Frenchmans Bay / Congwong (La Perouse)

The La Perouse beaches — Frenchmans Bay, Congwong and Little Congwong — sit on the northern shoulder of Botany Bay, tucked behind the headland so they fish like sheltered estuary beaches rather than open coast. The sand is clean and the water often runs gin-clear, calm enough that locals call it pool-like, which makes it a genuine sight-fishing beach for whiting and bream over the flats. What lifts it above a swimming cove is the rock at either end: weedy outcrops and ledges where bream, trevally and luderick hold tight, and the corner toward Browns Rock that lets you reach deeper water. It is one of the few Sydney East spots where you can flick soft plastics off the sand at first light and still have a credible shot at a feed of squid before the sun is up.

Locals split the day by the structure. The open sand fishes best on a run-in tide with light gear — small soft plastics or live nippers and worms drifted along the gutters for whiting and flathead, and unweighted baits for bream cruising the shallows in clear water. The rocky corners at each end are where the bream and silver trevally school, so anglers work the wash and weed lines with bait or plastics tight to the rock. A two-rod approach is the standard: one light outfit for the bread-and-butter, and a heavier setup with a floating pilchard or a live yellowtail under a float for any tailor or salmon schools that push in along the headland. Squidders jig the weed off the rocks at dawn and dusk. The changing tides — the last of the run-out and the first of the run-in — are when most fish come.

Yellowfin bream are the year-round mainstay, best around the rocks and in the wash at either end, at 25 cm and a bag of 10 shared with tarwhine. Sand whiting move onto the flats through the warmer months from about October to April at 27 cm and a bag of 20, with dusky flathead following the same window across the sand and gutters — only fish between 36 cm and 70 cm may be kept and the bag is 5. Silver trevally school off the rocky outcrops most of the year and turn up in better numbers in the cooler months, at 30 cm on a bag of 10 shared across the trevallies. Tailor and Australian salmon come through in chopper schools chasing bait around the headland, both on the colder water, tailor from about April and salmon from about May, through to September; tailor are 30 cm with a bag of 10, and salmon carry no minimum size at all on a bag of 5. Southern calamari are the quiet achiever here, jigged off the weed with the best runs from autumn into winter, with no size limit and a bag of 20 shared across all squid and cuttlefish. Luderick hold around the rock and weed for float anglers from autumn through spring at 27 cm and a bag of 10. Because this is Botany Bay water, the NSW PFAS Taskforce advises releasing Australian salmon caught here rather than eating them, and it caps weekly servings of silver trevally, tailor and mulloway, tighter again for children aged two to six.

Clear, shallow water cuts both ways — the whiting and bream spook easily, so a long light leader, a quiet entry and a cast well ahead of cruising fish all earn bites that a heavy rig will not. Fish the rocky ends early before swimmers and snorkellers arrive, because by mid-morning on a warm weekend the bay belongs to families. Fresh local bait matters, and an hour spent pumping nippers or gathering worms outfishes servo pilchards for whiting and bream — but work clean sand only, because digging in seagrass, mangroves or saltmarsh is prohibited state-wide, and stay west of the Endeavour Light at Henry Head, since the Cape Banks Aquatic Reserve beyond it bans taking invertebrates altogether. The squid bite rewards being there for the first and last light when the weed beds are in shade. Carry out everything you bring, because there are no bins at the beach and cleaning fish on the sand draws gulls fast.

Park at Cann Park near the La Perouse Museum, or on Anzac Parade near the park entry gates, then take the short track down; Congwong is a short walk from the southern end of Cann Park and Little Congwong a few hundred metres further along the same trail. Public toilets sit on Anzac Parade near where the beach track starts, with cafes and shops a short walk away around the loop. The sandy track and steps mean there is no wheelchair access to the beach itself, and it is a carry-your-gear walk rather than a drive-up. For families it is hard to beat — calm, shallow, clear water and a genuinely sheltered swim make it one of the easier Sydney beaches to fish with kids in tow, provided someone keeps an eye seaward.

