New South Wales

What you can target here

One entry per fish, grouped by how you would be fishing — because the answer is a different one from the rocks and from a boat. Each entry says how strongly the sources support it and how much evidence sits behind it. These are documented catches, not a forecast, and none of it is a statement that you may fish any particular ground.

How people fish here

13 methods are recorded on the places documented here, counted from those places themselves rather than from what is practised in the country. Each opens a full guide to the technique.

• Spinning

  Recorded at 33 places here, over estuary, headland, reservoir, bay.

  Casting an artificial lure and retrieving it so that it moves like something alive — the most direct form of lure fishing.

  Documented on the same ground: Atlantic salmon, Australasian snapper, Australian bass, Bluefish, Brown trout, Cobia.

• Ledgering

  Recorded at 23 places here, over estuary, reservoir, bay, estuary mark.

  Fishing a bait on the bottom held by a weight, with no float — the simplest way to fish at distance, in depth, or in wind.

  Documented on the same ground: Atlantic salmon, Australian bass, Bluefish, Brown trout, Common carp, Dusky flathead.

• Float fishing

  Recorded at 11 places here, over estuary, reservoir, bay, breakwater.

  Suspending a bait at a controlled depth beneath a buoyant indicator — the most visual, most controllable and most widely applicable method in angling.

  Documented on the same ground: Atlantic salmon, Australian bass, Bluefish, Brown trout, Cobia, Dusky flathead.

• Livebaiting at sea

  Recorded at 11 places here, over headland, estuary, jetty, bay.

  Presenting a living fish where a predator will find it — the most effective method for many species and the one with the clearest welfare questions attached.

  Documented on the same ground: Australasian snapper, Dusky flathead, Dusky kob, Luderick, Sand flathead, Silver trevally.

• Trolling

  Recorded at 10 places here, over reservoir, headland, estuary, bay.

  Towing lures or baits behind a moving boat to cover large volumes of water and locate scattered fish.

  Documented on the same ground: Atlantic salmon, Australasian snapper, Australian bass, Bluefish, Brown trout, Common carp.

• Kayak fishing

  Recorded at 5 places here, over estuary, bay.

  A platform rather than a technique: quiet, shallow-draught access to water no other craft reaches, bought at the price of exposure, and a discipline where the decision not to launch is part of the skill.

  Documented on the same ground: Australian bass, Bluefish, Dusky flathead, Dusky kob, Estuary perch, Kahawai.

• Drift fishing

  Recorded at 4 places here, over bay, headland.

  Letting the boat move with tide and wind while fishing, so the tackle searches ground instead of waiting on it — and the decision that determines whether a boat session works at all.

  Documented on the same ground: Australasian snapper, Bluefish, Dusky flathead, Dusky kob, Kahawai, Luderick.

• Eging

  Recorded at 4 places here, over estuary, bay, headland.

  Jigging for squid and cuttlefish with a barbed, weighted lure worked in lifts and pauses — a Japanese discipline with its own tackle, vocabulary and competitive scene.

  Documented on the same ground: Australasian snapper, Dusky flathead, Dusky kob, Luderick, Sand flathead, Silver trevally.

• Saltwater fly fishing

  Recorded at 4 places here, over estuary, headland.

  Fly fishing adapted to the sea: heavier lines, corrosion-proof tackle, fish that run rather than fight, and wind as the permanent constraint.

  Documented on the same ground: Australian bass, Bluefish, Dusky kob, Estuary perch, Luderick, Yellowtail kingfish.

4 further methods are recorded at one or two places each: Stillwater fly fishing, Dry fly fishing, Jigging, Nymphing.

These are the methods documented at the places FishingHQ holds here. A species listed beside a method is documented on the same ground, which is not the same as being taken that way — where a source establishes the method a fish was caught on, it is stated on that place’s own page. All fishing methods.

Baits and lures for these fish

The methods, baits and lures each of the fish above is commonly taken on, from that fish’s own page. This is what works for the fish, not a report of what people use on this particular water — local knowledge and the conditions on the day still decide.

The fishing year here

The months the places and accounts under this area actually name, tightest season first. This is “observed in these months” rather than a season: a species whose months nobody recorded is not listed, because a gap in the evidence is not a year-round fishery.

• Dusky flatheadOctober to April
• Murray codDecember to August
• Kahawaiall year

Places within this area

Publicly documented fishing geography. FishingHQ describes what the ground is; it does not say whether you may fish it, and every one of these sends that question to the body that holds the answer. Browse every place in this part of the world.

• Sydney Harbour

  Estuary · Salt water

  Port Jackson, from its heads past the city to the Parramatta and Lane Cove rivers, with Middle and North Harbour branching north. The state department counts more than 120 known land-based fishing places — rock platforms, wharves, piers, parks and reserves — and numbers seventy of them on its maps. It gives dusky flathead, mulloway, bream, luderick, mullet, tarwhine, silver trevally, squid and leatherjacket as the common fish, with Australian salmon, bonito, frigate mackerel and kingfish arriving in the warmer months.

