Can you fish off the old jetty at Catherine Hill Bay?

No — the historic coal-loading jetty is not a public fishing platform, and on 30 July 2026 the NSW Government confirmed it will be demolished after a structural assessment found extensive deterioration and contaminated piles. Demolition is expected to take at least 12 to 18 months to get under way, so the structure is still standing in the meantime. The fishing happens off the headland rock ledges at either end of the bay and the deep gutters that run along the beach beneath them. Treat the jetty as scenery and keep off it.

Do you need a lifejacket to rock fish at Catherine Hill Bay?

Yes. Lake Macquarie is one of the ten areas declared under the Rock Fishing Safety Act 2016, and the council's map marks the Catherine Hill Bay headland as a high-risk rock fishing location, so a lifejacket is compulsory when you fish with rod, line or handline from naturally occurring rock exposed to ocean swell here. The duty covers anyone helping you and any child under 12 in your care, adults need AS 4758 level 50S or greater and under-12s level 100, and a $100 on-the-spot fine applies. The headland genuinely cops dangerous swell.

When is the best time to catch mulloway at Catherine Hill Bay?

Mulloway run year-round here, but the long, dark nights of autumn through to early spring around the new moon are the prime window. Fish the bottom of the tide and the first of the run-in with fresh squid, a tailor slab or a live yellowtail off the beach gutters or the lower ledges, and be patient — it is a vigil, not a quick session.

What can you catch off the rocks at Catherine Hill Bay in winter?

Winter is the wash-fishing season — black drummer (rock blackfish), luderick and bream all fire from about April through September when the green weed is up. Drummer are 30cm with a bag of 10 and luderick 27cm with a bag of 10. Eastern blue groper live in the rock gullies year-round, but line fishing for them is prohibited in NSW and they are release-only, so they are something to look at rather than target.

Do you need a fishing licence at Catherine Hill Bay?

A NSW Recreational Fishing Fee is required to fish anywhere in NSW, including the rocks and beach at Catherine Hill Bay, unless you hold an exemption. Carry proof of payment while you fish, and check the current NSW DPIRD bag and size limits — mulloway are 70cm with a bag of 1 per person, luderick 27cm and bream 25cm with a bag of 10 each (bream shared with tarwhine), and tailor 30cm with a daily bag of 10.

Bite Compass

Bite Forecast

Catherine Hill Bay Headland & Jetty

Mon 21 Sep 2026 · Australia/Sydney

Save

←

21 Sep

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Today Tomorrow Sat 19 Sep

📍 Catherine Hill Bay Headland & Jetty

waxing gibbous · 69%

Weather: Cloudy Wind: SE 144° · 15 km/h Swell: 0.5 m @ 5 s S Water: 19.2 °C Pressure: 1023.6 hPa → steady

★★★☆☆

Medium Fish Activity

▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 5:30 am

Solunar Between windows

Time of day Dawn

Tide Moving

Wind SW 15 km/h

Moon waxing gibbous all day

Water temp 19.2 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Day timeline

Major Minor Tide Twilight

First light 5:20 am Last light 6:13 pm

High 3:53 am Low 9:04 am High 3:48 pm

Drag or use arrow keys to explore

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

4:30 am → 7:00 am

2h 30m

Good

4:00 pm → 9:00 pm

Good

12:00 pm → 1:30 pm

1h 30m

Good

9:00 am → 10:00 am

First light

5:20 am

Last light

6:13 pm

Sunrise

5:44 am

Sunset

5:48 pm

Moonrise

12:25 pm

Moonset

2:25 am

High tide

3:53 am

Low tide

9:04 am

High tide

3:48 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

☀️

18°

↖︎

300°

12 km/h

1am

☀️

18°

←︎

278°

12 km/h

2am

☀️

18°

←︎

257°

13 km/h

3am

☀️

17°

↙︎

241°

14 km/h

4am

☀️

17°

↙︎

230°

15 km/h

5am

☀️

17°

↙︎

220°

15 km/h

6am

☀️

18°

↙︎

207°

14 km/h

7am

☀️

18°

↓︎

192°

14 km/h

8am

☁️

19°

↓︎

176°

14 km/h

9am

☁️

19°

↓︎

164°

15 km/h

10am

☁️

19°

↘︎

155°

15 km/h

11am

☁️

19°

↘︎

149°

15 km/h

12pm

☁️

19°

↘︎

144°

15 km/h

1pm

☁️

19°

↘︎

139°

14 km/h

2pm

☁️

19°

↘︎

133°

13 km/h

3pm

☁️

18°

↘︎

128°

12 km/h

4pm

☁️

18°

↘︎

121°

11 km/h

5pm

☁️

18°

↘︎

114°

10 km/h

6pm

☁️

18°

→︎

105°

9 km/h

7pm

☁️

18°

→︎

94°

8 km/h

8pm

☁️

18°

→︎

82°

8 km/h

9pm

☁️

18°

→︎

72°

7 km/h

10pm

☁️

17°

↗︎

62°

7 km/h

11pm

☁️

17°

↗︎

53°

6 km/h

Hourly Swell

Building 0.5 → 0.9 m SE

12am

0.5 m

@ 5 s

↓︎

Slight

chop

1am

0.6 m

@ 4 s

↓︎

Slight

chop

2am

0.6 m

@ 3 s

↓︎

Slight

chop

3am

0.7 m

@ 3 s

↓︎

Slight

chop

4am

0.7 m

@ 4 s

↓︎

Slight

chop

5am

0.7 m

@ 4 s

↓︎

Slight

chop

6am

0.7 m

@ 4 s

↓︎

Slight

chop

7am

0.6 m

@ 4 s

↓︎

Slight

chop

8am

0.6 m

@ 5 s

↓︎

Slight

chop

9am

0.5 m

@ 5 s

↓︎

Slight

chop

10am

Calm

11am

Calm

12pm

0.5 m

@ 5 s

↓︎

Slight

chop

1pm

0.6 m

@ 5 s

↓︎

Slight

chop

2pm

0.6 m

@ 6 s

↓︎

Slight

chop

3pm

0.6 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Slight

4pm

0.7 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Slight

5pm

0.7 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Slight

6pm

0.8 m

@ 9 s

↘︎

Slight

7pm

0.8 m

@ 8 s

↘︎

Slight

chop

8pm

0.8 m

@ 8 s

↘︎

Slight

chop

9pm

0.8 m

@ 8 s

↘︎

Slight

chop

10pm

0.9 m

@ 8 s

↘︎

Slight

chop

11pm

0.9 m

@ 8 s

↘︎

Slight

chop

Water Temp (°C)

↗ warming — up 0.4° over the last 3 days

Fri

18 Sep

18.8°

Sat

19 Sep

19.0°

Sun

20 Sep

19.1°

Mon

21 Sep

19.2°

Tue

22 Sep

19.2°

Wed

23 Sep

19.2°

Thu

24 Sep

—

Fri

25 Sep

—

Sat

26 Sep

—

Sun

27 Sep

—

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 15 km/h SE (144°).

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 am → 7:00 am

2h 30m

Good

4:00 pm → 9:00 pm

Good

12:00 pm → 1:30 pm

1h 30m

Good

9:00 am → 10:00 am

First light

5:20 am

Last light

6:13 pm

Sunrise

5:44 am

Sunset

5:48 pm

Moonrise

12:25 pm

Moonset

2:25 am

High tide

3:53 am

Low tide

9:04 am

High tide

3:48 pm

Nearby spots

Species at this spot

Mulloway (Jewfish)
Rock Blackfish
Luderick
Yellowfin Bream
Tailor
Australian Salmon
Silver Trevally