Can you fish off the wharf at Lemon Tree Passage?

Yes. The public wharf at Henderson Park on Cook Parade is a popular family fishing spot, with bream and luderick around the pylons and flathead, whiting and the odd mulloway in the channel. Fish the outer face into the passage, not into the netted tidal baths, and keep clear of the boat ramp pontoons when boats are launching. A NSW Recreational Fishing Fee is required to fish anywhere in NSW.

Is it safe to eat fish caught at Lemon Tree Passage?

Tilligerry Creek, which drains through the passage, is covered by the NSW Government's Williamtown PFAS dietary advice, which limits servings rather than banning fishing. Adults are advised to eat no more than one 150 g serve a week of dusky flathead, luderick or mulloway, and up to eight serves of yellowfin bream or sand whiting, while blue swimmer crab is limited to half a serve a week; children aged two to six have lower limits, and each limit assumes only that one species is eaten that week. Eating fish from outside the advice area, such as the open port, helps spread the exposure.

Is Lemon Tree Passage in a marine park sanctuary zone?

No. The wharf water is a special purpose zone of the Port Stephens–Great Lakes Marine Park, where the adjoining general use zone rules apply and line fishing is allowed. The Mallabula Sanctuary Zone begins about 1.3 km north-west along the shore, the Cromartys Bay Sanctuary Zone about 1.8 km north-east, and the Wallis and Fenninghams Island Creeks Sanctuary Zone about 1.8 km south-east up Tilligerry Creek, and all three are closed to all fishing, so check the zoning map or the FishSmart NSW app before moving.

What is the best bait for bream at Lemon Tree Passage?

Peeled prawn, a strip of mullet or nippers fished lightly weighted beside the wharf pylons account for most of the bream. Bream are 25 cm minimum with a bag of 10 shared with tarwhine. A moving tide in low light is the best window.

Bite Compass

Bite Forecast

Lemon Tree Passage Public Wharf (Henderson Park)

Sun 01 Nov 2026 · Australia/Sydney

Forecast updated 7:02pm AEDT

Bite Alert

←

1 Nov

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Today Tomorrow Sat 31 Oct

📍 Lemon Tree Passage Public Wharf (Henderson Park)

last quarter · 66%

Weather: Sunny Wind: E 82° · 17 km/h Swell: 0.5 m @ 10 s S Water: 19.8 °C Pressure: 1015.5 hPa → steady Faces north · Offshore: SE, S, SW · Onshore: NW, N, NE · Forecast wind: cross-shore

★★★★☆

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 Moving

Wind N 10 km/h

Moon last quarter all day

Water temp 19.8 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Day Timeline

Major Minor Tide Twilight

First light 5:27 am Last light 7:43 pm

High 1:53 am Low 7:18 am High 1:55 pm Low 9:11 pm

Drag or use arrow keys to explore

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

4:30 am → 8:00 am

3h 30m

Good

5:30 pm → 8:30 pm

Good

12:30 am → 2:30 am

Good

11:00 am → 11:30 am

30m

First light

5:27 am

Last light

7:43 pm

Sunrise

5:53 am

Sunset

7:17 pm

Moonrise

12:58 am

Moonset

11:05 am

High tide

1:53 am

Low tide

7:18 am

High tide

1:55 pm

Low tide

9:11 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

☀️

19°

↑︎

17°

13 km/h

1am

☀️

18°

↑︎

12°

12 km/h

2am

☀️

18°

↑︎

4°

12 km/h

3am

☀️

17°

↑︎

358°

11 km/h

4am

☀️

17°

↑︎

354°

11 km/h

5am

☀️

17°

↑︎

356°

10 km/h

6am

☀️

18°

↑︎

6°

8 km/h

7am

☀️

19°

↗︎

28°

8 km/h

8am

☀️

20°

↗︎

57°

8 km/h

9am

☀️

21°

→︎

76°

11 km/h

10am

☀️

22°

→︎

85°

13 km/h

11am

☀️

23°

→︎

86°

16 km/h

12pm

☀️

23°

→︎

82°

17 km/h

1pm

☀️

23°

→︎

75°

19 km/h

2pm

☁️

23°

→︎

68°

22 km/h

3pm

☁️

23°

↗︎

61°

24 km/h

4pm

☁️

23°

↗︎

56°

25 km/h

5pm

☁️

23°

↗︎

52°

26 km/h

6pm

🌧️

23°

↗︎

50°

26 km/h

7pm

🌧️

23°

↗︎

47°

24 km/h

8pm

🌧️

22°

↗︎

43°

22 km/h

9pm

🌧️

22°

↗︎

40°

20 km/h

10pm

🌧️

21°

↗︎

35°

17 km/h

11pm

🌧️

21°

↗︎

30°

16 km/h

Hourly Swell

Steady ~0.6 m S

12am

0.7 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Slight

1am

0.7 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Slight

2am

0.6 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Slight

3am

0.6 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Slight

4am

0.6 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Slight

5am

0.6 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Slight

6am

0.6 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Slight

7am

0.5 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Slight

8am

0.5 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Slight

9am

0.5 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Slight

10am

0.5 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Slight

11am

0.6 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Slight

12pm

0.5 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Slight

1pm

0.5 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Slight

2pm

0.5 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Slight

3pm

0.5 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Slight

4pm

0.5 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Slight

5pm

0.5 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Slight

6pm

0.5 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Slight

7pm

0.5 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Calm

8pm

0.5 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Calm

9pm

0.5 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Slight

10pm

0.6 m

@ 7 s

↘︎

Slight

chop

11pm

0.6 m

@ 7 s

↘︎

Slight

chop

Water Temp (°C)

↗ warming — up 0.4° over the last 3 days

Thu

29 Oct

19.4°

Fri

30 Oct

19.5°

Sat

31 Oct

19.6°

Sun

1 Nov

19.8°

Mon

2 Nov

19.8°

Tue

3 Nov

—

Wed

4 Nov

—

Thu

5 Nov

—

Fri

6 Nov

—

Sat

7 Nov

—

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 17 km/h E (82°).

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

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

4:30 am → 8:00 am

3h 30m

Good

5:30 pm → 8:30 pm

Good

12:30 am → 2:30 am

Good

11:00 am → 11:30 am

30m

First light

5:27 am

Last light

7:43 pm

Sunrise

5:53 am

Sunset

7:17 pm

Moonrise

12:58 am

Moonset

11:05 am

High tide

1:53 am

Low tide

7:18 am

High tide

1:55 pm

Low tide

9:11 pm

Nearby Spots

Species at This Spot

Keep Tabs on Lemon Tree Passage Public Wharf (Henderson Park)

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