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.
Sussex Inlet Fishing Report
Updated Sat, 26 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The channel between St Georges Basin and the sea: bream, flathead and whiting in the inlet, jew at the mouth and the beaches of Bherwerre, with a tide people search for.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Next tide
Low 12:56 am model
Air / High
17 °C / 31 °C
Wind
NW 10 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Sussex Inlet rewards patience today, with cool water and short feeding windows. Today brings cloud cover, wind NW around 10 km/h, rising pressure near 1024 hPa and a high of 31 °C. Tides: high 7:13 am and 7:14 pm, low 12:56 am and 1:09 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 11:16 PM-1:16 AM and 11:16 AM-1:16 PM: 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: 11:16 PM-1:16 AM, 11:16 AM-1:16 PM, 5:46 AM-6:46 AM. Cooler at 14 °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 Sussex Inlet today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:42), sunset (17:56), 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 11:16 PM-1:16 AM and 11:16 AM-1:16 PM; minor 5:46 AM-6:46 AM. Full Moon, 100% 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.
Sat
LOW12:56 am-0.63 m
HIGH7:13 am0.57 m
LOW1:09 pm-0.49 m
HIGH7:14 pm0.65 m
Sun
LOW1:30 am-0.63 m
HIGH7:45 am0.63 m
LOW1:51 pm-0.61 m
HIGH7:58 pm0.59 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp17 °C
High / Low31 °C / 14 °C
WindNW 10 km/h, gusts 21 km/h
Pressure1024.0 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain81% cloud, 69%
Sunrise / Sunset05:42 / 17:56
MoonFull Moon, 100%
Water temp (seasonal)~18 °C est.
Why the tide matters here: tides and fishing in Australia.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Sussex Inlet
The best day on Sussex Inlet this week looks like Thursday 1 Oct, at 5 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: Thursday, 1 Oct — excellent at 5/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
Today, 26 Sept — Fair
A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
- Solunar majors
- 11:16 PM-1:16 AM and 11:16 AM-1:16 PM
- Minor period
- 5:46 AM-6:46 AM
- Sun
- 05:42 to 17:56
- Moon
- Full Moon, 100% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 24 km/h
- Rain chance
- 69%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Sussex Inlet: 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 Sussex Inlet 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 Sussex Inlet today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataFri, Sep 25
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Tailor led the card at excellent. High of 27 °C, wind to 13 km/h.
Thu, 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 24 °C, wind to 18 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 11 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 Sussex Inlet; the New South Wales licence page has the fees.
About this water
Sussex Inlet is a coastal town in New South Wales, Australia, covered from the New South Wales reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Sussex Inlet: the full guide
Sussex Inlet and the channel
Sussex Inlet is the village on the channel that joins St Georges Basin to the sea on the south coast below Jervis Bay, a village of canals, jetties and caravan parks along the inlet with the basin behind, the mouth and its bar at the eastern end, and the beaches of Bherwerre and Cudmirrah either side. It is a channel fishery on the tide, and most searches for it are for the tide; the panel on this page shows a modelled curve for the coordinates of Sussex Inlet, labelled as a model, with the Bureau of Meteorology’s prediction linked. St Georges Basin has its own page.
Species and seasons
Bream fish the inlet’s jetties, the rock walls and the snags all year and are the village’s fish; flathead lie on the inlet sand and the basin flats from spring to autumn; whiting work the flats and the mouth sand in summer; mulloway are the night fish of the mouth and the deeper channel; tailor push in through the mouth in the cooler months; luderick fish the walls in winter; and the prawns run the inlet on the dark nights of summer. The beaches give tailor and salmon in the cooler months.
Where to fish it
The inlet’s public jetties along the village and the rock walls at the mouth are the bream and luderick marks, and the sand at the mouth and the Basin end holds the flathead and whiting; the Cudmirrah and Berrara beaches to the south are the tailor and salmon beaches. The ramps at the village put a boat into the inlet, and the Basin is a few minutes upstream.
Reading this report here
The inlet runs hard on the tide and the modelled curve is for the direction, with the Bureau for the minute; the inlet is sheltered and the wind matters at the mouth and on the beaches. Pressure and sky build the score at Sussex Inlet and the planner shows the day; the rain row matters because a fresh from the basin moves the fish.
Licence, access and rules
The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, from A$7 for three days, applies at Sussex Inlet; the New South Wales licence page has the fees. The jetties, the foreshores and the beaches are public, with ramps at the village; DPIRD’s limits and the prawning rules are in the sources.
Common questions
What can I catch in Sussex Inlet?
Bream at the jetties and the walls, flathead on the sand, whiting on the flats in summer, mulloway at the mouth at night, luderick in winter and prawns on the dark summer nights.
Do I need a licence at Sussex Inlet?
Yes: the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, from A$7 for three days.
Is fishing good at Sussex Inlet 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.