Port Stephens Fishing Spots: Nelson Bay, Hawks Nest and the Myall

Port Stephens is a harbour so large that the two sides of it have separate councils, separate holiday towns and, judging by the ferry conversation, separate opinions about which side has the better bream. Between them sit two heads, a river, and more water in the marine park than anyone could fish in a lifetime of long weekends. It’s the only harbour in NSW where the dolphins are a bigger tourist draw than the fish, and the fish have stopped taking it personally.

Here are nine land-based spots, from the Tomaree side round to Hawks Nest and up the Myall, each linked to its Bite Compass page with live tides, wind and bite times. October is the turn of the season here: on our spot data, dusky flathead and sand whiting build from October, dart reach the surf gutters from November, and the winter tailor, salmon and luderick are easing off.

One rule before the spots: the whole lot sits inside the Port Stephens–Great Lakes Marine Park, and several of these marks are a short walk from a no-take sanctuary zone. The spots below are the legal ones. Wandering off them is where people come unstuck.

Nelson Bay and the Tomaree Side

Nelson Bay Breakwall

The wall at the end of Teramby Road, wrapping d’Albora Marina, is the most fished piece of land in Port Stephens, and the Nelson Bay Breakwall earns it. The outside face drops into the channel over roughly 10 ft of moving water; the inside, near the Coastal Patrol mooring, is about 6 ft deep and stays fishable when it blows. Bream bite year-round, the winter luderick run from late May is one of the most consistent on the coast, and snapper and mulloway come off the outside in low light from autumn into winter. Summer brings kingfish in the channel and squid over the marina weed.

The luderick regulars run it like a guild: trolleys of rods, multicoloured floats and a bucket of cabbage. Bring your own weed rather than stripping the rocks, because marine plants aren’t on the marine park’s hand-gathering list. The water off the wall is fine to fish, but the Fly Point–Corrie Island sanctuary zone starts at Fly Point, about 750 m east. Fish the wall and stop there.

Little Beach

Little Beach, between Fly Point and Nelson Head, is the spot you can hand a beginner. Two jetties sit over calm, clear water, with bream and trevally under the pylons, flathead on the sand and squid off the decks at first and last light. It has a wheelchair ramp down to the access jetty, an accessible toilet, a playground and free parking off Lighthouse Road.

It also has the tightest rules in this guide. Land-based line fishing is allowed only from the wheelchair access jetty, the Little Beach jetty and the beach between them. Past either end you’re in marine park water where you can’t fish, and the zoning map is explicit that there’s no fishing from the beach north of the Little Beach jetty. Berley and collecting are out too, so bring your nippers with you. Rangers check the boundary as well as the parking.

Shoal Bay Wharf

Shoal Bay Wharf, opposite the Shoal Bay Country Club, puts deep, clean entrance water a rod-length from a level, railed deck. The bay faces north, so it shrugs off the southerlies that close the open coast. From October to April it’s a garfish and sand whiting wharf: a light float and a steady trail of bread and tuna oil do the work. Bonito show from about December to April, with tailor, salmon and luderick taking over as the water cools. The nearest sanctuary zone is about a kilometre east, so check the map before you go exploring.

Fingal Spit

Fingal Spit is the sand tongue running off Fingal Beach toward Fingal Island, and one of the most respected land-based jewfish marks on this coast. School mulloway to 10 kg come out of the gutter beside the spit, nearly all after dark, and the same trough throws up dusk tailor to 3 kg and Australian salmon from autumn through winter. Flathead and whiting fill the day sessions from spring.

The access is roughly 2 km of soft sand north from the Fingal Beach SLSC car park, with no vehicle access. The crossing to Fingal Island has a long record of drownings. Only walk the outer spit within about an hour either side of low tide, and never when water is washing over the sand. The Fingal headlands are declared high-risk rock fishing locations, so put the lifejacket on before you set off. The nearest sanctuary zone is only a little over a kilometre away, so check the map before you head toward the island.

Birubi Beach

Birubi Beach at Anna Bay is the northern end of Stockton Bight, about 30 km of unbroken surf down to Newcastle, and the marine park’s southern boundary. Read the gutters at low tide and fish them on the top of the tide. Tailor are best from March to June and salmon peak July to September, with mulloway soaking fresh mullet after dark. You can dig pipis and gather beach worms on the spot: pipis are bait-only, 50 per person and not beyond 50 m of the high-tide mark, and beach worms are capped at 20. Walking the beach needs no permit, but driving into the Worimi Conservation Lands needs a Worimi vehicle permit, and an annual NSW National Parks pass doesn’t cover it. Birubi Point is a declared high-risk rock fishing location.

Hawks Nest, Tea Gardens and the Myall

Moira Parade Wharf

Moira Parade Wharf is the jetty and floating pontoon on the Hawks Nest bank of the Myall River, with a channel running hard against the pylons. Bream are the backbone all year, flathead work the drop-off on the run-out from September to April, and luderick stack up in the deeper water from about April to September. Toilets, a playground, a fish-cleaning table and a swimming patch are all a few metres from the car. A kid with a handline and a serious bream angler can share the pontoon, and both will have opinions about the pelicans.

The Myall has a sanctuary zone in each direction: Jimmys Beach about 1.2 km downstream and the Myall River zone roughly 3 km upstream. Both are closed to fishing by any method.

