Can you fish at Fingal Head?

Yes. The rock platform at Fingal Head is open to line fishing and is outside Cape Byron Marine Park. The Cook Island Aquatic Reserve starts about 250 m off the point; its outer zone allows line fishing but not set-lines, and the inner zone around Cook Island is a no-take sanctuary. Fingal Head is also inside DPIRD's Tweed fee-concession area, which runs south of the Tweed River breakwaters to the lighthouse at Fingal Head, where the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee is discounted by 50%.

What are the Cook Island Aquatic Reserve fishing rules?

The reserve extends 500 m out from Cook Island. The inner zone around the island is a no-take sanctuary with no fishing by any method. In the outer zone you may fish under the normal NSW rules except by set-line, which includes any line that is neither held in the hand nor attached to a rod held in the hand — a rod left in a holder counts.

What can you catch off the Fingal Head rocks?

Tailor and jewfish are spun from the headland, best from about April to August, and bream and luderick are prolific in the washes through the cooler months. Dart work the beach gutters either side in the warmer months. Eastern blue groper can't be taken by any method in NSW until the end of February 2028 — release any you hook.

Is Fingal Head dangerous for rock fishing?

It can be. The platform is exposed to swell from the east and north-east, the rocks are slippery, and the rip off the northern end of Dreamtime Beach runs out past the headland. Fish only in small swell, never alone, and wear a lifejacket — adults AS 4758 level 50S or greater, under-12s level 100. Tweed is not a declared lifejacket area, but one is strongly recommended.

Bite Compass

Bite Forecast

Fingal Head Rock Platform

Wed 04 Nov 2026 · Australia/Sydney

Forecast updated 3:04pm AEDT

Bite Alert

←

4 Nov

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Today Tomorrow Sat 7 Nov

📍 Fingal Head Rock Platform

last quarter · 34%

Weather: Rainy Wind: E 104° · 10 km/h Swell: 0.6 m @ 4 s N Water: 20.9 °C Pressure: 1011.8 hPa → steady Faces east · Offshore: SW, W, NW · Onshore: NE, E, SE · Forecast wind: onshore

★★★☆☆

Medium Fish Activity

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▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 8:00 pm

Solunar Major window

Time of day Dusk

Tide Moving

Wind N 7 km/h

Moon last quarter all day

Water temp 20.9 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Day Timeline

Major Minor Tide Twilight

First light 5:27 am Last light 7:31 pm

High 5:15 am Low 10:55 am High 5:15 pm

Drag or use arrow keys to explore

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

5:30 pm → 10:00 pm

4h 30m

Good

4:30 am → 6:30 am

Good

8:00 am → 10:00 am

Good

11:30 pm → 12:00 am

30m

First light

5:27 am

Last light

7:31 pm

Sunrise

5:51 am

Sunset

7:07 pm

Moonrise

2:39 am

Moonset

2:23 pm

High tide

5:15 am

Low tide

10:55 am

High tide

5:15 pm

Low tide

11:51 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

🌧️

20°

↖︎

294°

4 km/h

1am

🌧️

20°

↖︎

320°

15 km/h

2am

🌧️

20°

↖︎

323°

22 km/h

3am

☀️

20°

↖︎

320°

18 km/h

4am

☀️

20°

↖︎

309°

10 km/h

5am

☀️

20°

←︎

277°

5 km/h

6am

☀️

20°

↙︎

232°

3 km/h

7am

☀️

21°

↓︎

191°

3 km/h

8am

☀️

23°

↘︎

155°

3 km/h

9am

☀️

24°

↘︎

131°

5 km/h

10am

☀️

26°

↘︎

117°

7 km/h

11am

☀️

27°

→︎

110°

9 km/h

12pm

🌧️

27°

→︎

104°

10 km/h

1pm

🌧️

26°

→︎

98°

10 km/h

2pm

🌧️

26°

→︎

92°

10 km/h

3pm

🌧️

26°

→︎

85°

11 km/h

4pm

🌧️

26°

→︎

79°

12 km/h

5pm

🌧️

25°

→︎

71°

11 km/h

6pm

☀️

24°

↗︎

57°

9 km/h

7pm

☀️

23°

↗︎

30°

8 km/h

8pm

☀️

22°

↑︎

360°

7 km/h

9pm

☀️

22°

↖︎

330°

7 km/h

10pm

☀️

21°

↖︎

297°

8 km/h

11pm

☀️

21°

←︎

280°

10 km/h

Hourly Swell

Building 0.7 → 1.0 m N

12am

0.7 m

@ 5 s

↗︎

Slight

chop

1am

0.7 m

@ 4 s

↗︎

Slight

chop

2am

0.8 m

@ 4 s

↑︎

Slight

chop

3am

0.7 m

@ 4 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

@ 4 s

↑︎

Slight

chop

9am

0.6 m

@ 4 s

↑︎

Slight

chop

10am

0.6 m

@ 4 s

↑︎

Slight

chop

11am

0.6 m

@ 4 s

↑︎

Slight

chop

12pm

0.6 m

@ 4 s

↑︎

Slight

chop

1pm

0.7 m

@ 4 s

↑︎

Slight

chop

2pm

0.7 m

@ 4 s

↑︎

Slight

chop

3pm

0.6 m

@ 5 s

↑︎

Slight

chop

4pm

0.6 m

@ 5 s

↑︎

Slight

chop

5pm

0.5 m

@ 5 s

↗︎

Slight

chop

6pm

0.6 m

@ 5 s

↗︎

Slight

chop

7pm

0.7 m

@ 5 s

↗︎

Slight

chop

8pm

0.8 m

@ 4 s

↗︎

Slight

chop

9pm

0.9 m

@ 4 s

↗︎

Slight

chop

10pm

1.0 m

@ 4 s

↗︎

Slight

chop

11pm

1.0 m

@ 4 s

↑︎

Moderate

chop

Water Temp (°C)

↘ cooling — down 0.8° over the last 3 days

Sun

1 Nov

21.7°

Mon

2 Nov

21.8°

Tue

3 Nov

21.7°

Wed

4 Nov

20.9°

Thu

5 Nov

21.1°

Fri

6 Nov

21.7°

Sat

7 Nov

21.4°

Sun

8 Nov

21.3°

Mon

9 Nov

21.1°

Tue

10 Nov

—

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 10 km/h E (104°).

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

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

5:30 pm → 10:00 pm

4h 30m

Good

4:30 am → 6:30 am

Good

8:00 am → 10:00 am

Good

11:30 pm → 12:00 am

30m

First light

5:27 am

Last light

7:31 pm

Sunrise

5:51 am

Sunset

7:07 pm

Moonrise

2:39 am

Moonset

2:23 pm

High tide

5:15 am

Low tide

10:55 am

High tide

5:15 pm

Low tide

11:51 pm

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