Do you need a fishing licence to fish at Bonnie Vale Bundeena?

Yes. A NSW Recreational Fishing Fee is required to fish anywhere in NSW saltwater, including the Port Hacking flats at Bonnie Vale. It is $7 for three days, $14 for a month, $35 for a year or $85 for three years, bought online, by phone or from a fee agent, and the receipt has to be carried while you fish. That is separate from the Royal National Park vehicle entry fee of $12 per vehicle per day.

What can you catch at Bonnie Vale Bundeena?

Sand whiting are the headline fish on the flats from spring to autumn, with dusky flathead along the channel edges, yellowfin bream around structure year-round, and luderick, tailor, silver trevally and squid through the cooler months and over the seagrass. Whiting come up onto the shallow flats on the rising tide; flathead sit deeper on the drop-offs.

Can you pump nippers at Bonnie Vale?

Not the way people assume. The Fisheries closure that covers this foreshore, from Simpsons Bay Beach west to Costens Point and 200 m seaward of the low-water mark, is a shellfish closure — pipis, mussels, oysters, cockles, whelks and turban snails may not be taken by any method — and it does not name nippers or worms. What does apply is the state-wide ban on digging in seagrass, mangroves and saltmarsh. A nipper pump is a permitted method in NSW — the closures are written around a spade or a fork — but these flats carry a lot of seagrass, so the sensible play is still to bring your bait rather than pump it here. Line fishing over the same flats is entirely legal, which is the part that matters.

What size and bag limits apply to whiting and flathead here?

Under NSW rules, sand whiting have a 27 cm minimum and a bag of 20 shared across the whiting, and dusky flathead must fall within a 36 to 70 cm slot with a bag of 5 — release any flathead over 70 cm, because the big ones are the breeders. Yellowfin bream are 25 cm on a bag of 10 shared with tarwhine, luderick 27 cm on a bag of 10, and tailor 30 cm on a bag of 10. Possession limits are double the daily bag for bream, tarwhine, flathead, tailor, luderick and the trevallies.

Is Bonnie Vale good for fishing with kids?

Very. The flats are shallow and protected, the basin is calm, and there are toilets, barbecues, grassed picnic areas and a boat ramp on flat, pram-friendly ground. The early and late tides fish best and avoid the busiest swimming hours, though until 18 December 2026 the picnic area is closed sunset to sunrise Monday to Thursday excluding school holidays, under the park's deer control program. Bring sun protection and booties for the shell and oyster on the flats.

Bite Compass

Bite Forecast

Bonnie Vale (Bundeena)

Fri 18 Sep 2026 · Australia/Sydney

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18 Sep

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Today Tomorrow Sat 19 Sep

📍 Bonnie Vale (Bundeena)

first quarter · 38%

Weather: Sunny Wind: NE 44° · 9 km/h Swell: 1.2 m @ 8 s S Water: 17.8 °C Pressure: 1029.4 hPa ↓ falling

★★★★☆

High Fish Activity

▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 6:00 pm

Solunar Major window

Time of day Dusk

Tide Moving

Wind NE 11 km/h

Moon first quarter all day

Water temp 17.8 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Day timeline

Major Minor Tide Twilight

First light 5:26 am Last light 6:13 pm

High 12:00 am Low 5:39 am High 12:37 pm Low 7:30 pm

Drag or use arrow keys to explore

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

4:30 pm → 7:30 pm

Good

5:00 am → 7:00 am

First light

5:26 am

Last light

6:13 pm

Sunrise

5:51 am

Sunset

5:48 pm

Moonrise

9:41 am

Moonset

12:56 am

High tide

12:00 am

Low tide

5:39 am

High tide

12:37 pm

Low tide

7:30 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

☀️

10°

←︎

257°

9 km/h

1am

☀️

9°

←︎

264°

11 km/h

2am

☀️

9°

←︎

264°

11 km/h

3am

☀️

9°

←︎

261°

10 km/h

4am

☀️

9°

←︎

261°

9 km/h

5am

☀️

9°

←︎

265°

9 km/h

6am

☀️

9°

←︎

274°

9 km/h

7am

☀️

10°

←︎

284°

8 km/h

8am

☀️

12°

↖︎

300°

8 km/h

9am

☀️

15°

↖︎

320°

8 km/h

10am

☀️

18°

↑︎

341°

8 km/h

11am

☀️

19°

↑︎

11°

8 km/h

12pm

☀️

20°

↗︎

44°

9 km/h

1pm

☀️

21°

↗︎

60°

12 km/h

2pm

☀️

20°

↗︎

64°

13 km/h

3pm

☀️

19°

↗︎

64°

14 km/h

4pm

☀️

18°

↗︎

62°

14 km/h

5pm

☀️

17°

↗︎

59°

12 km/h

6pm

☀️

16°

↗︎

51°

11 km/h

7pm

☀️

15°

↗︎

39°

9 km/h

8pm

☀️

15°

↑︎

2°

5 km/h

9pm

☀️

14°

↖︎

323°

6 km/h

10pm

☀️

13°

↖︎

307°

7 km/h

11pm

☀️

12°

↖︎

302°

9 km/h

Hourly Swell

Easing 1.9 → 1.0 m S

12am

1.9 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

1am

1.8 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

2am

1.7 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

3am

1.6 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

4am

1.6 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

5am

1.5 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

6am

1.4 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

7am

1.3 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

8am

1.3 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

9am

1.3 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

10am

1.4 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

11am

1.3 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

12pm

1.2 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

1pm

1.2 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

2pm

1.2 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

3pm

1.2 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

4pm

1.2 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

5pm

1.2 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

6pm

1.2 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

7pm

1.2 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

8pm

1.1 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

9pm

1.1 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

10pm

1.0 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

11pm

1.0 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

Water Temp (°C)

→ steady around 17.8°

Tue

15 Sep

18.0°

Wed

16 Sep

17.8°

Thu

17 Sep

17.7°

Fri

18 Sep

17.8°

Sat

19 Sep

18.0°

Sun

20 Sep

18.1°

Mon

21 Sep

18.1°

Tue

22 Sep

18.1°

Wed

23 Sep

—

Thu

24 Sep

—

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 9 km/h NE (44°).

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

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

4:30 pm → 7:30 pm

Good

5:00 am → 7:00 am

First light

5:26 am

Last light

6:13 pm

Sunrise

5:51 am

Sunset

5:48 pm

Moonrise

9:41 am

Moonset

12:56 am

High tide

12:00 am

Low tide

5:39 am

High tide

12:37 pm

Low tide

7:30 pm

Nearby spots

Species at this spot

Sand Whiting
Dusky Flathead
Yellowfin Bream
Luderick
Tailor
Silver Trevally
Southern Calamari (Squid)