What fish can you catch in Budgewoi Lake?

Mainly yellowfin bream — the lake's signature species — along with dusky flathead, sand whiting and luderick, plus mullet, leatherjackets and the odd tailor. School and king prawns run through the shallows in summer. A NSW Recreational Fishing Fee is required to fish here, as it is anywhere in NSW, and you must carry the receipt while fishing.

Where can you fish Budgewoi Lake from the shore without a boat?

Toukley Bridge is the standout — fish around either end at night for bream and work the pylons in the channel beneath it through the day. The foreshore reserves around Toukley, Budgewoi, Buff Point and Gorokan give easy grassy land-based access right around the lake, including Osborne Park on Peel Street, Wallarah Point Park on Wallarah Road at Gorokan, and John Pete Howard Reserve on Matumba Road at Buff Point.

What size and bag limits apply to flathead and bream at Budgewoi Lake?

Under NSW rules, dusky flathead have a 36–70cm slot with a bag limit of 5 and 10 in possession — any fish over 70cm must be released. Yellowfin bream are a 25cm minimum with a bag of 10 shared across bream and tarwhine, sand whiting 27cm with a bag of 20 shared across the whiting group, and luderick 27cm with a bag of 10. Check the current NSW rules before you head out, as limits change.

Is Budgewoi Lake good for bream?

Yes — it has a long reputation as one of the better bream waters on the Central Coast. The bridge pylons hold them year-round, fishing best at night on a moving tide, and the bigger fish move through in autumn. Light bait or soft plastics worked around structure and the seagrass edges are the way to target them.

When do the prawns run in Budgewoi Lake?

School and eastern king prawns run through the shallows over summer, roughly December to March, and are traditionally taken by wading the edges at night with a light — a dip or scoop net is the lawful tool, and on Budgewoi Creek up towards Lake Munmorah nothing but a dip or scoop net or a landing net may be used. They double as the best bream and flathead bait you can carry, and the fish follow them in. Keep out of the old power station outlet canal at the northern end of the lake on winter evenings, where an all-methods closure runs from 6pm to 6am between 1 May and 31 August.

Bite Compass

Bite Forecast

Budgewoi Lake

Fri 30 Oct 2026 · Australia/Sydney

Forecast updated 1:09am AEDT

Bite Alert

←

30 Oct

Today

tap to pick date

→

Today Tomorrow Sun 1 Nov

📍 Budgewoi Lake

waning gibbous · 84%

Weather: Cloudy Wind: W 253° · 2 km/h Swell: 1.5 m @ 9 s S Water: 18.9 °C Pressure: 1024.1 hPa ↓ falling Sheltered water: wind direction matters less here

★★★☆☆

Medium Fish Activity

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▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 5:30 am

Solunar Between windows

Time of day Dawn

Tide Moving

Wind W 7 km/h

Moon waning gibbous all day

Water temp 18.9 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Now

Day Timeline

Major Minor Tide Twilight

First light 5:30 am Last light 7:44 pm

Low 5:09 am High 11:53 am Low 6:47 pm

Tide is approximate here. Drag or use arrow keys to explore

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

3:00 am → 7:00 am

Good

6:30 pm → 8:30 pm

Good

3:30 pm → 5:00 pm

1h 30m

First light

5:30 am

Last light

7:44 pm

Sunrise

5:56 am

Sunset

7:18 pm

Moonrise

—

Moonset

8:45 am

Low tide

5:09 am

High tide

11:53 am

Low tide

6:47 pm

Tide times here are a rough model estimate. Check the BoM tide tables before you fish the change.

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

☀️

17°

↙︎

214°

1 km/h

1am

☀️

15°

←︎

253°

2 km/h

Now

☀️

14°

←︎

254°

5 km/h

3am

☁️

13°

←︎

270°

5 km/h

4am

☁️

13°

←︎

266°

5 km/h

5am

☁️

12°

←︎

261°

7 km/h

6am

☁️

12°

←︎

263°

7 km/h

7am

☀️

14°

↙︎

247°

5 km/h

8am

☀️

18°

↙︎

225°

2 km/h

9am

☀️

20°

↗︎

67°

5 km/h

10am

☁️

22°

↗︎

45°

10 km/h

11am

☁️

22°

↗︎

62°

11 km/h

12pm

☀️

22°

→︎

77°

17 km/h

1pm

☁️

22°

→︎

71°

18 km/h

2pm

☁️

23°

↗︎

67°

19 km/h

3pm

☁️

22°

↗︎

66°

20 km/h

4pm

☁️

22°

↗︎

61°

20 km/h

5pm

☁️

21°

↗︎

61°

20 km/h

6pm

☁️

21°

↗︎

59°

21 km/h

7pm

☁️

20°

↗︎

54°

21 km/h

8pm

☁️

19°

↗︎

41°

21 km/h

9pm

☁️

19°

↗︎

35°

21 km/h

10pm

☁️

19°

↗︎

31°

19 km/h

11pm

☁️

18°

↗︎

28°

17 km/h

Hourly Swell

Easing 1.5 → 1.0 m S

12am

1.5 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

1am

1.5 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

Now

1.5 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

3am

1.5 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

4am

1.5 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

5am

1.5 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

6am

1.4 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

7am

1.4 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

8am

1.3 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

9am

1.4 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

10am

1.4 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

11am

1.4 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

12pm

1.4 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

1pm

1.3 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

2pm

1.3 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

3pm

1.3 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

4pm

1.2 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Moderate

5pm

1.2 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Moderate

6pm

1.2 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Moderate

7pm

1.1 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Moderate

8pm

1.1 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Moderate

9pm

1.1 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Moderate

10pm

1.1 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Moderate

ground

11pm

1.0 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Moderate

ground

Water Temp (°C)

→ steady around 18.9°

Tue

27 Oct

18.6°

Wed

28 Oct

18.6°

Thu

29 Oct

18.7°

Fri

30 Oct

18.9°

Sat

31 Oct

18.7°

Sun

1 Nov

18.8°

Mon

2 Nov

19.1°

Tue

3 Nov

19.0°

Wed

4 Nov

19.3°

Thu

5 Nov

18.8°

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 2 km/h W (253°).

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

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

3:00 am → 7:00 am

Good

6:30 pm → 8:30 pm

Good

3:30 pm → 5:00 pm

1h 30m

First light

5:30 am

Last light

7:44 pm

Sunrise

5:56 am

Sunset

7:18 pm

Moonrise

—

Moonset

8:45 am

Low tide

5:09 am

High tide

11:53 am

Low tide

6:47 pm

Tide times here are a rough model estimate. Check the BoM tide tables before you fish the change.

Nearby Spots

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