Lake Illawarra Entrance (Windang)

The Windang entrance is where Lake Illawarra empties into the sea, and the channel under Windang Bridge funnels every fish moving between the lake and the ocean. Since the entrance was permanently opened in July 2007 the tidal flow has been faster and the channel deeper, which means a constant push of clean water, bait and current past the bridge pylons, the rock training walls and the sand flats either side. Bream, dusky flathead, whiting and luderick are caught here year-round, and the channel turns up mulloway, salmon and tailor when they run the entrance. It is the most productive land-based stretch of the whole lake, which is also why it is the most fished — on a good run-out tide the rock training walls and the flats either side fill up fast. The Windang Bridge deck itself is off limits: Transport for NSW has signposted it no-fishing and police fine people for fishing from it, so the walls and the banks are where the fishing happens.

Locals fish the run-out hard — the draining tide pulls prawns and baitfish out of the lake and the predators stack up in the channel to meet them. Luderick anglers float green weed or cabbage down the line of the bridge pylons and the rock walls through the cooler months. Bream come on peeled prawn, mullet strip or small soft plastics worked tight to the pylons and the wall edges, best around dawn, dusk and the change of light. Flathead are drifted through the channel on soft plastics or fished on the sand flats east of the bridge with whole prawn and pilchard. Whiting fishers work the sand flats and channel edges with live nippers, beachworm or squirt worm on a light running rig, and the mulloway crew fishes the deeper holes after dark on live prawn, squid or a big soft plastic across the top of the tide.

Dusky flathead and yellowfin bream are the year-round mainstays, holding around the bridge pylons, the rock walls and through the channel — flathead inside a 36–70cm slot with a bag of 5, bream at 25cm with a bag of 10 shared with tarwhine. Sand whiting fire on the sand flats from late spring through summer, peaking November to April when the water warms, at 27cm with a bag of 20 across the whiting. Luderick run the channel and the pylon edges through the cooler months, roughly April to September, at 27cm with a bag of 10. Mulloway are an after-dark channel target year-round, most reliable around the bigger run-out tides, and they are the strictest rule here: 70cm minimum and a bag of just 1 per person, with a boat limit of 2 per boat per day when two or more people are aboard. Tailor push through the entrance chasing bait for most of the year and chop hardest from autumn into winter, at 30cm with a bag of 10, while Australian salmon are more an autumn and winter mover and carry no minimum size at all but a bag of only 5. Summer also brings the famous Lake Illawarra prawn run, scooped on the dark of the moon, which in turn switches the flathead and bream on.

The run-out is the tide that matters — get there for the top of the tide and fish it down. Green weed for luderick is the local edge; gather it fresh or buy it, and berley lightly to hold a school against the pylons. The summer prawn run is a genuine event here: scoop nets and lights come out on the dark of the moon, and a live lake prawn drifted through the channel is the best flathead and bream bait going. Know what the entrance closure bans before you carry gear down — inside the defined area from the entrance breakwaters upstream it is a dip or scoop net only, with hoop and lift nets, hand-hauled prawn nets, push and scissors nets, crab traps and lobster traps all prohibited all year, and spearfishing is banned there as well. The walls get crowded on a good tide and a weekend, so give luderick floats room to drift and don't crowd a hooked fish near the pylons — and stay off the bridge deck, which is signposted no-fishing.

There is parking and a one-lane concrete boat ramp right beside Windang Bridge at the Windang Boat Ramp, on the Windang side of the entrance and the northern side of the bridge, with shops and food a short walk away in Windang. Reddall Reserve sits just west of the bridge with sealed parking and picnic facilities, which makes it the easy family option. The foreshore paths and reserve lawns are flat and pram- and wheelchair-friendly, though the rock training walls themselves are uneven and not mobility-friendly. For kids, the reserve side away from the channel — flat grass, shallow edges and open lawn — is the sensible base, with the fast water under the bridge kept firmly off-limits.

Being an estuary entrance, it fishes in most weather — the rock walls and the bridge give some shelter, and a westerly or a moderate nor'-easter barely slows it down. The run-out tide is the prime window whatever the wind, with dawn, dusk and the change of light the best of it. After heavy rain the lake dumps dirty fresh water out the entrance and the bream and whiting back off until it clears, though a dirty run-out can switch the mulloway on. Big ocean swell and a strong onshore won't blow the channel out the way it would a beach, but it makes the entrance bar and the rock walls dangerous and pushes the whiting fishing onto the protected inner flats.

The current under Windang Bridge is genuinely strong and has only got faster since the entrance was permanently opened in 2007 — a draining tide rips through the channel, and this is not a place to wade, swim or paddle a kayak casually near the bridge. The rock training walls are uneven and oyster-encrusted, so wet rock plus barnacle and oyster cuts are the everyday risks; wear grippy footwear and watch your footing. Keep clear of the navigation channel and the boat ramp — there is steady boat traffic in and out of the lake, especially on weekends and through the prawn run. Bluebottles wash up on the adjacent Windang Beach on a nor'-easter, and the exposed flats offer no shade, so sun protection and water are sensible. This is calm estuary fishing, not a rock ledge, but the entrance current is the one thing here that will genuinely get you into trouble.

The run-out tide is the standout — the draining lake pulls prawns and baitfish through the channel and the flathead, bream and mulloway stack up to meet them. Aim to arrive around the top of the tide and fish it down, with dawn, dusk and the change of light the best windows. Note that most adult anglers need a paid NSW Recreational Fishing Fee receipt to fish anywhere in NSW, including from the rock walls and the flats here — limited exemptions apply, including under-18s and Pensioner Concession Card holders. Fishing from the Windang Bridge deck itself is signposted as prohibited, so it is not part of the plan.

Yes — the deeper holes in the channel near Windang Bridge turn up mulloway after dark, most reliably on the bigger run-out tides. Live prawn, squid or a large soft plastic fished across the top of the tide is the standard approach. Mulloway in NSW have a 70cm minimum length and a bag limit of 1 per person, with a boat limit of 2 per boat per day when two or more people are aboard, so it is one fish and one fish only from the wall.

The lake prawn run fires through summer, with the dark of the moon the prime time. Scoopers wade the shallows with a hand dip or scoop net, a bright light or headtorch and a bucket, and the main channel near the entrance is a classic spot. A dip or scoop net is not named in the entrance closure, so it is still allowed there, but hand-hauled, push and scissors prawn nets, hoop and lift nets, crab traps and lobster traps are all banned there all year, and so is spearfishing. Prawning counts as fishing in NSW, so the Recreational Fishing Fee applies.

The reserve side is fine for kids — Reddall Reserve just west of the bridge has flat grass, shallow edges, sealed parking and picnic facilities. The water directly under and beside Windang Bridge is not safe for kids in or near the water: the tidal current through the entrance is strong and fast, especially on the run-out, so keep children well back from the channel and the rock walls.

Dusky flathead in NSW have a 36–70cm slot — keep fish from 36cm up to 70cm and release anything over 70cm — with a daily bag limit of five. Yellowfin bream have a 25cm minimum and a daily bag of ten, shared across bream and tarwhine rather than ten of each. These are NSW-wide rules; confirm the current numbers with NSW DPIRD, and remember the Recreational Fishing Fee is required to fish in NSW.