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 18 Sep 2026 · Australia/Sydney

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18 Sep

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Today Tomorrow Sat 19 Sep

📍 Budgewoi Lake

first quarter · 38%

Weather: Sunny Wind: E 86° · 10 km/h Swell: 1.1 m @ 8 s S Water: 18.6 °C Pressure: 1029.8 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 10 km/h

Moon first quarter all day

Water temp 18.6 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Day timeline

Major Minor Tide Twilight

First light 5:25 am Last light 6:11 pm

Low 5:39 am High 12:30 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 → 8:30 pm

Good

5:00 am → 7:00 am

Good

12:30 pm → 2:00 pm

1h 30m

First light

5:25 am

Last light

6:11 pm

Sunrise

5:49 am

Sunset

5:47 pm

Moonrise

9:42 am

Moonset

12:52 am

Low tide

5:39 am

High tide

12:30 pm

Low tide

7:30 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

☀️

12°

←︎

248°

9 km/h

1am

☀️

11°

←︎

265°

12 km/h

2am

☀️

10°

←︎

269°

13 km/h

3am

☀️

9°

←︎

268°

12 km/h

4am

☀️

9°

←︎

268°

11 km/h

5am

☀️

9°

←︎

270°

11 km/h

6am

☀️

9°

←︎

273°

10 km/h

7am

☀️

10°

←︎

275°

9 km/h

8am

☀️

13°

←︎

274°

6 km/h

9am

☀️

16°

←︎

260°

2 km/h

10am

☀️

18°

→︎

110°

2 km/h

11am

☀️

19°

→︎

92°

6 km/h

12pm

☀️

19°

→︎

86°

10 km/h

1pm

☀️

19°

→︎

82°

13 km/h

2pm

☀️

19°

→︎

79°

14 km/h

3pm

☀️

19°

→︎

73°

13 km/h

4pm

☀️

18°

↗︎

66°

11 km/h

5pm

☀️

17°

↗︎

56°

11 km/h

6pm

☀️

16°

↗︎

43°

10 km/h

7pm

☀️

15°

↗︎

30°

10 km/h

8pm

☀️

14°

↑︎

1°

8 km/h

9pm

☀️

13°

↑︎

342°

8 km/h

10pm

☀️

12°

↖︎

330°

9 km/h

11pm

☀️

12°

↖︎

322°

9 km/h

Hourly Swell

Easing 1.7 → 1.0 m S

12am

1.7 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

1am

1.6 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

2am

1.6 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

3am

1.5 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

4am

1.4 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

5am

1.3 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

6am

1.2 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

7am

1.1 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

8am

1.1 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

9am

1.1 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

10am

1.1 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

11am

1.1 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

12pm

1.1 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

1pm

1.2 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

2pm

1.1 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

3pm

1.1 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

4pm

1.1 m

@ 8 s

↘︎

Moderate

chop

5pm

1.1 m

@ 8 s

↘︎

Moderate

chop

6pm

1.1 m

@ 8 s

↘︎

Moderate

chop

7pm

1.1 m

@ 8 s

↘︎

Moderate

chop

8pm

1.0 m

@ 8 s

↘︎

Moderate

chop

9pm

1.0 m

@ 8 s

↘︎

Moderate

chop

10pm

1.0 m

@ 8 s

↘︎

Moderate

chop

11pm

1.0 m

@ 8 s

↘︎

Moderate

chop

Water Temp (°C)

↘ cooling — down 0.5° over the last 3 days

Tue

15 Sep

19.1°

Wed

16 Sep

18.9°

Thu

17 Sep

18.5°

Fri

18 Sep

18.6°

Sat

19 Sep

18.8°

Sun

20 Sep

18.9°

Mon

21 Sep

18.9°

Tue

22 Sep

19.0°

Wed

23 Sep

—

Thu

24 Sep

—

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 10 km/h E (86°).

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 → 8:30 pm

Good

5:00 am → 7:00 am

Good

12:30 pm → 2:00 pm

1h 30m

First light

5:25 am

Last light

6:11 pm

Sunrise

5:49 am

Sunset

5:47 pm

Moonrise

9:42 am

Moonset

12:52 am

Low tide

5:39 am

High tide

12:30 pm

Low tide

7:30 pm

Nearby spots

Species at this spot

Yellowfin Bream
Dusky Flathead
Sand Whiting
Luderick
Tailor
Leatherjacket