  Particular to this water: Sydney Harbour and all its tributaries are an intertidal protected area: shellfish, molluscs and crustaceans may not be taken. The department says council, leased and private land has its own rules and that anglers should check fishing is allowed at each place; on ferry wharves, vessels and passengers have priority. The department says a number of fishing closures are in place in the harbour, most of them signposted.

• Botany Bay

  Bay · Salt water

  The large bay thirteen kilometres south of Sydney's city centre, between Kamay National Park at Cape Solander and the Port Botany breakwall at Molineaux Point, with the airport runways on its western side. A recreational fishing haven since 2002, with commercial fishing removed, it is fished from boats, kayaks and the shore. The department gives dusky flathead, bream, mulloway, silver trevally, whiting and luderick as its common estuary fish.

  Severe hazards of New South Wales apply here: cliffs and rock platforms.

  Particular to this water: In the Towra Point Aquatic Reserve on the southern shore, fishing is prohibited in the sanctuary zones; in the refuge zones hook and line is allowed but no invertebrates or marine plants may be taken. The department says restrictions also apply around the airport runways and at Port Botany, and points to the state's dietary advice for fish caught in the bay and the Georges River.

• Georges River

  Estuary · Brackish water

  One of the three rivers, with the Cooks and the Woronora, that the department says run into Botany Bay. The department says the Georges and Woronora give the chance of estuary perch and Australian bass, especially in the upper Georges, as well as bream, flathead, whiting and mulloway. Mulloway are stocked into the river each year; in the department's sampling about a fifth of the mulloway caught in the Georges were stocked fish.

  Particular to this water: The department points to the state's dietary advice for fish caught in the Georges River and Botany Bay; read it before eating the catch. Where the river is tidal, the saltwater rules apply, and above the tidal limit the freshwater ones.

• Hawkesbury River and Broken Bay

  Estuary · Brackish water

  The tidal lower Hawkesbury, which meets the sea at Broken Bay north of Sydney, with Pittwater, Cowan Creek and Berowra Creek among its arms. The department says it is best known for some of the state's largest mulloway, found from Broken Bay up to Wisemans Ferry, and for big bream, winter hairtail in Cowan Creek, surface-feeding Australian salmon, bonito, tailor and kingfish in Broken Bay, and Australian bass and estuary perch in its upper reaches.

  Particular to this water: The Barrenjoey Head Aquatic Reserve lies at the southern end of Broken Bay; elsewhere the department tells anglers to check closures, limits and protected species before going.

• Jervis Bay

  Bay · Salt water

  A large, clear-water bay on the NSW south coast, with seagrass beds, cliffs, headlands and reefs, inside a marine park that runs about a hundred kilometres from Kinghorn Point to Bherwerre Beach. The department gives estuary, beach, rock, sport and game fishing: snapper on the reefs inside the bay, kingfish on the reefs and cliffs, sand flathead drifted over sand, bream on the calm beaches and in Currambene Creek, Australian salmon off the surf beaches, and squid over the seagrass. Boats reach the offshore banks and canyons for tuna, dolphinfish and marlin.

  Severe hazards of New South Wales apply here: cliffs and rock platforms.

  Particular to this water: The bay is a marine park: most of it is zoned to allow recreational fishing, but its sanctuary zones, including those at Bowen Island and the Drum and Drumsticks, allow none, and penalties apply. The southern shore is Commonwealth land in Booderee National Park, which has its own fishing rules and allows no spearfishing. Zoning maps come from the marine park office in Huskisson and the department.

• Lake Jindabyne

  Reservoir · Fresh water

  One of the two largest of the Snowy Hydro lakes, at the town of Jindabyne, fed by the Snowy and Thredbo rivers. The department says it suits soaking a bait, land-based sight fly fishing, lure casting and trolling, and maps shore areas for lure, fly and bait and productive trolling water. Atlantic salmon are stocked into it from the hatchery at Jindabyne.

  Particular to this water: The department's 2024 guide gives two rods per person on the region's lakes and a daily bag and minimum size for trout and salmon together; check the current rules before going. The lake has marked speed-limit areas for boats.

• Lake Eucumbene

  Reservoir · Fresh water

  The largest of the Snowy Hydro lakes, near Adaminaby, which the department names with Lake Jindabyne as the region's biggest and best suited to bait, land-based sight fly fishing, lure casting and trolling. Its map marks shore areas for lure, fly and bait, productive trolling water, and water it labels for spring and early summer.

  Particular to this water: The department's 2024 guide gives two rods per person on the region's lakes and a daily bag and minimum size for trout; check the current rules before going.

• Tantangara Reservoir

  Reservoir · Fresh water

  A smaller Snowy Hydro reservoir on the upper Murrumbidgee, which the department says offers fishing similar to the big lakes but is a little more off the grid, and maps for shore lure, fly and bait fishing and trolling.

  Particular to this water: The department says most of the region's fishery is inside Kosciuszko National Park, whose own rules apply alongside the fishing rules. Check the current rules with the department before going.