Yellowtail kingfish
Excellent
Prime. Cast stickbaits and poppers at surface activity, jig the deeper reefs, and keep a live bait out under a balloon.
Sydney Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
A harbour, three big estuaries, the northern and southern beaches and the rocks in between, all inside one city’s limits.
4/5
Good. Solid day ahead.Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
Next tide
Low 2:47 pm model
Air / High
15 °C / 17 °C
Wind
SW 7 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Sydney is fishing in its best temperature window, with the bite spread across the day. Today brings a mixed sky, wind SW around 6 km/h, rising pressure near 1020 hPa and a high of 17 °C. Tides: high 8:11 am and 8:40 pm, low 1:47 am and 2:47 pm: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. Water sits around 20 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 11:53 PM-1:53 AM and 11:29 AM-1:29 PM: the windows to build the day around.
Tailor
Good
Rock ledges and beach gutters on the rising tide; metals cast and retrieved fast, or a whole pilchard drifted through the wash.
Mulloway
Good
Fish the deep holes and the rock walls through a tide change after dark; live mullet, yellowtail or a large soft plastic worked slowly.
Australian salmon
Fair
Look for birds and surface splashes along the beaches and in the bays; cast metals, plastics or ganged pilchards into the school.
Tie on: Soft plastic on a 1/4 oz jighead · Small hardbody, shallow diver · Squid jig, size 3.0 · Fresh pipi or worm on a small hook. Prime windows: 11:53 PM-1:53 AM, 11:29 AM-1:29 PM, 4:50 AM-5:50 AM. Warmer at 22 °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 Sydney today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:48), sunset (19:30), 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 11:53 PM-1:53 AM and 11:29 AM-1:29 PM; minor 4:50 AM-5:50 AM. New Moon, 0% 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.
Mon
LOW1:47 am-0.33 m
HIGH8:11 am0.93 m
LOW2:47 pm-0.40 m
HIGH8:40 pm0.50 m
Tue
LOW2:20 am-0.32 m
HIGH8:50 am0.87 m
LOW3:22 pm-0.45 m
HIGH9:20 pm0.39 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp15 °C
High / Low17 °C / 11 °C
WindSW 7 km/h, gusts 18 km/h
Pressure1019.6 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain50% cloud, 84%
Sunrise / Sunset05:48 / 19:30
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~20 °C est.
Why the tide matters here: tides and fishing in Australia.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Sydney
Today is the pick of the week on Sydney, at 4 out of 5.
Best day this week: today, 9 Nov — good at 4/5, rising pressure behind a front, typically the slowest.
Today, 9 Nov — Good
Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
- Solunar majors
- 11:53 PM-1:53 AM and 11:29 AM-1:29 PM
- Minor period
- 4:50 AM-5:50 AM
- Sun
- 05:48 to 19:30
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 24 km/h
- Rain chance
- 84%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Sydney: 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; the run reaches K'gari (Fraser Island) in late winter, where the east beach from Waddy Point to Indian Head is closed to all fin fish from 1 August to 29 September
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. Rock ledges and beach gutters on the rising tide; metals cast and retrieved fast, or a whole pilchard drifted through the wash.
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. Fish the deep holes and the rock walls through a tide change after dark; live mullet, yellowtail or a large soft plastic worked slowly.
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. Prime. Cast stickbaits and poppers at surface activity, jig the deeper reefs, and keep a live bait out under a balloon.
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. Look for birds and surface splashes along the beaches and in the bays; cast metals, plastics or ganged pilchards into the school.
When to come: the Sydney 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 20 °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 Sydney today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataSun, Nov 8
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Yellowtail kingfish led the card at good. High of 17 °C, wind to 29 km/h.
Sat, Nov 7
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Yellowtail kingfish led the card at good. High of 30 °C, wind to 34 km/h.
Fri, Nov 6
5/5 Excellent. Go now. Everything lines up: pressure, wind and light are in your favor. Yellowtail kingfish led the card at excellent. High of 21 °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
New South Wales requires the Recreational Fishing Fee for all fishing, fresh and salt, from A$7 for three days; our New South Wales licence page has the fees as read from DPIRD.
About this water
Sydney is a coastal town in New South Wales, Australia, covered from the New South Wales reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Sydney: the full guide
Where Sydney fishes
Sydney is a city of water. The harbour itself, from the heads to Parramatta, is a kingfish, bream, flathead and squid fishery worked from the wharves, the rocks and the boats; Botany Bay and the Georges River to the south and Pittwater, the Hawkesbury and Broken Bay to the north are big estuaries in their own right; and the beaches from Palm Beach to Cronulla are broken by rock platforms at every headland, which is where the city’s land-based game fishing happens. Offshore, the shelf is close and the reefs off the heads fish for snapper in winter. A Sydney fishing report is really several reports, and this page scores the city’s coordinates with the harbour as the reference.
Species by season
Kingfish are the summer prize of the harbour and the headlands, from the markers and the wash at dawn on live baits and stickbaits. Bream and flathead are year-round in every estuary, the flathead best on the sand in the warmer months and the bream in the winter run to the mouths. Tailor and salmon run the beaches and rocks in the cooler months, whiting fish the beaches in summer, squid work the harbour weed and the wharf lights, mulloway are the night fish of the Hawkesbury and the Georges, and snapper come onto the reefs off the heads in winter. One rule is about eating rather than catching: because of dioxins, DPIRD advises that fish and crustaceans caught west of the Sydney Harbour Bridge should not be eaten, and that most people eat no more than 150 grams a month of fish from east of the bridge.
Reading this report for Sydney
The wind row is the first thing to read: a southerly buster ends the beach and rock fishing for a day or two and puts the fishing inside the harbour and the estuaries, a nor’-easter is the summer afternoon pattern, and a westerly is the calm, cold morning the rock anglers wait for. Pressure and sky build the score, the seven-day planner shows the day to take, and the tide panel is a modelled curve for these coordinates, labelled as a model; the harbour and the estuaries are tidal to the last kilometre, so use the curve for the run and the Bureau of Meteorology prediction for the minute.
Licence and access
New South Wales requires the Recreational Fishing Fee for all fishing, fresh and salt, from A$7 for three days; our New South Wales licence page has the fees as read from DPIRD. Access is public across the harbour wharves, the beaches and the rock platforms, with ramps in every bay; the harbour foreshores are intertidal protected areas where cunjevoi and most invertebrates may not be taken, and shellfish may not be taken anywhere in Port Jackson. Rock fishing is where the risk is: lifejackets are compulsory on declared rock platforms in the Randwick, Northern Beaches and Sutherland Shire council areas under the NSW Rock Fishing Safety Act.
Common questions
Do I need a fishing licence in Sydney?
Yes. The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee applies to all fishing, including from the shore and in the harbour; it is A$7 for three days and A$35 for a year, per DPIRD.
Where can I catch kingfish in Sydney?
In the harbour around the markers and the wash at the heads, and off the rock platforms of the headlands, mostly in summer at first light on live baits or stickbaits.
Are there places in Sydney Harbour where you cannot fish?
The harbour foreshores are intertidal protected areas, shellfish are closed throughout Port Jackson, and some bays have gear closures; DPIRD also advises against eating fish caught west of the Harbour Bridge. The closures page is linked in the sources below.
Is fishing good at Sydney right now?
Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
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
- Pages checked
- 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.