Clontarf Reserve (Middle Harbour)

Clontarf Reserve is the harbourside park and sand beach on the Northern Beaches side of Middle Harbour, directly across the channel from the Spit. DPIRD's own Middle Harbour guide names Clontarf Park as one of its three bream hot spots, and the reason is visible from the car park — the beach runs out to a sandy point where the bottom drops away quickly into the main Middle Harbour channel. That puts deep, tide-washed water within an easy cast of dry sand, with shallow flats and weed toward Sandy Bay on one side and the channel on the other. It is a different proposition from the Spit, about 500 m west — no bridge, no pylons, just a beach point, a channel edge and a netted swimming enclosure to fish around.

Fish the western sand point and the beach either side of it, well clear of the netted swimming enclosure at the northern end, and work the line where pale sand meets dark channel water. Bream take a lightly weighted peeled prawn or mullet strip drifted down that drop-off behind a little berley, best on the first of the run-out after high tide. Flathead and whiting sit on the shallower sand — hop 2.5–3in soft plastics for flathead, and drag worms or small surface poppers across the flats for summer whiting. Squid hold over the weed either side of the point, and a 2.5–3.0 jig at first light is the usual opener for anyone planning to float a bait for a passing kingfish.

Yellowfin bream are why DPIRD lists the park — 25 cm and a bag of 10 shared with tarwhine. Dusky flathead spread over the sand from spring into autumn in a 36–70 cm slot with a bag of 5, and sand whiting push onto the flats through summer at 27 cm inside a shared whiting bag of 20. Southern calamari come off the weed year-round with no size limit and a combined squid and cuttlefish bag of 20. Luderick work the weedier edges in the cooler months at 27 cm and a bag of 10, silver trevally and tailor (both 30 cm, bag 10) cruise the channel edge, and a yellowtail kingfish at 65 cm and a bag of 5 is a summer bonus rather than a plan.

Bring all your bait — Middle Harbour sits inside the Sydney Harbour Intertidal Protected Area, so pumping nippers, digging worms or taking crabs, cunjevoi or shellfish off this foreshore is prohibited, even though line fishing and squid jigging are fine. The enclosure belongs to swimmers, and on a hot summer afternoon so does most of the beach, so fish early, late or out of season. Clontarf is east of the Harbour Bridge, where the general health advice is no more than 150 g of harbour fish a month — and DPIRD's species table allows bream and tailor just one 150 g serve a month, which makes this a sensible place to release them. Line up the first of the run-out with dawn or dusk and the drop-off does the rest.

Clontarf Reserve sits at the end of Sandy Bay Road, Clontarf, with a paid Northern Beaches Council car park right behind the beach (check the meter for current rates and hours), toilets and a picnic lawn. From the car it's a short, flat walk across the grass to the sand, and the point is a couple of minutes further along the beach — no rocks to climb. The Manly to Spit Bridge walk runs through the reserve, so you can also walk in from the Spit side. It is one of the easier family sessions in Middle Harbour, provided the kids stay on the gentle beach rather than at the point where the channel drops away.

Deep inside Middle Harbour, Clontarf never sees ocean swell, which makes it a fallback for days when the coast is blown out. The beach faces west across the channel, so a westerly blows straight in and makes light-line bait work awkward. The run-out is the engine — it drags bait off the flats and past the point — while slack high water is the quietest stretch. Heavy rain colours Middle Harbour for a few days, which tends to slow the bream and wake up the flathead.

The netted enclosure and the beach in front of it fill with swimmers through summer — never cast into or across the enclosure, and keep hooks well away from people on the sand. The point drops abruptly from knee-deep sand into the deep channel, which matters for anyone wading and for small children. Boats use the moorings off the beach and the ramp at the southern end of the reserve, and Middle Harbour traffic runs close to the point, so watch your line on the cast. Stingrays and bluebottles turn up on summer flats, so shuffle your feet when wading, and bring sun cover because there is little shade at the water's edge.

Yes. Line fishing and squid jigging are allowed from the beach and the sand point at Clontarf Reserve, as long as you stay outside the netted swimming enclosure and clear of swimmers. Middle Harbour is part of the Sydney Harbour Intertidal Protected Area, so you cannot collect crabs, worms, nippers, cunjevoi or shellfish for bait — bring it with you. A NSW Recreational Fishing Fee is required unless you are exempt.

Yellowfin bream are the headline — DPIRD's Middle Harbour guide lists Clontarf Park as a bream hot spot — alongside dusky flathead and sand whiting on the sand, southern calamari over the weed, luderick in the cooler months, and silver trevally, tailor and the odd summer yellowtail kingfish on the channel edge.

Clontarf is east of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, where the NSW dietary advice is generally no more than 150 g of harbour fish a month because of dioxins. The guidance varies by species: DPIRD's table allows dusky flathead and luderick 12 serves of 150 g a month, sand whiting 8 and silver trevally 5, but bream and tailor only one 150 g serve a month, and each figure assumes that is the only harbour species eaten that month. Many anglers here keep a flathead and release the bream.

Clontarf Reserve has a paid Northern Beaches Council car park directly behind the beach at the end of Sandy Bay Road, with toilets and a picnic area. The sand point is a short, flat walk from the car park, and the Manly to Spit Bridge walk passes through the reserve if you would rather walk in.

They suit different days. The Spit, across the channel, has the bridge pylons, the deeper channel and the big Spit West flats for flathead. Clontarf is a single sand point dropping into the same channel, with an easy beach, a picnic lawn and DPIRD's bream hot-spot tag — better for a relaxed bait session, worse on a hot summer afternoon when the beach is full of swimmers.