Bendalong Point

Bendalong Point is the bush-covered headland between Boat Harbour and One Tree Beach at Bendalong, a small holiday village south of Sussex Inlet. It gives you three different waters in one walk: the sheltered Boat Harbour side, the ocean-facing platforms at the eastern tip, and the reef-strewn One Tree Beach corner to the south. It sits outside both the Jervis Bay and Batemans marine parks, so standard NSW rules apply. The caravan park on the headland means plenty of company in January and almost none in July.

On the eastern platforms, spin 30–40 g metals or float a ganged pilchard into the white water for salmon and tailor at first light, and in summer, when clean warm water pushes in, keep spinning for the chance of a bonito or a stray kingfish. Drummer and luderick are fished close in on the washes along the platform edges — cunjevoi, bread or peeled prawn for drummer, green weed under a float for luderick — with bread berley. Bream come up into the same washes. On calm evenings, cast squid jigs over the weed in the lee on the Boat Harbour side.

Australian salmon have no size limit and a bag of 5, and tailor are 30 cm with a bag of 10. Black drummer (rock blackfish) are 30 cm with a bag of 10, luderick 27 cm with a bag of 10, and bream 25 cm on a bag of 10 shared with tarwhine. Yellowtail kingfish must be 65 cm with a bag of 5, bonito have no size limit and a bag of 10, and squid a combined bag of 20 with cuttlefish. Eastern blue groper can't be taken by any method in NSW until the end of February 2028 — release any you hook.

Pick the side of the point by the swell: south swell, fish the Boat Harbour side; north-east swell, the One Tree Beach side. Kingfish and bonito arrive with warm blue water in summer, so a run of clean, 20-degree-plus water is the signal to keep spinning. Octopus cannot be taken from ocean rock platforms anywhere in NSW. Bring all your bait and berley from Sussex Inlet or Ulladulla; don't count on buying it in the village.

Park at the Boat Harbour car park off Red Point Road or the parking area above the point, then follow the Bendalong Headland Walking Track around the headland to the rock platforms — a walk of 5–10 minutes. The track is a bush path with some uneven sections, and the last step onto the rock is a scramble. Holiday Haven Bendalong Point caravan park is on the headland. It is not suitable for prams or young children on the platforms.

This is open ocean rock. A swell under about 1.5 m with a light westerly is ideal; big south-east swells close the eastern platforms completely. The headland gives a lee on one side in most conditions. Clean, warm water in summer brings pelagics in close, while a bit of white water and cooler water from autumn suits salmon, tailor and drummer.

Bendalong Point is exposed ocean rock, and waves can wash over the platforms without warning — check the swell forecast, watch the sea for at least 10 minutes before you go down, never turn your back on it, keep off low, wet rock, and fish from where you can retreat to higher rock. Shoalhaven is not one of the ten declared rock-fishing lifejacket areas, but a lifejacket is strongly recommended on any rock exposed to ocean swell. The platforms are slippery with weed and the gaps between them drop into deep surge channels, so wear cleated shoes and light clothing you can swim in, don't jump gutters, and never fish here alone. The walking track and the scramble down are hard going in the dark. If you are washed in, swim away from the rocks, float and signal; if someone else is, throw a float and call 000 rather than going in after them.

Australian salmon, tailor, black drummer, luderick, bream and squid all year, with a summer chance of kingfish and bonito. Kingfish must be 65 cm with a bag of 5, and black drummer 30 cm with a bag of 10.

No. Bendalong is between the southern end of the Jervis Bay Marine Park at Sussex Inlet and the northern end of the Batemans Marine Park near Bawley Point, so standard NSW rules apply.

Park at Boat Harbour or above the point and follow the Bendalong Headland Walking Track around to the platforms — about 5–10 minutes on a bush track, then a short scramble onto the rock.

Shoalhaven is not one of the ten declared rock-fishing lifejacket areas, but a lifejacket is strongly recommended. Bendalong Point is exposed ocean rock where waves can wash the platforms.