Brooklyn (Hawkesbury River)

Brooklyn sits at the bottom of the Hawkesbury where the river runs wide, deep and fast, and the rail bridge is the structure that defines it. The 1946 bridge runs 785m across the river on eight spans, over water as deep as 56m, so the oyster-covered pylons sit over genuine depth and serious tidal flow. The M1 crosses on the Peats Ferry Bridge about a kilometre upstream at Mooney Mooney, which is close enough to matter for the traffic noise and far enough not to matter for the fishing. Mulloway hold in the deep holes and patrol the structure after dark, bream stack on the pylons and oyster racks, and kingfish push up the lower river through the warm months. It's the rare land-based estuary spot where a school jewie at the bridge and a bream on the pylons are both on the menu before breakfast.

Locals work the structure to the tide. Bream come off the oyster-covered pylons at the top of the tide — cast small hardbodies tight to the timber and the closer you get, the better, though you'll usually pull three or four off a pylon before they spook and you move to the next. Mulloway are a tide-change-and-darkness game: live mullet, yellowtail or squid fished on the bottom in the deeper water near the bridge, worked over the top and bottom of the tide. Flathead come on soft plastics drifted along the channel edges and sand between the weed, and luderick are float-and-weed work along the rock walls and racks through the cooler months. Light, low tide and the change are the windows that matter more than the time of day.

Mulloway are the headline and run year-round, with the cooler months from autumn into winter the most reliable as the fish feed harder — they're nocturnal, so the night and the early hours produce. They must be 70cm or longer, the personal bag is one fish, and there is a boat limit of two per boat per day when two or more people are aboard. Yellowfin bream are the year-round bread-and-butter on the pylons, racks and rock walls, fattest through autumn and winter, at 25cm inside a combined bream-and-tarwhine bag of 10. Dusky flathead fire from spring into autumn along the channel edges, in a 36–70cm slot with a bag of 5. Yellowtail kingfish push up the lower river roughly October to April at a 65cm minimum and a bag of 5. Luderick come into their own April to September on weed along the walls at 27cm and a bag of 10, tailor turn up in roving schools at 30cm and a bag of 10, and silver trevally and the odd winter hairtail up the adjoining creeks round out the system.

Fish the bridge pylons on a moving tide and keep moving — picking off a couple of fish per pylon and working down the line beats anchoring on one spot. Fresh local bait matters: live yellowtail, mullet or squid will out-fish frozen every time for the jewfish, and a peeled prawn or live nipper is hard to beat on the bream. The big tides around the new and full moon move the most water and bring the best jewfish bite, but they also rip hard through the bridge, so heavier sinkers earn their keep. Ferry and boat traffic runs the channel — keep casts off the navigation line and you'll keep the peace.

McKell Park at 12 Dangar Road is the easy land-based base — off-street parking, public toilets, a fenced playground, picnic tables, free barbecues, drinking water and the Brooklyn Baths right alongside, and it's about a five-minute walk from Hawkesbury River railway station. The foreshore path gives flat, pram-and-wheelchair-friendly access to plenty of water, which makes the park itself genuinely kid-friendly for a relaxed bream-and-flathead session. Parsley Bay nearby is the boat-launching end of town, though its facilities are worth confirming before you rely on them. The rail bridge is rail infrastructure with no public access, so land-based anglers work the foreshore, McKell Park and the points rather than anything to do with the bridge deck. There is no park entry fee and nothing gated, which makes an early start or a late session a matter of willpower rather than opening hours.

This is sheltered estuary water, so it fishes through wind that would flatten the open coast — the river is wide here but the surrounding ridges break most of the breeze. Tide does the heavy lifting: the run-out and run-in around the change push bait along the structure, and the bigger new and full-moon tides bring the strongest jewfish bite while also ripping hard through the bridge. Heavy rain upriver dirties the water and can colour the bite up for a few days, pushing fish down towards the cleaner salt near the mouth. Calm, clear water after a settled spell is prime for sight-casting bream on the pylons.

This is estuary fishing, so the risks are the quiet kind rather than the dramatic. The pylons, rock walls and racks are armoured in oysters that will open a hand or a shin in a heartbeat — sturdy footwear and care landing fish matter. The river is deep and the tide rips hard through the bridge, especially on the big moons, so a slip near the edge in fast water is the real danger; keep clear of slick rock edges and steep banks at night. Boat and ferry traffic is constant in the channel, so a head torch and visible position help after dark. Summer brings bluebottles on northerlies and plenty of sun — water and a hat earn their place.

From the McKell Park foreshore and the points you can target mulloway (jewfish) around the deep water and bridge structure, yellowfin bream on the pylons and oyster racks, dusky flathead along the channel edges, luderick on weed in the cooler months, and the odd tailor or silver trevally. Kingfish push up the lower river through the warmer months. A NSW Recreational Fishing Fee is required to fish anywhere in NSW, including here, and the receipt must be carried while you fish.

Mulloway feed best after dark and through the early hours, and the cooler autumn-to-winter months tend to fish hardest. Time it around the top and bottom of the tide, and the bigger new and full-moon tides that move the most water through the bridge. Live mullet, yellowtail or squid fished on the bottom in the deeper holes is the proven approach. Keep one at most: the NSW bag is a single mulloway per person at 70cm or longer, with a boat limit of two per boat per day.

No — the rail bridge is rail infrastructure with no public access, so it is not a fishing platform. Land-based anglers work the foreshore at McKell Park, the rock walls, oyster racks and points near the bridge instead. Boat and kayak anglers fish closer to the pylons themselves. Obey any posted signs wherever you fish around the bridges.

Yes. McKell Park at 12 Dangar Road has off-street parking, public toilets, a fenced playground, picnic tables, free barbecues and drinking water, and it's about a five-minute walk from Hawkesbury River railway station. The Brooklyn Baths sit next door. The flat foreshore path makes it one of the more accessible and family-friendly estuary spots on the lower Hawkesbury.

Dusky flathead must be within a 36–70cm slot — anything over 70cm must be released — with a daily bag limit of 5 and 10 in possession. Mulloway have a 70cm minimum and a daily limit of 1 per person, plus a boat limit of 2 per boat per day when two or more fishers are aboard. Yellowfin bream are 25cm minimum with a bag of 10 shared across bream and tarwhine, and luderick are 27cm with a bag of 10. Check the current NSW rules before you keep a fish, because limits do change.