Can you eat the fish you catch at Cabarita Park?

No. Cabarita is on the Parramatta River, west of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, where NSW Health advises that no seafood should be eaten due to elevated dioxin levels in the sediment. Fishing is still legal and popular, but it is strictly catch-and-release here — take a photo and put them back. If you want a feed, fish east of the Harbour Bridge or outside the harbour, where dietary limits are less restrictive.

Do you need a fishing licence to fish at Cabarita Park?

You need to pay the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee and carry the receipt whenever you fish in NSW waters, including the Parramatta River. It is $7 for three days, $14 for a month, $35 for a year or $85 for three years, and you can buy it online through Service NSW before you head down. Anyone under 18 is exempt, as are Aboriginal people and holders of a current Pensioner Concession Card — but a Seniors Card or Health Care Card will not do it.

What can you catch at Cabarita Park on the Parramatta River?

Yellowfin bream year-round, dusky flathead and sand whiting through the warmer months from spring to autumn, silver trevally and the odd mulloway in the deeper water off the point, plus luderick around the weedy rock in the cooler months. Dawn, dusk and night fish best, and everything goes back under the west-of-the-bridge release advice.

Can you fish off the Cabarita ferry wharf?

No. Cabarita is one of six Sydney ferry wharves where Transport for NSW bans fishing 24 hours a day, alongside Circular Quay, Taronga Zoo, King Street, Manly and Sydney Olympic Park. The on-the-spot fine is $250, rising to $1,500 in court. Fish the park foreshore, the rock at either end of the beach or the deeper water off the point instead — that is where the mulloway and trevally sit on a run-out tide anyway.

When is the best time to fish Cabarita Park?

Low light is the answer — dawn, dusk and the first hours of dark, when the swimming beach, picnic crowds and ferries have cleared. A rising tide pushes flathead, bream and whiting onto the flats, while the run-out off the point is the window for mulloway. Spring through autumn is the peak season for flathead and bream upstream.

Bite Compass

Bite Forecast

Cabarita Park (Parramatta River)

Wed 16 Sep 2026 · Australia/Sydney

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16 Sep

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Today Tomorrow Sat 19 Sep

📍 Cabarita Park (Parramatta River)

waxing crescent · 19%

Weather: Sunny Wind: S 172° · 18 km/h Swell: 1.2 m @ 9 s S Water: 17.8 °C Pressure: 1027.5 hPa → steady

★★★☆☆

Medium Fish Activity

▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 6:00 pm

Solunar Between windows

Time of day Dusk

Tide Moving

Wind S 17 km/h

Moon waxing crescent all day

Water temp 17.8 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Day timeline

Major Minor Tide Twilight

First light 5:29 am Last light 6:12 pm

Low 4:12 am High 10:50 am Low 5:24 pm High 11:10 pm

Drag or use arrow keys to explore

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

3:30 pm → 7:00 pm

3h 30m

Good

4:30 am → 6:30 am

Good

11:00 pm → 12:00 am

First light

5:29 am

Last light

6:12 pm

Sunrise

5:54 am

Sunset

5:47 pm

Moonrise

8:18 am

Moonset

11:02 pm

Low tide

4:12 am

High tide

10:50 am

Low tide

5:24 pm

High tide

11:10 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

☁️

13°

↓︎

182°

11 km/h

1am

🌧️

12°

↓︎

190°

7 km/h

2am

🌧️

12°

←︎

263°

3 km/h

3am

☀️

12°

←︎

273°

7 km/h

4am

☀️

11°

↙︎

246°

8 km/h

5am

☀️

10°

↙︎

246°

9 km/h

6am

☀️

9°

↙︎

241°

10 km/h

7am

☀️

10°

←︎

252°

11 km/h

8am

☀️

12°

←︎

261°

11 km/h

9am

☀️

13°

↙︎

210°

14 km/h

10am

☀️

15°

↓︎

192°

16 km/h

11am

☀️

16°

↓︎

179°

16 km/h

12pm

☀️

16°

↓︎

172°

18 km/h

1pm

☀️

17°

↓︎

170°

20 km/h

2pm

☀️

16°

↓︎

166°

22 km/h

3pm

☀️

16°

↓︎

175°

22 km/h

4pm

☀️

16°

↓︎

175°

21 km/h

5pm

☀️

15°

↓︎

170°

20 km/h

6pm

☀️

14°

↓︎

172°

17 km/h

7pm

☀️

14°

↓︎

172°

17 km/h

8pm

☀️

14°

↓︎

180°

15 km/h

9pm

☀️

14°

↓︎

178°

15 km/h

10pm

☀️

13°

↓︎

186°

13 km/h

11pm

☀️

12°

↓︎

195°

12 km/h

Hourly Swell

Building 0.9 → 1.5 m S

12am

0.9 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Slight

chop

1am

1.1 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

2am

1.1 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

3am

1.1 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

4am

1.1 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

5am

1.2 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

6am

1.4 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

7am

1.5 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

8am

1.5 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

9am

1.5 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

10am

1.5 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

11am

1.3 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

12pm

1.2 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

1pm

1.0 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

2pm

1.0 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

3pm

1.0 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

4pm

1.0 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

5pm

1.1 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

6pm

1.2 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

7pm

1.2 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

8pm

1.3 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

9pm

1.3 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

10pm

1.3 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

11pm

1.5 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

Water Temp (°C)

→ steady around 17.8°

Sun

13 Sep

17.9°

Mon

14 Sep

18.0°

Tue

15 Sep

18.0°

Wed

16 Sep

17.8°

Thu

17 Sep

17.7°

Fri

18 Sep

17.8°

Sat

19 Sep

17.9°

Sun

20 Sep

18.0°

Mon

21 Sep

18.0°

Tue

22 Sep

18.1°

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 18 km/h S (172°).

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

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

3:30 pm → 7:00 pm

3h 30m

Good

4:30 am → 6:30 am

Good

11:00 pm → 12:00 am

First light

5:29 am

Last light

6:12 pm

Sunrise

5:54 am

Sunset

5:47 pm

Moonrise

8:18 am

Moonset

11:02 pm

Low tide

4:12 am

High tide

10:50 am

Low tide

5:24 pm

High tide

11:10 pm

Nearby spots

Species at this spot

Yellowfin Bream
Dusky Flathead
Sand Whiting
Silver Trevally
Luderick
Mulloway (Jewfish)
Leatherjacket