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)

Sat 31 Oct 2026 · Australia/Sydney

Forecast updated 1:02pm AEDT

Bite Alert

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31 Oct

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Today Tomorrow Sat 31 Oct

📍 Garie Beach Headlands (Royal National Park)

waning gibbous · 75%

Weather: Sunny Wind: N 354° · 21 km/h Swell: 0.9 m @ 9 s S Water: 18.5 °C Pressure: 1012.2 hPa ↓ falling Faces south-east · Offshore: W, NW, N · Onshore: E, SE, S · Forecast wind: offshore

★★★★☆

High Fish Activity

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▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 5:30 am

Solunar Major window

Time of day Dawn

Tide Turning

Wind N 10 km/h

Moon waning gibbous all day

Water temp 18.5 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Day Timeline

Major Minor Tide Twilight

First light 5:30 am Last light 7:49 pm

High 12:49 am Low 6:12 am High 12:55 pm Low 8:00 pm

Drag or use arrow keys to explore

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

4:00 am → 7:30 am

3h 30m

Good

4:30 pm → 9:00 pm

4h 30m

Good

12:00 am → 1:30 am

1h 30m

Good

10:00 am → 10:30 am

30m

First light

5:30 am

Last light

7:49 pm

Sunrise

5:56 am

Sunset

7:23 pm

Moonrise

12:14 am

Moonset

9:53 am

High tide

12:49 am

Low tide

6:12 am

High tide

12:55 pm

Low tide

8:00 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

☁️

17°

↑︎

348°

12 km/h

1am

☁️

16°

↑︎

346°

11 km/h

2am

☁️

15°

↑︎

346°

10 km/h

3am

☁️

15°

↑︎

346°

11 km/h

4am

☁️

15°

↑︎

3°

10 km/h

5am

☁️

14°

↑︎

2°

10 km/h

6am

☁️

14°

↑︎

356°

10 km/h

7am

☁️

16°

↑︎

346°

11 km/h

8am

☁️

16°

↑︎

342°

11 km/h

9am

☁️

19°

↑︎

346°

12 km/h

10am

☁️

21°

↑︎

349°

13 km/h

11am

☀️

23°

↑︎

360°

17 km/h

12pm

☀️

27°

↑︎

354°

21 km/h

1pm

☁️

28°

↑︎

344°

21 km/h

2pm

🌧️

24°

↑︎

2°

17 km/h

3pm

🌧️

26°

↗︎

23°

16 km/h

4pm

☁️

27°

↗︎

27°

23 km/h

5pm

🌧️

24°

↗︎

28°

16 km/h

6pm

🌧️

22°

↗︎

35°

12 km/h

7pm

🌧️

21°

↑︎

3°

12 km/h

8pm

🌧️

21°

↑︎

340°

20 km/h

9pm

🌧️

20°

↑︎

344°

14 km/h

10pm

☁️

20°

↖︎

331°

18 km/h

11pm

🌧️

20°

↖︎

320°

20 km/h

Hourly Swell

Steady ~1.0 m S

12am

1.2 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Moderate

ground

1am

1.2 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Moderate

ground

2am

1.2 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Moderate

ground

3am

1.2 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Moderate

ground

4am

1.2 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Moderate

ground

5am

1.2 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Moderate

6am

1.1 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Moderate

7am

1.1 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Moderate

8am

1.1 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Moderate

9am

1.0 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Moderate

10am

1.0 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Moderate

11am

1.0 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Slight

12pm

0.9 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Slight

1pm

0.9 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Slight

2pm

0.9 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Slight

3pm

0.9 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Slight

4pm

0.8 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Slight

5pm

0.8 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Slight

6pm

0.9 m

@ 8 s

↘︎

Slight

chop

7pm

1.0 m

@ 6 s

→︎

Moderate

chop

8pm

1.1 m

@ 5 s

↗︎

Moderate

chop

9pm

1.1 m

@ 5 s

↗︎

Moderate

chop

10pm

1.0 m

@ 5 s

↗︎

Moderate

chop

11pm

1.0 m

@ 5 s

↗︎

Slight

chop

Water Temp (°C)

↗ warming — up 0.5° over the last 3 days

Wed

28 Oct

18.0°

Thu

29 Oct

18.5°

Fri

30 Oct

18.8°

Sat

31 Oct

18.5°

Sun

1 Nov

18.7°

Mon

2 Nov

19.0°

Tue

3 Nov

18.9°

Wed

4 Nov

19.0°

Thu

5 Nov

18.8°

Fri

6 Nov

18.6°

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 21 km/h N (354°).

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

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

4:00 am → 7:30 am

3h 30m

Good

4:30 pm → 9:00 pm

4h 30m

Good

12:00 am → 1:30 am

1h 30m

Good

10:00 am → 10:30 am

30m

First light

5:30 am

Last light

7:49 pm

Sunrise

5:56 am

Sunset

7:23 pm

Moonrise

12:14 am

Moonset

9:53 am

High tide

12:49 am

Low tide

6:12 am

High tide

12:55 pm

Low tide

8:00 pm

Nearby Spots

Species at This Spot

Keep Tabs on Garie Beach Headlands (Royal National Park)

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