Scarborough is a long, exposed surf beach where the fishing depends entirely on reading the water. When swell carves out gutters and holes close to shore, bait collects in them and tailor, herring, and salmon move in to feed. The best gutter shifts constantly — what fired last week might be flat sand this week.

Walk before you fish. Look for darker water, defined gutters, or breaks in the wave pattern that indicate a hole or channel. Once you find structure in the sand, fish it hard on the tide change and during low light. Casting into featureless sand is a waste of time.

Herring (year-round in the gutters), tailor (autumn, dawn and dusk runs), Australian salmon (Mar–Jun, follow the schools), and whiting in clean gutters with a sandy bottom.

A little swell helps carve gutters; too much onshore wind pushes weed in and turns the water to soup. If it's blown out and gutless, try a sheltered spot instead. Mobility wins at Scarborough — don't set up camp in one spot and hope.