Kurnell (Silver Beach groynes)

A line of rockwall groynes marches along the southern shore of Botany Bay at Silver Beach, built to hold the sand spit together after erosion started eating it. For land-based anglers that engineering fix is a gift: each groyne is a finger of structure reaching into clean bay water, with weed beds, sand gutters and current seams stacked along every wall. It is bread-and-butter country first — bream, dusky flathead, sand whiting and squid hold here all year — with tailor and salmon pushing through on the chase and the odd kingfish working the eastern walls nearer the bay entrance. The water is clear, the walk is short, and the spread of walls means there is almost always one fishing well no matter the wind.

Locals walk out to the end of a groyne and fan casts across the weed edges rather than dropping straight into the cabbage — bait or lure landing just off the weed line is the difference between fish and snags. The run-out tide tends to fire for bream and flathead as it drains bait off the flats, though both run-in and run-out produce here. Bream and trevally come on baits of peeled prawn, nipper and chicken gut fished light along the rocks, while flathead fall to soft plastics hopped down the sand gutters between walls. Squid get worked over the weed with size 2.5–3.0 jigs around the top and bottom of the tide, often at first and last light. Whiting prefer the open sand and a moving bait — beach worm or nipper drifted on the run-out.

Bream are the constant, taken year-round along every wall and best on the run-out around dawn and dusk, at 25 cm and a bag of 10 shared with tarwhine. Dusky flathead spread across the sand between groynes from spring through autumn with the bigger fish about in the warmer months; the keeper window is 36 to 70 cm and the bag is 5. Sand whiting run the open sand from October to April and love a live nipper or beach worm, at 27 cm on a bag of 20 shared across the whiting. Southern calamari hang over the weed beds all year, peaking in the cooler months when the water clears, with no size limit and a bag of 20 shared across all squid and cuttlefish. Tailor and Australian salmon blitz the shallows through the cooler half of the year chasing whitebait against the rocks, so keep a metal handy — tailor are 30 cm on a bag of 10, and the salmon are better let go, because the PFAS advice for this water is to release them rather than eat them. Silver trevally show year-round along the walls at 30 cm on a bag of 10 shared across the trevallies, luderick move in on weed and cabbage at 27 cm and a bag of 10, and a stray kingfish works the eastern walls through summer at 65 cm on a bag of 5. This is Botany Bay water, so the NSW PFAS Taskforce advises releasing Australian salmon rather than eating them, and weekly servings of tailor, silver trevally and mulloway are capped, tighter again for children aged two to six.

Give the squid jiggers their water at dawn — a groyne is narrow and two anglers fighting for the tip is nobody's morning. The eastern groynes carry more weed than the western ones, which suits squid and luderick but punishes a sloppy cast, so match the wall to the target. A southerly is your friend here, because it flattens the bay shore and lets you fish walls that a northerly would have chopped to pieces. Berley sparingly with bread or chook pellets to draw bream without feeding the whole bay. Buy your nippers and worms rather than digging them, because the Botany Bay digging closure runs from Towra Point east to the Captain Cook obelisk at Kurnell and bans taking any fish, shellfish, worm or nipper with a spade or fork, while east of the obelisk the Inscription Point Intertidal Protected Area bans taking crabs, worms, nippers, cunjevoi and shellfish outright. Line fishing is unaffected by either, and the oysters on the groyne rocks stay where they are, since taking them is prohibited throughout Botany Bay. Watch the weed on your retrieve, because clearing a jig or plastic every few casts beats dragging a salad to your feet.

