Gunnamatta Bay Baths / Gunnamatta Park (Cronulla)

Gunnamatta Bay is the sheltered Port Hacking inlet on the western edge of Cronulla, and the netted tidal baths, established in 1915 and rebuilt in 1939, sit at the heart of it. The structure does the work — the timber baths, the boardwalk pylons, the fleet of moored yachts off the marina and the Posidonia seagrass flats all hold and funnel fish. Bait collects around the nets and the mooring lines, so whiting, flathead, bream, tailor and luderick all show up within an easy cast of the grass. Sutherland Shire describes the tidal baths as free netted pools where you can swim, jump, float and fish, which surprises people who assume a swimming enclosure means rods away, and the productive line is the water just outside the nets where fish gather against them. It is a calm, forgiving piece of water rather than a trophy spot, which is exactly why it earns its keep as a land-based option when the ocean rocks are unfishable.

Locals work the water just outside the netted enclosure rather than casting into the swimming area, aiming toward the moored boats and the western side for bream, whiting and flathead. The seagrass edges and the sand drop-offs near the channel markers are the money zones, so work baits or lures right over the weed edge onto the clean sand. The best of it runs on tidal movement, classically the last couple of hours of the run-out through the first of the run-in, with dawn and dusk doing the heavy lifting. Light gets fish moving onto the flats, so early mornings before the bay wakes up, and night sessions under the wharf and baths lighting, are when the better bags come.

Sand whiting are the summer staple from October to April, taken on the flats and sandbanks on fresh worms and nippers, at 27 cm and a bag of 20 shared across the whiting. Dusky flathead are a year-round prospect ambushing from the sand-and-weed margins, best September through autumn, but mind the 36 to 70 cm slot, the bag of 5, and the big breeding females over 70 cm that go back. Yellowfin bream are around all year and fire hardest through the autumn-into-winter spawning run, picked off around the baths, the pylons and the moored boats, at 25 cm and a bag of 10 shared with tarwhine. Tailor push into the bay mouth near Salmon Haul through the cooler months, roughly March to August, at 30 cm and a bag of 10 with 20 in possession. Luderick come on with the autumn and winter weed at 27 cm and a bag of 10, and southern calamari hold over the seagrass year-round and school up best from March to June with no size limit and a bag of 20 shared across all squid and cuttlefish.

This is family water as much as fishing water, so be neighbourly — keep clear of swimmers inside the nets and do not cast over moored boats or their lines. Buy your nippers and worms, because Gunnamatta Bay north of a line from Burraneer Point to Hungry Point is closed to taking worms, nippers and shellfish of any kind, and that covers the whole of this bay. Gathering green weed for luderick is not caught by that closure, so the float anglers are fine. Work the run-out tide as bait gets flushed off the seagrass toward the channel, and fish first light before the ferries, kayaks and paddleboarders fill the bay. A berley trail of bread or chopped pilchards around the baths edge will switch the bream on, and a small float or unweighted bait drifted back toward the boats is hard to beat.

Gunnamatta Park sits at Nicholson Parade, a short, flat walk from Cronulla train station, with an on-site car park, public toilets, picnic shelters, shade and a playground. The grassed foreshore runs right to the water with paths and a boardwalk around the baths, making it one of the more wheelchair- and pram-accessible estuary fishing spots in the Shire. The wave-free netted swimming areas, the playground and the easy ground make it genuinely kid-friendly — children can flick a bait off the grass while the rest of the family picnics, and the Cronulla-to-Bundeena ferry leaving the wharf is its own bit of entertainment. Dogs are not permitted in the bathing area, so leave the dog at home or keep it well up on the grass.

Tucked inside Port Hacking and shielded by the Cronulla peninsula, the bay is well-protected from ocean swell and fishes through conditions that shut the rock platforms down. A southerly or south-easterly buster has little reach in here, which is its whole appeal. A hard westerly will put a chop across the bay and make casting toward the moored boats awkward, and dead-slack tides go quiet — time your session around the tide change. After heavy rain the upper estuary can dirty and freshen, which tends to push the bream and flathead bite to the cleaner water nearer the bay mouth.

This is calm estuary water, so the risks are the small ones rather than the dramatic ones. The baths and the beach are not patrolled by lifeguards, which is worth knowing at a spot that otherwise looks like a supervised swimming pool. Oyster growth on the baths pylons, the boardwalk and the rock edges will open a hand or a knee, so watch your footing and your line — and leave them where they are, because the bay is closed to taking shellfish. Moored boats and a busy ferry and boat-ramp channel mean live boat traffic, so do not wade or cast into the moorings, and keep gear clear of swimmers inside the nets. Bluebottles blow into Port Hacking on strong north-easterlies in summer, the foreshore offers little shade once you leave the picnic shelters, and the water's edge is unfenced, so carry sun protection and supervise children closely. Sutherland Shire is a declared rock-fishing area under the Rock Fishing Safety Act 2016, so 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.

Yes. Sutherland Shire describes the netted tidal baths as free pools where you can swim, jump, float and fish, and the productive line is the water just outside the nets where fish gather against them. From the grassed foreshore of Gunnamatta Park you can cast toward the moored boats, the seagrass flats and the sand drop-offs for whiting, flathead, bream, tailor, luderick and squid. With swimmers inside the enclosure, just outside the nets is both the better fishing and the better manners. Like everywhere in NSW you need a NSW Recreational Fishing Fee to fish, even from the shore.

Sand whiting (best October–April), dusky flathead (year-round), yellowfin bream (year-round, best in autumn-winter), plus tailor in the cooler months, with Australian salmon schooling further out around Salmon Haul and the bay mouth, luderick over fresh weed in autumn-winter, and southern calamari over the seagrass in autumn. Most are caught on fresh nippers, worms, strip baits, small soft plastics and surface lures.

Dusky flathead have a slot limit in NSW: you can keep fish from 36 cm up to 70 cm, and anything over 70 cm must be released, because those are the big breeding females. The daily bag is 5 and the possession limit is 10. Gunnamatta Bay regularly produces flathead in and above the slot, so a measure and a wet-hands release for the big ones matters here. The other numbers worth knowing are yellowfin bream 25 cm on a bag of 10 shared with tarwhine, sand whiting 27 cm on a bag of 20, luderick 27 cm on a bag of 10 and tailor 30 cm on a bag of 10.

It is one of the better family fishing spots in the Sutherland Shire. There is a car park, toilets, picnic shelters, shade and a playground right beside flat, grassed water with wave-free netted swimming areas. Kids can flick a bait off the grass for whiting and bream while the family picnics. Just note the baths are not patrolled by lifeguards, keep an eye on the unfenced water's edge, and watch for oyster cuts on the pylons.

NSW does not issue a traditional licence, but you must pay the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee to fish anywhere in the state, salt or fresh, including from the Gunnamatta Park foreshore. 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 receipt must be carried while you fish. Limited exemptions apply, including for under-18s, Aboriginal people and pensioner concession card holders.