What fish can you catch at Balmoral Beach?

Bream and silver trevally year-round around the moorings, rocks and wharf pylons, sand whiting and dusky flathead over the flats in the warmer months, and luderick on weed in autumn and winter. When bait schools push into Hunters Bay you can also hook salmon, tailor and bonito, mostly from late spring into winter. A NSW Recreational Fishing Fee is required to fish anywhere in NSW, including here.

Can you fish off Balmoral wharf?

The wharf is not where Balmoral's fish are. Work the rocks around Rocky Point Island, the open sand flats and the mooring field instead, all of which hold bream, silver trevally, whiting and flathead, and keep clear of the netted swimming enclosure and the wharf's boat and water-taxi approach. A rising tide at first light off the rocks beats anything you will get crowding the pylons.

What size flathead can you keep at Balmoral?

Dusky flathead in NSW have a slot limit of 36 to 70cm — anything under 36cm or over 70cm must be released, including the big breeding females. The daily bag limit is five, with ten in possession. Most of the flathead over the sand at Balmoral are smaller fish, so check the slot before keeping any.

When is the best time to fish Balmoral Beach?

Early morning on a rising tide is the standout for bream, whiting and flathead, and arriving before 8am also solves the parking problem. For the pelagic run of salmon, tailor and bonito, watch for bait showering on the surface in settled, warmer conditions from about November onwards.

Is Balmoral Beach good for fishing with kids?

Yes — it is one of the more kid-friendly spots on the harbour, with calm shallow water, sand, a playground near the wharf, netted swimming areas, toilets and cafes all within steps of the foreshore. Light spin gear with bait around the rocks and moorings will keep small bream and trevally coming.

Bite Compass

Bite Forecast

Balmoral Beach (Rocky Point / Hunters Bay)

Wed 16 Sep 2026 · Australia/Sydney

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16 Sep

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Today Tomorrow Sat 19 Sep

📍 Balmoral Beach (Rocky Point / Hunters Bay)

waxing crescent · 19%

Weather: Sunny Wind: S 189° · 27 km/h Swell: 1.2 m @ 9 s S Water: 18.0 °C Pressure: 1027.6 hPa → steady

★★★☆☆

Medium Fish Activity

▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 6:00 pm

Solunar Between windows

Time of day Dusk

Tide Moving

Wind S 26 km/h

Moon waxing crescent all day

Water temp 18.0 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Day timeline

Major Minor Tide Twilight

First light 5:29 am Last light 6:11 pm

Low 4:12 am High 10:50 am Low 5:23 pm High 11:10 pm

Drag or use arrow keys to explore

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

5:00 pm → 7:00 pm

Good

4:30 am → 6:30 am

First light

5:29 am

Last light

6:11 pm

Sunrise

5:53 am

Sunset

5:47 pm

Moonrise

8:18 am

Moonset

11:01 pm

Low tide

4:12 am

High tide

10:50 am

Low tide

5:23 pm

High tide

11:10 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

☁️

13°

↓︎

192°

19 km/h

1am

🌧️

12°

↓︎

198°

18 km/h

2am

🌧️

12°

↙︎

213°

13 km/h

3am

🌧️

11°

↙︎

233°

11 km/h

4am

☀️

11°

↙︎

229°

13 km/h

5am

☀️

11°

↙︎

218°

18 km/h

6am

☀️

10°

↙︎

217°

21 km/h

7am

☀️

10°

↙︎

221°

19 km/h

8am

☀️

11°

↙︎

223°

18 km/h

9am

☀️

13°

↙︎

203°

23 km/h

10am

☀️

14°

↓︎

197°

24 km/h

11am

☀️

14°

↓︎

192°

25 km/h

12pm

☀️

15°

↓︎

189°

27 km/h

1pm

☀️

15°

↓︎

189°

29 km/h

2pm

☀️

15°

↓︎

190°

30 km/h

3pm

☁️

15°

↓︎

191°

31 km/h

4pm

☁️

15°

↓︎

190°

30 km/h

5pm

☁️

14°

↓︎

191°

28 km/h

6pm

☀️

14°

↓︎

191°

26 km/h

7pm

☀️

14°

↓︎

187°

26 km/h

8pm

☁️

14°

↓︎

191°

24 km/h

9pm

☀️

14°

↓︎

192°

25 km/h

10pm

☀️

13°

↓︎

193°

23 km/h

11pm

☀️

13°

↓︎

195°

23 km/h

Hourly Swell

Building 0.8 → 1.4 m S

12am

0.8 m

@ 7 s

↘︎

Slight

chop

1am

1.0 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Slight

chop

2am

1.0 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

3am

1.0 m

@ 6 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

4am

1.0 m

@ 6 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

5am

1.1 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

6am

1.2 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

7am

1.3 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

8am

1.3 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

9am

1.4 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

10am

1.4 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

11am

1.3 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

12pm

1.2 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

1pm

1.1 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

2pm

1.1 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

3pm

1.1 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

4pm

1.1 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

5pm

1.1 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

6pm

1.2 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

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

11pm

1.4 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

Water Temp (°C)

→ steady around 18.0°

Sun

13 Sep

18.1°

Mon

14 Sep

18.2°

Tue

15 Sep

18.3°

Wed

16 Sep

18.0°

Thu

17 Sep

17.7°

Fri

18 Sep

17.8°

Sat

19 Sep

17.9°

Sun

20 Sep

18.1°

Mon

21 Sep

18.3°

Tue

22 Sep

18.4°

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 27 km/h S (189°).

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

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

5:00 pm → 7:00 pm

Good

4:30 am → 6:30 am

First light

5:29 am

Last light

6:11 pm

Sunrise

5:53 am

Sunset

5:47 pm

Moonrise

8:18 am

Moonset

11:01 pm

Low tide

4:12 am

High tide

10:50 am

Low tide

5:23 pm

High tide

11:10 pm

Nearby spots

Species at this spot

Yellowfin Bream
Sand Whiting
Dusky Flathead
Silver Trevally
Luderick
Tailor
Australian Salmon
Bonito