Brighton-Le-Sands / Dolls Point (Lady Robinsons Beach)

Lady Robinsons Beach is the long western shoulder of Botany Bay, running from the Cooks River mouth down past Brighton-Le-Sands to Dolls Point, and a line of rock groynes built at right angles to the sand is what makes it worth a cast. Those groynes reach out past the shallows into deeper water, giving land-based anglers structure, depth and an edge they would never get off a flat beach. The bottom is a mix of clean sand, weed beds and sandy patches that hold whiting on the flats, flathead in the gutters and bream around the rock walls. The tidal Cooks River begins where it meets the bay at the northern end, and DPIRD's advice there is that fish and shellfish should not be eaten and you should release your catch, so the keepable water is the bay side of that junction. It is calm, sheltered Botany Bay water rather than open ocean, so it fishes when the coast is a mess. The cooler months add roaming tailor and Australian salmon to the same ground.

Locals work the groynes by standing on the sand or the lower rocks and fanning casts — five or six to one side of a wall, five or six to the other, then moving on if nothing answers. Flathead come on soft plastics hopped through the sandy patches in the weed on a run-in tide, where they sit and ambush. Whiting are a bait game on the flats between groynes with live nippers and worms, best worked over the top of the tide and into the run-out. Bream, tarwhine and trevally hold tight to the rock edges and take bait or small plastics fished close to the structure. Early morning and the last of the light are the windows; the middle of a flat, sunny day on a dead tide is the quiet time.

Sand whiting are the headline act through the warmer half of the year, roughly October to April, taken on the sand flats on nippers and worms — 27 cm minimum on a bag of 20 shared across the whiting. Dusky flathead are available year-round but switch on hardest as the water warms, sitting in the sandy gutters between the weed; only fish between 36 cm and 70 cm may be kept, the daily bag is 5, and anything over the 70 cm mark goes back. Yellowfin bream and tarwhine work the rock groynes, bream at 25 cm and tarwhine at 20 cm on a combined bag of 10 across the two, and silver trevally patrol the same walls at 30 cm with a bag of 10 shared across all the trevallies. As the water cools, tailor become the prize on the run-out and into low light at 30 cm and a bag of 10, often alongside Australian salmon pushing along the foreshore, which carry no minimum size and a bag of 5. Luderick are a cool-season target for the green-weed crew working the rock edges at 27 cm and a bag of 10. One thing the bag limits will not tell you: the NSW PFAS Taskforce advises that Australian salmon caught in Botany Bay be released rather than eaten, and it caps weekly servings of mulloway at two, silver trevally at five and tailor at six for adults, with tighter caps for children aged two to six.

Move until you find them — a groyne that produces nothing in ten casts is telling you to walk to the next one, and there are plenty of them. Fish the change of light at either end of the day; a flat tide at midday is the slow shift here. The groynes closer to the Cooks River mouth tend to hold more variety thanks to the deeper, moving water at the river entrance, but know where you are standing: inside the tidal Cooks River, from its junction with Botany Bay upstream, DPIRD advises that fish and shellfish should not be eaten and that you release your catch. Fish the bay side of the junction if you want a feed. Berley a small trail of bread or chopped pilchard down a rock wall to bring bream and trevally up. If you pump your own nippers, work clean sand only — digging for bait in seagrass, mangroves or saltmarsh is prohibited state-wide, and this shoreline carries plenty of seagrass. The oysters on the groyne rocks are scenery rather than dinner, because taking them is prohibited throughout Botany Bay and all its tributaries. Keep a low profile on the clear flats for whiting, which spook in skinny water, and rinse gear afterwards because Botany Bay sand and salt are unkind to reels.

Cook Park runs roughly 5 km along the western foreshore from Kyeemagh down to Dolls Point, with parking, public toilets and a cycleway along most of its length, so you are rarely more than a short walk from the car to the water. The Grand Parade hugs the beach the entire way, meaning most groynes sit only metres from a parked car — about as easy as land-based access gets in Sydney. The flat, grassed park and gentle beach make it genuinely mobility-friendly compared with rock-platform spots. It is one of the more kid-friendly fishing options in the city, with shallow calm water, playgrounds and cafes within sight, so a slow bite never ends in mutiny.

This western foreshore is built for a westerly — the land at your back flattens the water and the groynes fish easily on an offshore breeze. A southerly is the killer; it blows straight onto this shore and makes the groynes hard and unpleasant to fish. The bay stays sheltered from ocean swell, so it remains fishable when the open coast is unfishable, which is the spot's main virtue. The run-in tide is the pick for flathead in the gutters; the top of the tide and the early run-out suit whiting on the flats. Low light at dawn and dusk lifts every species here, while a glassy, sun-baked midday on a dead tide is the time to be at home.

This is calm estuary foreshore rather than exposed ocean rock, so the risks are the smaller, everyday kind — but the groynes deserve respect. The rocks are loose and can shift underfoot, so footing is the main danger: wear grippy shoes, take it slow on the walls, and do not leap between rocks. Oyster growth on the lower rocks cuts hands and snaps light leader, so watch where you grip. Bluebottles wash up along this shore on a strong nor-easter, so check the sand before letting kids paddle. Botany Bay carries boat and jet-ski traffic, so keep an eye on craft near the river mouth. The usual Sydney sun applies — shade, water and a hat on the exposed sand flats.

The western Botany Bay foreshore, Lady Robinsons Beach, produces sand whiting on the flats, dusky flathead in the sandy gutters, and yellowfin bream, tarwhine and silver trevally around the rock groynes. Cooler months add tailor, Australian salmon and luderick. Note the NSW PFAS Taskforce advice for Botany Bay — Australian salmon caught here should be released rather than eaten, and weekly servings of tailor, silver trevally and mulloway are capped. A NSW Recreational Fishing Fee is required to fish anywhere in NSW, at $7 for three days, $14 for a month, $35 for a year or $85 for three years.

Stand on the sand or the lower rocks and fan five or six casts to one side of a groyne, then the other, before moving to the next wall. The groynes reach out past the shallows into deeper water, and the ones nearer the Cooks River mouth tend to hold the most variety thanks to the deeper, moving water. Watch the boundary, though: the tidal Cooks River starts at its junction with Botany Bay, and DPIRD advises that fish and shellfish caught in the river should not be eaten and that you release your catch, so the groynes south of the junction are the ones to fish if you want to keep something.

In NSW only dusky flathead between 36 cm and 70 cm may be kept — it is a slot limit, so anything over 70 cm goes back — with a daily bag of 5 and 10 in possession. Sand whiting are 27 cm on a bag of 20 shared across the whiting, yellowfin bream 25 cm and tarwhine 20 cm on a combined bag of 10, and tailor 30 cm on a bag of 10 with 20 in possession. A NSW Recreational Fishing Fee is required to fish here, and the receipt must be on you while you fish.

Live nippers, the pink yabbies, and live bloodworms are the standout baits for sand whiting here, fished on a light running-sinker rig with a long-shank hook over the top of the tide. Pump them on clean sand only — digging for bait in seagrass, mangroves or saltmarsh is prohibited state-wide, and this foreshore carries a lot of seagrass. Keep a low profile, because whiting spook easily in the clear, shallow water.

Dawn and dusk lift the bite for every species. A run-in tide suits flathead in the gutters, while the top of the tide and early run-out suit whiting on the flats. The foreshore fishes easiest on a westerly wind and is hard to fish in a southerly, which blows straight onto this shore.