Blues Point Reserve (McMahons Point)

Blues Point is the seawalled tip of a grassy reserve at the bottom of Blues Point Road, aimed squarely at the Harbour Bridge about 700 m away. It sits on the corner where the main channel swings west toward Balls Head and Darling Harbour, so the tide runs hard past the wall and carries bait with it. DPIRD's Sydney Harbour guide lists Blues Point Reserve and both McMahons Point wharves as land-based sites, and names McMahons Point as a hot spot for kingfish and salmon. The view is the postcard one; the fishing is release-only, because this is the wrong side of the Bridge for a feed.

Fish the tip and the western seawall into the channel, where the run of the tide sweeps bait around the corner. Salmon and school kingfish fall to 20–40g metals and small soft plastics thrown across the current when surface activity shows. Mulloway and bigger kingfish are a live-squid or squid-strip game on a running sinker rig, fished near a tide change at dawn, dusk and into the dark. Bream, trevally and tarwhine take prawn or mullet strip on a size 2–1/0 circle hook with a trickle of berley along the wall. The McMahons Point ferry wharf, about 300 m east along Henry Lawson Avenue, is the other option between services.

Kingfish and salmon are the two species DPIRD names McMahons Point for, with kingfish mostly rats and school fish from late spring into autumn and salmon peaking from October to April. Yellowfin bream, silver trevally and tarwhine are the year-round fill-in along the wall. Mulloway are the deep-water bonus after dark. Luderick work the weedier edges through the cooler months, and squid and leatherjackets are around most of the year. Everything caught here goes back under the west-of-the-Bridge dioxin advice.

Bring your bait — the harbour foreshore is an Intertidal Protected Area, so nippers, worms, crabs, cunjevoi and oysters are off-limits to collect. NSW advice is that no fish or crustaceans caught west of the Sydney Harbour Bridge should be eaten, so run circle hooks, keep fish wet and release them quickly. If you use the ferry wharf, ferries and passengers have right of way — clear lines and gear off the edge as a vessel approaches, and keep tackle off the commuter seating. DPIRD also asks wharf anglers to keep the noise down after 10pm and bucket away scales, ink and bait before leaving, which matters with the Blues Point Tower apartments right behind the reserve. Low light around a tide change is the mulloway window.

Blues Point Road runs downhill to a small public car park beside the reserve — read the signs for time limits — and there is a North Sydney Council public toilet in the reserve. From the car park it is a flat lawn and path walk to the seawall, which makes this one of the easier harbour points to reach with a trolley or a pram. McMahons Point ferry wharf sits about 300 m east, so the ferry is a realistic way in. Expect company — the reserve is a fixture for photographers, wedding parties and sunset picnics.

Inside the harbour the point never sees ocean swell, so it fishes in weather that shuts the open coast. A westerly blows straight down the channel from Balls Head and puts chop on the wall, while a north-easter tucks it in the lee of the reserve. The real movement is wash from the ferries, charter boats and commercial traffic funnelling toward the Bridge, which arrives as a surge against the seawall long after the boat has passed. The tide run past the corner is what switches the bite on; slack water is the quiet patch.

The seawall drops straight into deep, fast-moving water, and there is no easy way back up if someone goes in — keep kids well back from the edge and fish with a mate after dark. Wash from ferries and charter boats surges against the wall without warning and can soak low gear or a low-standing angler. North Sydney is not a declared rock-fishing lifejacket area, but a lifejacket is strongly recommended at the edge at night. The wall top is smooth and slippery when wet with spray or bait slime, and the reserve's foot traffic means checking behind before every cast.

Yes. DPIRD's Sydney Harbour land-based guide lists Blues Point Reserve as a fishing site, and McMahons Point is a named hot spot for kingfish and salmon. Fish from the seawall, bring your own bait because the foreshore is an Intertidal Protected Area, and carry your NSW Recreational Fishing Fee receipt.

McMahons Point is not one of the Sydney ferry wharves with a 24/7 Transport for NSW fishing ban — those are Circular Quay, King Street, Taronga Zoo, Manly, Cabarita and Sydney Olympic Park — and DPIRD lists it as a land-based site. Ferries and passengers always have right of way, so clear your lines when a vessel approaches and read the signs on the wharf before setting up. Fines for fishing where it is banned are $250, or $1,500 in court.

No. Blues Point is 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. Release everything you catch. East of the Bridge the guide is generally no more than 150 grams of fish a month.

You need to pay the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee and carry the receipt — $7 for three days, $14 for a month, $35 for a year or $85 for three years, through Service NSW. Under-18s, Aboriginal people and Pensioner Concession Card holders are exempt; a Seniors Card or Health Care Card is not.