Can you fish at Little Beach Nelson Bay or is it a marine park no-take zone?

You can, but only in a small permitted area. Little Beach sits in the Little Beach habitat protection zone of the Port Stephens–Great Lakes Marine Park, on the edge of the Fly Point sanctuary zone where no fishing is allowed at all. Land-based line fishing is permitted from the two Little Beach jetties — the Little Beach jetty and the wheelchair access jetty — and the beach between them, which takes in the boat ramp; past the end of either jetty it is not permitted, and the map adds no fishing from the beach north of the Little Beach jetty. Rangers patrol it. There is no collecting and no berleying in the zone, and no fishing from a boat. You also need to have paid the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee unless you hold an exemption — under-18s, Aboriginal people and holders of an eligible Centrelink or Veterans' Affairs Pensioner Concession Card among them.

What fish can you catch from the Little Beach jetty?

Dusky flathead, yellowfin bream, sand whiting, silver trevally and the occasional tailor are the regulars, with luderick through the cooler months and southern calamari off the jetty decks at dusk. The longer wharf reaches enough depth to throw up most bay species, including the odd snapper. Soft plastics and live bait suit the flathead, while baits and small plastics fished tight to the pylons take the bream and trevally. Keep it all inside the permitted strip between the two jetties.

Is Little Beach Nelson Bay good for kids and beginners?

Yes — it is one of the most family-friendly fishing spots in Port Stephens. The water is calm, shallow and clear with fish visible under the jetty, and there is a playground, an accessible toilet block, free parking and a wheelchair ramp to the wharf. The short, flat walk and sheltered water make it a sensible place to start someone off. Just remember the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee applies unless you hold an exemption — under-18s, Aboriginal people, Pensioner Concession Card holders and an adult helping a child fish on a single rod among them.

What size flathead can you keep at Little Beach?

Dusky flathead in NSW have a slot limit of 36cm to 70cm — you must release anything under 36cm and anything over 70cm, with a bag limit of 5. The big females over 70cm are the breeders, so they go back. Bream have a 25cm minimum and a combined bag of 10 across bream and tarwhine, and sand whiting a 27cm minimum inside a combined bag of 20 across the whiting species. Always check the current NSW DPIRD rules before a trip, as limits can change.

When is the best time to fish Little Beach?

The run-out tide into dusk is the most reliable window across the year. Spring and summer are best for flathead, bream and whiting in the warming shallows, autumn brings the second squid run, and the cooler months from autumn to early spring are luderick time. Little Beach also fishes through southerly weather that shuts the local breakwalls down — strong northerlies, which blow straight onto the foreshore, are the main spoiler.

Bite Compass

Bite Forecast

Little Beach (Nelson Bay)

Mon 21 Sep 2026 · Australia/Sydney

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21 Sep

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Today Tomorrow Sat 19 Sep

📍 Little Beach (Nelson Bay)

waxing gibbous · 69%

Weather: Rainy Wind: SE 150° · 17 km/h Swell: 0.3 m @ 8 s S Water: 19.4 °C Pressure: 1023.1 hPa → steady

★★★☆☆

Medium Fish Activity

▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 5:30 am

Solunar Between windows

Time of day Dawn

Tide Moving

Wind W 13 km/h

Moon waxing gibbous all day

Water temp 19.4 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Day timeline

Major Minor Tide Twilight

First light 5:18 am Last light 6:11 pm

High 3:47 am Low 9:04 am High 3:48 pm Low 10:45 pm

Drag or use arrow keys to explore

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

4:00 am → 7:00 am

Good

4:00 pm → 9:00 pm

Good

12:00 pm → 1:00 pm

Good

9:00 am → 10:00 am

First light

5:18 am

Last light

6:11 pm

Sunrise

5:42 am

Sunset

5:46 pm

Moonrise

12:24 pm

Moonset

2:21 am

High tide

3:47 am

Low tide

9:04 am

High tide

3:48 pm

Low tide

10:45 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

☀️

16°

↖︎

300°

12 km/h

1am

☀️

16°

←︎

289°

13 km/h

2am

☀️

16°

←︎

279°

15 km/h

3am

☀️

17°

←︎

270°

15 km/h

4am

☀️

17°

←︎

262°

15 km/h

5am

🌧️

17°

←︎

252°

13 km/h

6am

🌧️

18°

↙︎

234°

12 km/h

7am

🌧️

19°

↙︎

208°

11 km/h

8am

🌧️

20°

↓︎

183°

12 km/h

9am

🌧️

20°

↓︎

167°

14 km/h

10am

🌧️

21°

↓︎

158°

16 km/h

11am

🌧️

21°

↘︎

153°

17 km/h

12pm

🌧️

21°

↘︎

150°

17 km/h

1pm

🌧️

20°

↘︎

148°

16 km/h

2pm

🌧️

20°

↘︎

145°

15 km/h

3pm

🌧️

19°

↘︎

141°

14 km/h

4pm

🌧️

19°

↘︎

135°

13 km/h

5pm

☁️

19°

↘︎

127°

11 km/h

6pm

☁️

18°

↘︎

113°

10 km/h

7pm

☁️

18°

→︎

94°

9 km/h

8pm

☀️

18°

→︎

76°

10 km/h

9pm

☀️

18°

↗︎

61°

10 km/h

10pm

☀️

17°

↗︎

52°

11 km/h

11pm

☀️

17°

↗︎

46°

11 km/h

Hourly Swell

Building 0.4 → 1.1 m S

12am

0.4 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Calm

1am

0.4 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Calm

2am

0.3 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Calm

3am

0.3 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Calm

4am

0.3 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Calm

5am

0.3 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Calm

ground

6am

0.3 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Calm

ground

7am

0.3 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Calm

ground

8am

0.3 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Calm

ground

9am

0.3 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Calm

ground

10am

0.3 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Calm

11am

0.3 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Calm

12pm

0.3 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Calm

1pm

0.4 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Calm

chop

2pm

0.6 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Slight

chop

3pm

0.9 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Slight

chop

4pm

1.1 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

5pm

1.2 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

6pm

1.3 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

7pm

1.3 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

8pm

1.3 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

9pm

1.2 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

10pm

1.2 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

11pm

1.1 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

Water Temp (°C)

↗ warming — up 0.8° over the last 3 days

Fri

18 Sep

18.6°

Sat

19 Sep

18.8°

Sun

20 Sep

19.1°

Mon

21 Sep

19.4°

Tue

22 Sep

19.7°

Wed

23 Sep

20.0°

Thu

24 Sep

—

Fri

25 Sep

—

Sat

26 Sep

—

Sun

27 Sep

—

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 17 km/h SE (150°).

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

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

4:00 am → 7:00 am

Good

4:00 pm → 9:00 pm

Good

12:00 pm → 1:00 pm

Good

9:00 am → 10:00 am

First light

5:18 am

Last light

6:11 pm

Sunrise

5:42 am

Sunset

5:46 pm

Moonrise

12:24 pm

Moonset

2:21 am

High tide

3:47 am

Low tide

9:04 am

High tide

3:48 pm

Low tide

10:45 pm

Nearby spots

Species at this spot

Dusky Flathead
Yellowfin Bream
Sand Whiting
Southern Calamari (Squid)
Luderick
Tailor
Snapper
Silver Trevally