Sitting inside Botany Bay and behind the La Perouse headland, these beaches are shielded from the open ocean swell that shuts the exposed coast down, so they stay fishable when Maroubra and Malabar are unworkable. The bay still feels a strong southerly or a hard onshore that pushes chop and weed onto the sand and dirties the water, and the whiting sight-fishing falls away when clarity drops after rain. Light winds and a clean run-in tide are the prime combination. The rocky corners toward Browns Rock catch more swell and current than the beach proper — fine in calm conditions, but the first to wash over when a sea is running.

These beaches sit in the Randwick City local government area, a declared area under the Rock Fishing Safety Act 2016 and the stretch of coast with the worst rock-fishing record in the state, at 24 deaths since 2001. The law requires an appropriate lifejacket whenever you fish with rod, line or handline from naturally occurring rock exposed to ocean swell, to AS 4758 level 50S or greater for adults and level 100 for under-12s, with a $100 on-the-spot fine for going without. It covers anyone helping you and any child under 12 in your care, so wear one on every outcrop at the ends of these beaches and around the corner toward Browns Rock, because the sets that catch people out arrive on days that looked safe. Some Randwick council facilities run lifejacket loan trials, so it is worth asking around before you buy one. The rock and weed are slippery wet or dry, the beaches are not patrolled by lifeguards and can hold rip currents, and oyster-crusted rock will open a hand quickly — and those oysters stay put, because taking them is prohibited throughout Botany Bay and all its tributaries. Bluebottles blow in on summer northerlies. Note too that the ocean-side foreshore from the Endeavour Light at Henry Head around to the Cape Banks bridge falls inside Cape Banks Aquatic Reserve, where line fishing is fine but collecting bait, shellfish and invertebrates is prohibited.

Yellowfin bream year-round, sand whiting and dusky flathead on the flats through the warmer months, silver trevally and luderick around the rocky ends, plus tailor, Australian salmon and southern calamari that move through with the seasons. The sand suits whiting and flathead; the rock at either end holds the bream, trevally and squid. These are Botany Bay waters, so the NSW PFAS Taskforce advises releasing Australian salmon rather than eating them, and weekly servings of silver trevally, tailor and mulloway are capped. A NSW Recreational Fishing Fee is required to fish anywhere in NSW, including here.

Yes on the swell-exposed ledges. La Perouse sits in the Randwick City local government area, a declared area under the Rock Fishing Safety Act 2016, so a lifejacket is compulsory when you fish with rod, line or handline from naturally occurring rock exposed to ocean swell here, and 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 need level 100, with a $100 on-the-spot fine for going without. Some Randwick council facilities run lifejacket loan trials, so it is worth asking around before you buy one.

It's one of the better family fishing beaches in Sydney's east — the water inside Botany Bay is calm, shallow and usually very clear, the walk in is short, and there are toilets and cafes nearby on Anzac Parade. Stick to the sand with light gear for whiting and flathead, keep the kids off the slippery rock at the ends, and remember the beaches aren't lifeguard-patrolled.

The change of tide does the work — the last of the run-out and the first of the run-in, ideally around dawn or dusk. Early starts are doubly worth it in summer because the beaches fill with swimmers and snorkellers by mid-morning, and the squid and whiting both bite better in the low light before the crowds arrive.

On the bay beaches you may gather bait under the usual NSW rules, but on clean sand only — digging in seagrass, mangroves, saltmarsh or on rock platforms is prohibited state-wide. The ocean-side foreshore from the Endeavour Light at Henry Head around to the Cape Banks bridge sits inside Cape Banks Aquatic Reserve, where line fishing is permitted but taking cunjevoi, worms, shellfish and other invertebrates is not. Work out exactly where you are before pumping nippers, and keep within NSW bag and size limits for anything you keep.