Can you fish at Balls Head Reserve?

Yes. Line fishing is allowed from the sandstone foreshore, and DPIRD's Sydney Harbour land-based guide lists Balls Head Reserve as a fishing site and a kingfish and salmon hot spot. The foreshore is part of the harbour-wide Intertidal Protected Area, so bring bait rather than collecting it, and pay the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee before you start. Everything caught here should be released under the west-of-the-Bridge dioxin advice.

Can you eat fish caught at Balls Head?

No. Balls Head is about 1.5 km west of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and NSW advice is that no fish or crustaceans caught west of the Bridge should be eaten because of dioxin contamination. Fishing is still legal — release the catch. East of the Bridge the advice relaxes to generally no more than 150 grams of fish a month.

What fish can you catch at Balls Head?

Yellowtail kingfish and Australian salmon are the drawcards — DPIRD names Balls Head a hot spot for both, with salmon best from October to April. Yellowfin bream, silver trevally, tarwhine, luderick, squid and leatherjacket are around year-round, and the odd mulloway turns up after dark.

Can you park at Balls Head Reserve at night?

Not inside the reserve. There is a car park on the headland and street parking on Balls Head Road, but North Sydney Council signposts no parking in the reserve between 10pm and 6am. For a late session, park outside the reserve or walk in from Waverton station, 5–10 minutes away.

Bite Compass

Bite Forecast

Balls Head Reserve (Waverton)

Thu 29 Oct 2026 · Australia/Sydney

Forecast updated 7:02pm AEDT

Bite Alert

←

29 Oct

tap to pick date

→

Today Tomorrow Sat 31 Oct

📍 Balls Head Reserve (Waverton)

waning gibbous · 91%

Weather: Sunny Wind: SE 154° · 16 km/h Swell: 1.2 m @ 8 s S Water: 18.9 °C Pressure: 1022.1 hPa → steady Sheltered water: wind direction matters less here

★★★☆☆

Medium Fish Activity

Email me when a High bite day is coming Free

▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 5:30 am

Solunar Between windows

Time of day Dawn

Tide Moving

Wind W 8 km/h

Moon waning gibbous all day

Water temp 18.9 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Day Timeline

Major Minor Tide Twilight

First light 5:32 am Last light 7:46 pm

Low 4:33 am High 11:05 am Low 5:50 pm

Drag or use arrow keys to explore

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

2:00 am → 7:00 am

Good

6:30 pm → 9:00 pm

2h 30m

Good

2:30 pm → 4:00 pm

1h 30m

Good

11:30 pm → 12:00 am

30m

First light

5:32 am

Last light

7:46 pm

Sunrise

5:58 am

Sunset

7:20 pm

Moonrise

11:10 pm

Moonset

7:43 am

Low tide

4:33 am

High tide

11:05 am

Low tide

5:50 pm

High tide

11:50 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

☀️

15°

↖︎

314°

5 km/h

1am

☀️

15°

←︎

282°

6 km/h

2am

☀️

14°

←︎

267°

8 km/h

3am

☀️

14°

←︎

266°

8 km/h

4am

☀️

13°

←︎

270°

8 km/h

5am

☀️

13°

←︎

274°

8 km/h

6am

☀️

13°

←︎

277°

9 km/h

7am

☀️

14°

←︎

278°

10 km/h

8am

☀️

15°

←︎

272°

9 km/h

9am

☀️

17°

↙︎

234°

6 km/h

10am

☀️

19°

↓︎

178°

9 km/h

11am

☀️

20°

↓︎

160°

14 km/h

12pm

☀️

21°

↘︎

154°

16 km/h

1pm

☀️

21°

↘︎

149°

15 km/h

2pm

☀️

21°

↘︎

144°

15 km/h

3pm

☀️

21°

↘︎

137°

15 km/h

4pm

☀️

20°

↘︎

128°

14 km/h

5pm

☀️

20°

↘︎

121°

14 km/h

6pm

☀️

19°

↘︎

118°

13 km/h

7pm

☀️

19°

↘︎

117°

12 km/h

8pm

☀️

18°

↘︎

116°

10 km/h

9pm

☀️

18°

↘︎

114°

7 km/h

10pm

☀️

17°

→︎

110°

3 km/h

11pm

☀️

17°

↖︎

333°

0 km/h

Hourly Swell

Building 0.8 → 1.3 m SE

12am

0.8 m

@ 7 s

↘︎

Slight

chop

1am

0.8 m

@ 7 s

↘︎

Slight

chop

2am

0.9 m

@ 7 s

↘︎

Slight

chop

3am

0.9 m

@ 7 s

↘︎

Slight

chop

4am

0.9 m

@ 7 s

↘︎

Slight

chop

5am

1.0 m

@ 7 s

↘︎

Slight

chop

6am

1.0 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

7am

1.1 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

8am

1.1 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

9am

1.1 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

10am

1.2 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

11am

1.2 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

12pm

1.2 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

1pm

1.2 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

2pm

1.2 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

3pm

1.2 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

4pm

1.2 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

5pm

1.2 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

6pm

1.3 m

@ 9 s

↘︎

Moderate

7pm

1.3 m

@ 8 s

↘︎

Moderate

8pm

1.3 m

@ 8 s

↘︎

Moderate

9pm

1.3 m

@ 9 s

↘︎

Moderate

10pm

1.3 m

@ 9 s

↘︎

Moderate

11pm

1.3 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

Water Temp (°C)

↗ warming — up 0.6° over the last 3 days

Mon

26 Oct

18.3°

Tue

27 Oct

18.4°

Wed

28 Oct

18.6°

Thu

29 Oct

18.9°

Fri

30 Oct

19.1°

Sat

31 Oct

19.2°

Sun

1 Nov

19.3°

Mon

2 Nov

19.2°

Tue

3 Nov

—

Wed

4 Nov

—

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 16 km/h SE (154°).

Wind map data: ECMWF HRES (operational), updated every 6 hours. Not for navigation.

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

2:00 am → 7:00 am

Good

6:30 pm → 9:00 pm

2h 30m

Good

2:30 pm → 4:00 pm

1h 30m

Good

11:30 pm → 12:00 am

30m

First light

5:32 am

Last light

7:46 pm

Sunrise

5:58 am

Sunset

7:20 pm

Moonrise

11:10 pm

Moonset

7:43 am

Low tide

4:33 am

High tide

11:05 am

Low tide

5:50 pm

High tide

11:50 pm

Nearby Spots

Species at This Spot

Keep Tabs on Balls Head Reserve (Waverton)

Get an email when the bite score here hits High, and stop refreshing this page. Free account, takes a minute.

Alert Me When It's High Save This Spot