Singing Bridge (Myall River)

The Singing Bridge is the 304 m crossing between Tea Gardens and Hawks Nest, opened in 1974 and named for the hum it makes in a stiff westerly. It’s one of the few marks on the lower Myall where you can walk in and still fish real current and depth. Fish the banks, the abutments and the foreshore, because fishing from the bridge deck isn’t permitted. The incoming tide is the one to plan around. In the warm months, small poppers and stickbaits like a Bassday Sugapen or Zipbaits Skinny Pop across the flats at first light pull violent strikes from whiting and flathead. Mulloway hold in the deeper holes on the night tides. The bridge is also a named boundary in the Port Stephens net rules, so check the DPIRD closures before you put a hoop net in.

Bennetts Beach

Bennetts Beach runs 14.3 km north from Yacaaba to Dark Point, and most anglers fish north of the surf club toward the Myall Lakes National Park boundary. Jewfish come out of the deep gutters on a rising tide into dark. May to August is the winter bream and tailor run the locals plan around, and whiting and dart work the shallows over summer. The beach has worms and pipis underfoot, so the bait costs nothing but your back. Driving the sand needs a MidCoast Council beach vehicle permit, and Mungo Beach further north has been closed to 4WDs since May 2026 because of erosion.

Yacaaba Headland

Yacaaba Headland guards the northern side of the Port Stephens entrance and fishes big: tailor most of the year, jewfish best from late summer into autumn on live yellowtail after dark, snapper from May to September and rock blackfish in the wash. It’s a 3 km soft-sand carry south from the surf club, so travel light.

Zoning matters most here. The Cabbage Tree Island sanctuary zone runs to the headland’s own shoreline along the whole ocean-facing eastern side, so every east-facing ledge is closed to fishing. The rock at the base where Bennetts Beach ends, the south-facing ledges over the entrance and the harbour-side boulders are outside it, and land-based line fishing is fine there. When a southerly blows out the front, the harbour-side boulders fish better for bream and luderick anyway. NPWS has closed the summit track beyond a viewing point since October 2024, but the fishing ledges are reached off the beach, not up the track.

Best Spots for Kids and Beginners

  • Little Beach — calm water, a wheelchair-access jetty, a playground and accessible toilets.
  • Shoal Bay Wharf — big, railed, level deck with cafes across the road.
  • Moira Parade Wharf — the car park is metres away, with a playground and swimming beach beside it.
  • Singing Bridge foreshore — flat sealed paths, shade and calm water.

Light spin gear, a size 1 hook and peeled prawn or pumped nippers will catch bream at all four. Keep kids off Fingal Spit and Yacaaba.

Rules Before You Go

Checked against NSW DPIRD, the NSW Government and NSW National Parks on 11 October 2026.

  • Licence and limits: see our NSW fishing licence guide and NSW size and bag limits. Mulloway are 70 cm minimum with a bag of one.
  • Marine park: every spot here is in the Port Stephens–Great Lakes Marine Park. Sanctuary zones are no-take by any method. Carry the zoning map or the FishSmart NSW app.
  • Rock fishing: Port Stephens is a declared area under the Rock Fishing Safety Act 2016, and the council’s map marks high-risk locations between Birubi Point and Tomaree Head. On rock exposed to ocean swell there, you, anyone helping you and any child under 12 with you must wear an AS 4758 lifejacket: level 50S or greater for adults, level 100 for under-12s. The fine is $100. Yacaaba is across the entrance in MidCoast, which isn’t a declared area, but wear one there anyway.
  • Blue groper: line fishing for eastern blue groper is prohibited in NSW. Release any you hook.

FAQ

What are the best land-based fishing spots in Port Stephens?

On the Nelson Bay side, the Nelson Bay breakwall, Shoal Bay wharf and Little Beach jetties are the easy, sheltered options, and Fingal Spit and Birubi Beach are the surf marks for mulloway, tailor and salmon. On the Hawks Nest side, Moira Parade wharf and the Singing Bridge cover the Myall River, while Bennetts Beach and Yacaaba Headland face the open ocean.

Can you fish at Little Beach in Nelson Bay?

Yes, but only in a narrow strip. Land-based line fishing at Little Beach is permitted from the wheelchair access jetty, the Little Beach jetty and the beach between them. Past either end you are in marine park water where fishing is not allowed, berley and collecting are ruled out, and the no-take Fly Point sanctuary zone sits right next door.

Can you fish from the Singing Bridge at Tea Gardens?

Not from the deck. Fishing from the Singing Bridge roadway and walkways is not permitted, so anglers fish the banks, the old abutments and the foreshore either side of the bridge for bream, flathead, whiting and mulloway on the incoming tide.

Do you need a lifejacket to rock fish at Port Stephens?

Yes on the Port Stephens Council side. Port Stephens is a declared area under the NSW Rock Fishing Safety Act 2016, and the council’s map marks high-risk rock fishing locations between Birubi Point and Tomaree Head, including the Fingal headlands. On that rock you, anyone helping you and any child under 12 with you must wear an AS 4758 lifejacket, level 50S or greater for adults and level 100 for under-12s, or face a $100 fine.

Is Port Stephens a marine park?

Yes. All of Port Stephens, the Myall River and the coast from Birubi Beach north sit inside the Port Stephens–Great Lakes Marine Park. Sanctuary zones such as Fly Point near Nelson Bay and Cabbage Tree Island off Yacaaba are no-take by any method, so check the zoning map or the FishSmart NSW app before you move off a known mark.

Browse every NSW spot, check the NSW tide times and pick a window on the NSW bite forecast before you leave. The dolphins will be there either way.