What fish can you catch at Cronulla Beach and The Alley?

Sand whiting, yellowfin bream and dart through the gutters by day, and Australian salmon, tailor and mulloway in low light, especially around dawn, dusk and after dark. Flathead and silver trevally turn up as by-catch. A NSW Recreational Fishing Fee is required to fish anywhere in NSW, including off the beach here.

Do you need a fishing licence to fish at Cronulla?

Yes. There is no separate licence as such, but a NSW Recreational Fishing Fee is required to fish in NSW saltwater and freshwater, with exemptions for people under 18, pensioner concession card holders and Aboriginal people among others. It is $7 for three days, $14 for a month, $35 for a year or $85 for three years, and the receipt has to be carried while you fish.

What is the best bait for whiting at Cronulla Beach?

Fresh beach worms are the standout, fished on a paternoster or long-leader rig with long-shank hooks, and the state-wide limit is 20 worms whole or part. Pipis and live nippers also work well, though pipis may only be taken from an ocean beach for immediate use as bait and never more than 50 m from the high-water mark. Fish the gutters on a rising tide through the middle of the day and target the cleaner water along the edge of The Alley rip.

What size and bag limits apply to mulloway and whiting here?

NSW rules apply, and the mulloway figure is the one people most often get wrong. Mulloway have a 70 cm minimum and a bag of one fish per person, with a boat limit of two per boat per day when two or more are aboard. Sand whiting are 27 cm on a bag of 20, yellowfin bream 25 cm on a bag of 10 shared with tarwhine, tailor 30 cm on a bag of 10 with 20 in possession, and dusky flathead sit in a 36 to 70 cm slot with a bag of 5, so release any flathead over 70 cm. Dart have no size limit and fall under the default bag of 20, and a NSW Recreational Fishing Fee is required as well.

Is Cronulla Beach a good spot for fishing with kids?

For daytime gutter fishing, yes — there's paved parking right behind the beach, toilets and a kiosk at the pavilion, a rock pool, and the patrolled beach makes it easy to keep an eye on everyone. Keep children well clear of The Alley rip, which is a strong permanent current, and avoid the slippery rock pool edges and armoured rock.

Bite Compass

Bite Forecast

Cronulla Beach & The Alley

Thu 29 Oct 2026 · Australia/Sydney

Forecast updated 3:02pm AEDT

Bite Alert

←

29 Oct

tap to pick date

→

Today Tomorrow Sat 31 Oct

📍 Cronulla Beach & The Alley

waning gibbous · 91%

Weather: Sunny Wind: SE 132° · 14 km/h Swell: 1.9 m @ 9 s S Water: 19.0 °C Pressure: 1022.4 hPa → steady Faces east · Offshore: SW, W, NW · Onshore: NE, E, SE · Forecast wind: onshore

★★★☆☆

Medium Fish Activity

Email me when a High bite day is coming Free

▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 5:30 am

Solunar Between windows

Time of day Dawn

Tide Moving

Wind W 12 km/h

Moon waning gibbous all day

Water temp 19.0 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Day Timeline

Major Minor Tide Twilight

First light 5:32 am Last light 7:46 pm

Low 4:33 am High 11:06 am Low 5:52 pm

Drag or use arrow keys to explore

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

2:00 am → 7:00 am

Good

6:30 pm → 9:00 pm

2h 30m

Good

11:30 pm → 12:00 am

30m

Good

2:30 pm → 3:30 pm

First light

5:32 am

Last light

7:46 pm

Sunrise

5:58 am

Sunset

7:20 pm

Moonrise

11:11 pm

Moonset

7:42 am

Low tide

4:33 am

High tide

11:06 am

Low tide

5:52 pm

High tide

11:51 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

☀️

15°

←︎

267°

8 km/h

1am

☀️

14°

←︎

268°

9 km/h

2am

☀️

14°

←︎

272°

11 km/h

3am

☀️

14°

←︎

265°

11 km/h

4am

☀️

13°

←︎

264°

11 km/h

5am

☀️

13°

←︎

263°

12 km/h

6am

☀️

13°

←︎

257°

11 km/h

7am

☀️

14°

←︎

256°

10 km/h

8am

☀️

17°

←︎

252°

5 km/h

9am

☀️

20°

↓︎

174°

5 km/h

10am

☀️

21°

↘︎

152°

10 km/h

11am

☀️

22°

↘︎

139°

11 km/h

12pm

☀️

22°

↘︎

132°

14 km/h

1pm

☀️

22°

↘︎

130°

16 km/h

2pm

☀️

22°

↘︎

124°

16 km/h

3pm

☀️

22°

↘︎

121°

19 km/h

4pm

☀️

21°

↘︎

127°

17 km/h

5pm

☀️

21°

↘︎

134°

16 km/h

6pm

☀️

20°

↘︎

124°

15 km/h

7pm

☀️

19°

↘︎

126°

11 km/h

8pm

☀️

19°

↘︎

149°

7 km/h

9pm

☀️

18°

↘︎

155°

6 km/h

10pm

☀️

18°

↓︎

172°

3 km/h

11pm

☀️

17°

↙︎

210°

1 km/h

Hourly Swell

Building 1.2 → 1.9 m S

12am

1.2 m

@ 7 s

↘︎

Moderate

chop

1am

1.3 m

@ 7 s

↘︎

Moderate

chop

2am

1.3 m

@ 7 s

↘︎

Moderate

chop

3am

1.3 m

@ 7 s

↘︎

Moderate

chop

4am

1.4 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

5am

1.4 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

6am

1.5 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

7am

1.6 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

8am

1.7 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

9am

1.8 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

10am

1.9 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

11am

1.9 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

12pm

1.9 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

1pm

2.0 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

2pm

2.0 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

3pm

2.0 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

4pm

2.0 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Solid

5pm

2.0 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Solid

6pm

2.1 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Solid

7pm

2.1 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Solid

8pm

2.1 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Solid

9pm

2.0 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Solid

10pm

2.0 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

11pm

1.9 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

Water Temp (°C)

↗ warming — up 0.7° over the last 3 days

Mon

26 Oct

18.3°

Tue

27 Oct

18.6°

Wed

28 Oct

18.6°

Thu

29 Oct

19.0°

Fri

30 Oct

19.1°

Sat

31 Oct

18.7°

Sun

1 Nov

18.9°

Mon

2 Nov

19.2°

Tue

3 Nov

19.0°

Wed

4 Nov

19.1°

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 14 km/h SE (132°).

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

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

2:00 am → 7:00 am

Good

6:30 pm → 9:00 pm

2h 30m

Good

11:30 pm → 12:00 am

30m

Good

2:30 pm → 3:30 pm

First light

5:32 am

Last light

7:46 pm

Sunrise

5:58 am

Sunset

7:20 pm

Moonrise

11:11 pm

Moonset

7:42 am

Low tide

4:33 am

High tide

11:06 am

Low tide

5:52 pm

High tide

11:51 pm

Nearby Spots

Species at This Spot

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