Crescent Head

Crescent Head is best known for the right-hand point break that wraps around Little Nobby into Killick Beach, but the eastern face of the headland, below the golf course, is a long run of hard, dark ledges with deep water close in. The ledges are a reliable bream and luderick spot, with tailor around the headland in season. The village sits right behind it, so the walk from the car is short by Mid North Coast headland standards. Behind the point, Killick Creek gives the same trip a sheltered, kid-friendly estuary option.

The ledges are fished with bait and berley into the wash: green weed or cabbage under a float for luderick, cunjevoi, bread or peeled prawn close to the rocks for drummer, and lightly weighted prawn or mullet strip for bream. Tailor come to 30–40 g metals and ganged pilchards thrown into the white water at dawn and dusk. Mulloway are a dark-tide soak with fresh slab baits from the deeper sections. Give the surfers the point itself — the ledges to the south are the fishing water.

Bream and luderick are the regular catches, with both at their best through the cooler months. Black drummer hold in the washes all year. Tailor run along the headland from autumn into winter, and mulloway are an occasional low-light reward. Eastern blue groper can't be taken by any method in NSW until the end of February 2028 — release any you hook.

Fish the eastern face and stay well clear of the point break around Little Nobby — the northern side, which is the sheltered side in a southerly, is the surf break, so a solid south swell is a Killick Creek day. Fresh weed collected the same morning beats anything stored, and a steady trickle of berley holds luderick in the wash. Luderick are 27 cm with a bag of 10, bream 25 cm with a combined 10 including tarwhine, black drummer 30 cm and 10. Octopus cannot be taken from ocean rock platforms in NSW. If the ocean is out of the question, the creek beside the holiday park fishes on the afternoon tide turn for bream, whiting and blackfish.

Crescent Head is about 20 km east of Kempsey on a sealed road. Park in the village or near the headland lookout and walk down to the eastern ledges; the ground is grass to the edge, then a scramble onto broken, uneven rock. That last section isn't suitable for prams, wheelchairs or small children. Toilets and the shops are in the village a few minutes' walk away, and Killick Creek beside the holiday park offers a flat, easy alternative with the bridge, banks and rock wall all fishable.

Best in a small, clean swell with a westerly or light north-westerly wind. A moderate southerly swell washes the eastern face; any big easterly or north-easterly sea makes the whole headland dangerous. Rising tides into low light are the classic windows for luderick, bream and tailor. Dirty, weedy water after a blow slows the luderick, while a little foam on the ledges suits drummer.

The headland is open ocean rock: sets wash the low ledges without warning, the weed-covered rock is treacherous, and the hard stone cuts on a fall. Check the swell forecast, then watch the water for 15 minutes before climbing down, stay on the higher dry rock, and never turn your back on the sea. Kempsey is not one of the ten council areas declared under the Rock Fishing Safety Act 2016, but a lifejacket is strongly recommended on every ledge here, with cleated or grippy footwear and light clothing you can swim in. Keep well clear of the surf break at the point, where boards and lines don't mix, and fish with a partner. If you are washed in, swim away from the rocks, float, signal and have your partner call 000, and pick your retreat before you cast.

Off the headland ledges, bream, luderick, black drummer and tailor are the common catches, with mulloway at low light. Killick Creek behind the point holds bream, whiting, flathead and blackfish. Eastern blue groper can't be taken by any method in NSW until the end of February 2028 — release any you hook. A NSW Recreational Fishing Fee receipt is needed unless you're exempt.

Killick Creek beside the holiday park is the sheltered fallback — the bridge, the banks and the rock wall in the park all fish, best on the afternoon turn of the tide. It's flat and close to the car, so it suits families.

A lifejacket is strongly recommended on every ledge at Crescent Head. The rocks take washes in a building swell, and wearing a lifejacket, cleated boots and fishing with a partner are the basics on any exposed NSW headland.