A large car park sits at Bonna Point Reserve next to the boat ramp, with more parking strung the length of Prince Charles Parade, and buses reach the Parade from the Kurnell shops. Most groynes are a short, flat stroll from the car across grass and sand, with no scramble and no cliff. Toilets, picnic tables, a netted swimming enclosure and grassed reserves line the foreshore, which makes this one of the more family-friendly land-based options around Botany Bay. Note that the NPWS Kurnell Visitor Centre inside Kamay Botany Bay National Park is closed until late 2026 while a new one is built, with parking and toilets at the Cricket Pitch and Commemoration Flat precincts instead. Kids can fish a wall safely on a calm day while the rest of the family swims or picnics within sight, though the rocks are uneven and worth supervising.

This is a southerly-shore fishery: a southerly or south-westerly knocks the bay flat and the groynes fish cleanly, while a fresh northerly or north-easter blows straight onto them and turns the water dirty and uncomfortable. The walls are protected from open ocean swell by their position deep inside Botany Bay, so it takes a genuine blow to shut them down. Both run-in and run-out tides fish, but the run-out generally produces more bream and flathead as it pulls bait off the flats. Clearer water after a few dry days lifts the squid and whiting noticeably.

These are low rockwalls inside a sheltered bay rather than an exposed ocean platform, so the danger is real but modest. The groyne rocks are uneven and slippery where weed and bay slime build up, and sturdy footwear plus watching your step matters here more than anything else. Oyster growth on the lower rocks will open a hand or knee, and bluebottles wash up along Silver Beach on north-easterly winds. The boat ramp at Bonna Point brings boat and trailer traffic near the western walls, so keep clear of the launching lane. Sun exposure is the quiet hazard on an open foreshore with no shade, so hat, shirt and water. One boundary worth knowing: Towra Point Aquatic Reserve runs from Shell Point in the west to Bonna Point in the east, so Silver Beach itself is outside it and line fishing off the groynes is unrestricted — but the reserve's sanctuary zone, where no fishing of any kind is allowed, is the Quibray Bay water on the far side of the sand spit directly behind the beach, and it reaches the shore at Bonna Point by the boat ramp. Fish the Botany Bay side of the groynes only, and do not carry a rod over the spit or around the point into the bay behind.

Mainly bream, dusky flathead, sand whiting, silver trevally and squid year-round, with tailor and Australian salmon pushing through on the cooler water and luderick over winter. A stray kingfish works the eastern walls nearer the bay entrance in summer. This is Botany Bay water, so the NSW PFAS Taskforce advises releasing Australian salmon rather than eating them, and weekly servings of tailor, silver trevally and mulloway are capped. Anyone fishing here needs a NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, which is required to fish anywhere in NSW.

Yes. The walls run the length of Silver Beach and most are a short, flat walk from parking along Prince Charles Parade or the Bonna Point Reserve car park. The eastern groynes carry more weed, which suits squid and luderick, while the western walls near the boat ramp give cleaner sand for whiting and flathead. Keep clear of the boat ramp launching lane at the western end.

A southerly or south-westerly flattens the bay shore and lets the groynes fish cleanly; a fresh northerly blows straight onto them and dirties the water. Both run-in and run-out tides produce, but the run-out tends to draw more bream and flathead as it pulls bait off the flats. Dawn and dusk are the standout windows, especially for squid.

It is one of the more family-friendly land-based spots on Botany Bay, with toilets, picnic tables, grassed reserves and a netted swimming enclosure right by the groynes. The walls are a flat stroll from the car with no cliffs or scramble, though the rocks are uneven and slippery in patches and worth supervising. Whiting and bream off the sand are very achievable for younger anglers.

In NSW dusky flathead must fall within a 36 to 70 cm slot — fish under 36 cm or over 70 cm go back, the big breeders included — with a daily bag of 5 and 10 in possession. The other headline numbers here are yellowfin bream 25 cm on a bag of 10 shared with tarwhine, sand whiting 27 cm on a bag of 20 shared across the whiting, silver trevally 30 cm on a bag of 10 shared across the trevallies, luderick 27 cm on a bag of 10 and tailor 30 cm on a bag of 10. A NSW Recreational Fishing Fee is also required, and the receipt has to be on you while you fish.