Karuah River Bridge & Longworth Park Wharf

Karuah is the old highway river town at the top of Port Stephens, and the fishing hangs off two pieces of structure about 110 metres apart: the council wharf at Longworth Park and the 1957 Karuah River Bridge that now carries Tarean Road over the river. Between them the Karuah River runs deep and tidal past oyster-crusted pylons, which is why a News Of The Area fishing column calls Karuah a renowned jewfish hot spot, particularly the deep holes in the eddies of the bridge pylons. This is the town bridge, not the Pacific Highway crossing, which is a motorway span about 3.7 km upstream with no business for anglers. The land-based fishing is from the wharf, its rock wall and the riverbank path that runs under the bridge to Memorial Park — not from the bridge deck, which is a working road crossing. The water here sits in a general use zone of the Port Stephens–Great Lakes Marine Park, so ordinary NSW rules apply on top of the marine park ones.

Mulloway are the reason most people bring a heavy rod: school fish work the eddies behind the pylons, and a long-standing local recommendation is herring or fresh squid fished on the bottom through the tide change after dark. From the outer, river-facing side of the wharf — never into the netted tidal pool it wraps around — cast up-current toward the bridge on the run-out and let the run carry the bait back into the deeper water off the wharf face rather than anchoring it in the slack. Bream, whiting and luderick feed in the shallower edges either side, so a lighter outfit with peeled prawn or a strip of mullet covers the bread-and-butter fish while the jew rod soaks. Luderick anglers float green weed along the rock wall and the wharf pylons through the cooler months. Bait sinks into oyster shell here, so fish a little off the bottom or accept the tackle tax.

Mulloway are the headline and turn up year-round, mostly as school fish, with the occasional much bigger fish taken around the pylons — 70 cm minimum, a bag of one per person, and a boat limit of two per boat per day when two or more people are aboard. Yellowfin bream are the year-round staple at 25 cm and a bag of 10 shared with tarwhine. Luderick come through from autumn into spring at 27 cm and a bag of 10, and sand whiting work the sandier shallows over the warmer months at 27 cm in a whiting bag of 20. Dusky flathead are a spring-to-autumn chance on the edges, in a 36 to 70 cm slot with a bag of 5. Blue swimmer crabs also come up the river, but Port Stephens has its own hoop-net and crab-trap rules, so check them before you set anything.

Plan the jewfish session around a tide change after dark, and get the bait down before the light goes rather than after. This is oyster country — interfering with an oyster lease is an offence, so keep casts, rigs and boots off the racks and leases, and wear closed shoes on the wall. The Karuah River is west of the Soldiers Point–Fame Point line, so dip and scoop nets for prawns, hand-hauled prawn nets and push or scissor nets are closed here all year. In Port Stephens and its tributaries, hoop and lift nets may only be set — and crabs taken with them — between sunrise and sunset, with no part of the net suspended above the hoop once set, and every crab-trap entrance must be no wider than 320 mm; the normal NSW limits of four hoop nets and two crab traps per person still apply. Two sanctuary zones sit about 1.3 km away — Little Swan Bay to the south and Number One Cove across the river to the east-south-east — and both are closed to fishing by any method, so check the marine park zoning map or the FishSmart NSW app before you take a boat or kayak downstream. A NSW Recreational Fishing Fee is required, as everywhere in NSW.

Longworth Park is on the western bank of the Karuah River beside Tarean Road, with parking a short walk from the water, toilets, a covered barbecue and picnic area, play equipment, a netted tidal pool and the public wharf. The wharf is flat and metres from the grass, which makes it one of the easier river spots to fish with kids or limited mobility, as long as small children stay within arm's reach of an adult. A riverside walk runs under the bridge from Longworth Park to Memorial Park on the other side of the road, giving more bank to fish on the upstream side. The boat ramp sits just beyond Memorial Park, so expect trailers and launch traffic on busy mornings. Transport for NSW maintenance works on the old bridge are scheduled into 2027 — keep clear of the work site and scaffolding, and if the path under the bridge or the water around the piers is fenced or buoyed off, fish the wharf instead.

This is sheltered estuary water, so swell never matters and wind only bothers the float anglers. Tide is everything: the run through the bridge builds eddies behind the pylons that hold fish, while the slack around the turn is when baits finally sit where you put them. Heavy rain in the Karuah catchment pushes brown, fresh water down the river for days and can shift the bite downstream toward the port; a settled week with clean, salty water is the time to come. Night sessions on a quiet tide change suit the mulloway, and early mornings suit the bream before boat traffic stirs the edges.

The risks are estuary-sized but real. The wall and pylons are thick with oysters that cut hands, line and shins, so wear closed shoes and handle fish carefully. The river runs deep and fast past the wharf and under the bridge on a big tide, so it is no place for kids to wade or swim outside the netted tidal pool. The bridge carries road traffic and is not a fishing platform; keep casts, rods and kids off the deck and walk under it on the riverbank path instead, unless maintenance works have it fenced off. After dark the wharf edge is hard to judge, so bring a headlamp, and watch for boats and trailers around the ramp and pump-out.

Treat the bridge deck as off limits — it is a working road crossing carrying Tarean Road, managed by Transport for NSW, whose policy treats fishing from its bridges as prohibited, and the fishing here is done from Longworth Park wharf, its rock wall and the riverbank path that runs under the bridge to Memorial Park. Those spots put a bait into the same eddies behind the pylons that hold the mulloway. The Pacific Highway bridge further upstream is a motorway span with no fishing access at all.

Mulloway around the bridge pylons, especially after dark on a tide change, plus yellowfin bream year-round, luderick through the cooler months, and sand whiting and dusky flathead in the warmer months. Mulloway are 70 cm minimum with a bag of one per person, and bream are 25 cm with a bag of 10 shared with tarwhine. You need a NSW Recreational Fishing Fee to fish here.

Yes. The Karuah River is inside the Port Stephens–Great Lakes Marine Park, and the water at Longworth Park and the bridge is a general use zone where ordinary recreational fishing is allowed. Two sanctuary zones, Little Swan Bay and Number One Cove, are about 1.3 km away and closed to all fishing, so check the zoning map or the FishSmart NSW app before heading downstream by boat or kayak.

Not a prawn scoop net — the Karuah River is west of the Soldiers Point–Fame Point line, where dip and scoop nets, hand-hauled prawn nets and push or scissor nets are closed all year. Hoop and lift nets are allowed only between sunrise and sunset, with nothing suspended above the hoop once set, and crab traps are allowed with every entrance no wider than 320 mm, up to two traps per person.