Do you need a fishing licence to fish at Garie Beach rocks?

Yes. Anyone fishing in NSW waters, including the rock platforms at Garie Beach, must pay the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee and carry the receipt, unless they hold an exemption. It is $7 for three days, $14 for a month, $35 for a year or $85 for three years, bought online, by phone or from a fee agent, and the money goes back into fisheries and access.

Is a lifejacket required for rock fishing at Garie Beach?

Yes. Garie Beach is in Royal National Park within Sutherland Shire, which is a declared area under the NSW Rock Fishing Safety Act 2016. 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 level 100, and a $100 on-the-spot fine applies. Given how low and swell-washed these ledges are, it is also simply sensible.

What fish can you catch off the Garie Beach headlands?

The main targets are Australian salmon, tailor, yellowtail kingfish, mulloway and silver trevally, with bonito and snapper turning up at times and rock blackfish along the edge. Salmon and tailor are most reliable through autumn and winter, while kingfish and bonito show in the warmer months from late spring to autumn. Worth remembering before you keep one: mulloway are 70 cm with a bag of just one fish per person, and kingfish are 65 cm with a bag of 5.

When is the best time to fish Garie Beach?

First light around a tide change, on a small southerly or easterly swell under 1.5 m with light westerly winds. Early mornings on the turn are when salmon and tailor fire and when bonito, snapper and trevally are most active. Note that until 18 December 2026 the Garie picnic area and the coastal areas between Garie Beach and Figure 8 Pools are closed sunset to sunrise, Monday to Thursday excluding school holidays, under the park's deer control program, so in those weeks the dawn sessions are a Friday-to-Sunday proposition. Avoid any building or long-period swell, because these ledges sit close to the water and are not worth fishing when the sets are pushing across the rock.

How do you get to the Garie Beach fishing spots?

Drive into Royal National Park and follow Garie Road down to the beachfront car park, where a $12 per vehicle daily entry fee applies and the gates run 7am to 8.30pm, weather and fire danger permitting. The northern platform is a short walk around the point and the southern ledges sit past the surf club. There are toilets and picnic facilities at the car park, but the rock platforms involve scrambling over wet, uneven stone. The picnic area and the coastal areas between Garie Beach and Figure 8 Pools are also closed sunset to sunrise, Monday to Thursday excluding school holidays, until 18 December 2026.

Bite Compass

Bite Forecast

Garie Beach Headlands (Royal National Park)

Wed 16 Sep 2026 · Australia/Sydney

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16 Sep

Today

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Today Tomorrow Sat 19 Sep

📍 Garie Beach Headlands (Royal National Park)

waxing crescent · 19%

Weather: Sunny Wind: S 190° · 26 km/h Swell: 1.7 m @ 9 s S Water: 17.9 °C Pressure: 1030.8 hPa ↑ rising

★★★☆☆

Medium Fish Activity

▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 6:00 pm

Solunar Between windows

Time of day Dusk

Tide Turning

Wind S 27 km/h

Moon waxing crescent all day

Water temp 17.9 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Now

Day timeline

Major Minor Tide Twilight

First light 5:29 am Last light 6:12 pm

Low 4:17 am High 10:50 am Low 5:30 pm

Drag or use arrow keys to explore

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

5:30 pm → 7:00 pm

1h 30m

Good

5:00 am → 6:30 am

1h 30m

First light

5:29 am

Last light

6:12 pm

Sunrise

5:54 am

Sunset

5:47 pm

Moonrise

8:18 am

Moonset

11:03 pm

Low tide

4:17 am

High tide

10:50 am

Low tide

5:30 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

🌧️

12°

↓︎

192°

18 km/h

1am

🌧️

11°

↓︎

187°

13 km/h

2am

☀️

11°

↓︎

198°

18 km/h

3am

☁️

11°

↓︎

200°

22 km/h

4am

☁️

12°

↓︎

196°

20 km/h

5am

☀️

12°

↙︎

210°

17 km/h

6am

☀️

10°

↙︎

207°

22 km/h

7am

☀️

10°

↙︎

205°

26 km/h

8am

☀️

11°

↓︎

202°

29 km/h

9am

☀️

12°

↓︎

200°

28 km/h

10am

☀️

13°

↓︎

196°

24 km/h

11am

☀️

14°

↓︎

189°

25 km/h

12pm

☀️

14°

↓︎

188°

27 km/h

1pm

☀️

15°

↓︎

188°

27 km/h

2pm

☀️

15°

↓︎

181°

28 km/h

3pm

☀️

15°

↓︎

180°

29 km/h

4pm

☀️

14°

↓︎

179°

28 km/h

5pm

☀️

13°

↓︎

184°

27 km/h

6pm

☀️

13°

↓︎

188°

27 km/h

7pm

☀️

13°

↓︎

190°

27 km/h

8pm

☀️

13°

↓︎

190°

26 km/h

Now

☀️

13°

↓︎

194°

24 km/h

10pm

☀️

12°

↓︎

198°

24 km/h

11pm

☀️

12°

↓︎

197°

26 km/h

Hourly Swell

Steady ~2.3 m S

12am

2.0 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Solid

chop

1am

2.3 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Solid

chop

2am

2.1 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Solid

chop

3am

1.9 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

4am

1.7 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

5am

1.8 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

6am

1.9 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

7am

2.0 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

8am

2.0 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

9am

2.0 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

10am

2.0 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

11am

1.8 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

12pm

1.7 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

1pm

1.6 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

2pm

1.6 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

3pm

1.6 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

4pm

1.6 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

5pm

1.6 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

6pm

1.5 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

7pm

1.5 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

8pm

1.7 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

Now

1.9 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

10pm

2.1 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Solid

11pm

2.3 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Solid

Water Temp (°C)

→ steady around 17.9°

Sun

13 Sep

17.9°

Mon

14 Sep

18.0°

Tue

15 Sep

18.0°

Wed

16 Sep

17.9°

Thu

17 Sep

17.8°

Fri

18 Sep

17.9°

Sat

19 Sep

18.1°

Sun

20 Sep

18.2°

Mon

21 Sep

18.1°

Tue

22 Sep

18.1°

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 26 km/h S (190°).

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 → 7:00 pm

1h 30m

Good

5:00 am → 6:30 am

1h 30m

First light

5:29 am

Last light

6:12 pm

Sunrise

5:54 am

Sunset

5:47 pm

Moonrise

8:18 am

Moonset

11:03 pm

Low tide

4:17 am

High tide

10:50 am

Low tide

5:30 pm

Nearby spots

Species at this spot

Australian Salmon
Tailor
Yellowtail Kingfish
Mulloway (Jewfish)
Silver Trevally
Bonito
Snapper
Rock Blackfish