks; our New South Wales licence page has the fees.
About this water
South West Rocks is a coastal town in New South Wales, Australia, covered from the New South Wales reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing South West Rocks: the full guide
South West Rocks and Trial Bay
South West Rocks is the town on Trial Bay at the mouth of the Macleay River on the mid north coast, with the river breakwalls and the Back Creek, the beaches of the bay curving under the old Trial Bay Gaol, the rock platforms of Smoky Cape and the lighthouse, and the Fish Rock and Green Island grounds offshore that the charter and dive boats work. It is a walls, rocks and reef town, and most searches for it are for the tide; the panel on this page shows a modelled curve for the coordinates of South West Rocks, labelled as a model, with the Bureau of Meteorology’s prediction linked. The Macleay at Kempsey has its own page.
Species and seasons
Mulloway fish the river walls at night on the tide change from spring to autumn; bream fish the walls, Back Creek and the rocks all year; tailor and salmon run the bay beaches and the Smoky Cape rocks in the cooler months; whiting fish the bay sand in summer; luderick and drummer hold on the cape platforms in winter; kingfish come to Fish Rock and the cape in summer; and the reef gives snapper in winter and mackerel in summer for the boats through the bar.
Where to fish it
The Macleay breakwalls at the river mouth are the marks for bream, luderick and the jew after dark, and the wall at the Back Creek entrance in town is the family spot; Trial Bay beach and the platforms under the gaol at Laggers Point take the tailor and drummer, and Smoky Cape’s ledges to the south are the mackerel and kingfish rocks in summer. The ramp at the river is a short run to the bar.
Reading this report here
The wind row and the swell decide the walls and the cape: a southerly or an easterly swell washes the walls and closes the platforms, a westerly opens them and flattens the bay. The modelled tide curve gives the direction at the walls and in Back Creek, with the Bureau for the minute. Pressure and sky build the score at South West Rocks; the planner shows the day.
Licence, access and rules
The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, from A$7 for three days, applies at South West Rocks; our New South Wales licence page has the fees. The walls, the beaches and the cape platforms are public, with ramps at the river and Back Creek; DPIRD’s limits, the Solitary Islands Marine Park rules north of the cape and the life-jacket rule for the rocks are in the sources.
Common questions
What is South West Rocks known for?
Mulloway on the river walls, the Smoky Cape rock platforms and the Fish Rock grounds offshore, with the bay beaches for tailor and whiting.
Do I need a licence at South West Rocks?
Yes: the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, from A$7 for three days.
Is fishing good at South West Rocks 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.