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.
The Entrance Fishing Report
Updated Sat, 26 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
Where the Tuggerah Lakes meet the sea: the channel, the bridge, the pelicans and the beaches, the Central Coast’s busiest fishing town.
2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Next tide
Low 12:57 am model
Air / High
17 °C / 28 °C
Wind
N 7 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
The Entrance has cool water and fish holding a little deeper and slower. Today brings clear skies, wind N around 8 km/h, rising pressure near 1026 hPa and a high of 28 °C. Tides: high 7:05 am and 7:11 pm, low 12:57 am and 1:00 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 18 °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 The Entrance today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:38), sunset (17:53), 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
LOW12:57 am-0.68 m
HIGH7:05 am0.59 m
LOW1:00 pm-0.54 m
HIGH7:11 pm0.75 m
Sun
LOW1:26 am-0.62 m
HIGH7:41 am0.72 m
LOW1:48 pm-0.57 m
HIGH7:52 pm0.69 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp17 °C
High / Low28 °C / 14 °C
WindN 7 km/h, gusts 14 km/h
Pressure1026.4 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain12% cloud, 12%
Sunrise / Sunset05:38 / 17:53
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 The Entrance
The best day on The Entrance this week looks like Thursday 1 Oct, at 5 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: Thursday, 1 Oct — excellent at 5/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
Today, 26 Sept — Tough
Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
- Solunar majors
- 11:16 PM-1:16 AM and 11:16 AM-1:16 PM
- Minor period
- 5:46 AM-6:46 AM
- Sun
- 05:38 to 17:53
- Moon
- Full Moon, 100% lit
- Sky and wind
- Overcast, 31 km/h
- Rain chance
- 12%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on The Entrance: 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 The Entrance 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 The Entrance today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataFri, Sep 25
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Tailor led the card at excellent. High of 26 °C, wind to 16 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 22 °C, wind to 19 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 10 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
The Entrance is a coastal town in New South Wales, Australia, covered from the New South Wales reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing The Entrance: the full guide
The Entrance and the channel
The Entrance is the town on the channel that joins the Tuggerah Lakes to the sea on the New South Wales Central Coast, with the bridge over the channel, the rock walls and the sand flats of the entrance, the lake foreshore behind and the beaches and the rock platforms of the coast in front, from Toowoon Bay to Norah Head. The channel opens and shoals with the weather and the council dredges it; the lakes behind it are shallow and barely tidal. It is the Central Coast’s busiest fishing town, and the region has its own page; this one is scored for the town.
Species and seasons
Flathead are the channel’s fish, on the sand of the flats and the drop-offs from spring to autumn; bream fish the walls, the bridge and the lake edges all year with the winter run to the entrance; whiting work the flats and the beaches in summer; and mulloway are the night fish of the channel and the bridge. Tailor and salmon run the beaches and the rocks in the cooler months, luderick fish the walls in winter, squid work the weed near the entrance, and the lakes give prawns on the dark nights of summer under the DPIRD rules.
Reading this report here
The channel runs on the tide when it is open, and the tide panel, a modelled curve for these coordinates labelled as a model, is for the direction of the run; the state of the channel decides how much tide reaches the lakes, and the Bureau of Meteorology has the official coastal times. The wind row decides between the channel and the coast, a southerly or a nor’-easter roughing up the beaches while the channel stays fishable. Pressure and sky build the score and the planner shows the day.
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 channel walls, the bridge approaches, the lake foreshore and the beaches are public, with ramps at The Entrance, Long Jetty and Toukley; the DPIRD limits and the prawning rules are on the pages in the sources.
Common questions
What can I catch at The Entrance?
Flathead and whiting on the channel flats, bream and luderick on the walls, tailor and salmon on the beaches in the cooler months, mulloway at night and prawns in the lakes in summer.
Do I need a fishing licence at The Entrance?
Yes. The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee applies, from A$7 for three days.
Is fishing good at The Entrance 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.