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; fishing from the shore beyond either jetty is not permitted, and the map adds no fishing from the beach north of the Little Beach jetty. Rangers patrol it. Keep casts short, because the sanctuary zone begins about 35 metres off the end of the Little Beach jetty and right at the end of the wheelchair access jetty — from the wheelchair jetty, cast back along the beach side, never out past its end or to its south. 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)

Sun 25 Oct 2026 · Australia/Sydney

Forecast updated Sun 25 Oct, 11:07pm AEDT

Bite Alert

←

25 Oct

tap to pick date

→

Today Tomorrow Sat 31 Oct

📍 Little Beach (Nelson Bay)

full · 99%

Weather: Sunny Wind: NW 320° · 9 km/h Swell: 0.7 m @ 6 s NE Water: 18.9 °C Pressure: 1009.5 hPa ↓ falling Faces north · Offshore: SE, S, SW · Onshore: NW, N, NE · Forecast wind: onshore

★★★☆☆

Medium Fish Activity

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▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 5:30 am

Solunar Minor window

Time of day Dawn

Tide Moving

Wind NE 9 km/h

Moon full all day

Water temp 18.9 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Day Timeline

Major Minor Tide Twilight

First light 5:34 am Last light 7:36 pm

Low 1:41 am High 8:00 am Low 2:13 pm High 8:15 pm

Drag or use arrow keys to explore

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

5:00 am → 7:00 am

Good

6:30 pm → 9:00 pm

2h 30m

Good

11:30 am → 1:00 pm

1h 30m

Good

1:30 am → 2:30 am

First light

5:34 am

Last light

7:36 pm

Sunrise

6:00 am

Sunset

7:11 pm

Moonrise

6:18 pm

Moonset

4:56 am

Low tide

1:41 am

High tide

8:00 am

Low tide

2:13 pm

High tide

8:15 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

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20°

↗︎

29°

18 km/h

1am

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20°

↗︎

27°

18 km/h

2am

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20°

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27°

16 km/h

3am

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19°

↑︎

21°

14 km/h

4am

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19°

↑︎

11°

8 km/h

5am

☀️

19°

↗︎

35°

9 km/h

6am

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19°

↗︎

40°

11 km/h

7am

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20°

↗︎

33°

11 km/h

8am

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23°

↗︎

37°

5 km/h

9am

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25°

↗︎

27°

5 km/h

10am

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28°

↑︎

3°

7 km/h

11am

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30°

↑︎

353°

4 km/h

12pm

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31°

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8°

5 km/h

1pm

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31°

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13°

6 km/h

2pm

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28°

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52°

17 km/h

3pm

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25°

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55°

22 km/h

4pm

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28°

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25°

16 km/h

5pm

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28°

↗︎

32°

13 km/h

6pm

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27°

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38°

11 km/h

7pm

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23°

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4°

9 km/h

8pm

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23°

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19°

5 km/h

9pm

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22°

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31°

10 km/h

10pm

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22°

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25°

12 km/h

11pm

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21°

↖︎

320°

9 km/h

Hourly Swell

Steady ~0.7 m NE

12am

0.7 m

@ 6 s

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Slight

chop

1am

0.7 m

@ 5 s

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Slight

chop

2am

0.7 m

@ 5 s

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Slight

chop

3am

0.7 m

@ 5 s

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Slight

chop

4am

0.7 m

@ 5 s

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Slight

chop

5am

0.7 m

@ 5 s

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Slight

chop

6am

0.6 m

@ 5 s

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Slight

chop

7am

0.6 m

@ 5 s

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Slight

chop

8am

0.6 m

@ 5 s

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Slight

chop

9am

0.6 m

@ 5 s

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Slight

chop

10am

0.6 m

@ 5 s

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Slight

chop

11am

0.6 m

@ 5 s

↗︎

Slight

chop

12pm

0.6 m

@ 6 s

→︎

Slight

chop

1pm

0.5 m

@ 6 s

→︎

Slight

chop

2pm

0.5 m

@ 7 s

↘︎

Slight

chop

3pm

0.6 m

@ 6 s

→︎

Slight

chop

4pm

0.7 m

@ 6 s

→︎

Slight

chop

5pm

0.7 m

@ 5 s

↗︎

Slight

chop

6pm

0.7 m

@ 5 s

↗︎

Slight

chop

7pm

0.8 m

@ 5 s

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Slight

chop

8pm

0.8 m

@ 5 s

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Slight

chop

9pm

0.8 m

@ 5 s

↗︎

Slight

chop

10pm

0.7 m

@ 6 s

↗︎

Slight

chop

11pm

0.7 m

@ 6 s

↗︎

Slight

chop

Water Temp (°C)

↘ cooling — down 0.4° over the last 3 days

Thu

22 Oct

19.3°

Fri

23 Oct

18.8°

Sat

24 Oct

18.6°

Sun

25 Oct

18.9°

Mon

26 Oct

19.2°

Tue

27 Oct

19.2°

Wed

28 Oct

19.2°

Thu

29 Oct

19.5°

Fri

30 Oct

20.0°

Sat

31 Oct

20.0°

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 9 km/h NW (320°).

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

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

5:00 am → 7:00 am

Good

6:30 pm → 9:00 pm

2h 30m

Good

11:30 am → 1:00 pm

1h 30m

Good

1:30 am → 2:30 am

First light

5:34 am

Last light

7:36 pm

Sunrise

6:00 am

Sunset

7:11 pm

Moonrise

6:18 pm

Moonset

4:56 am

Low tide

1:41 am

High tide

8:00 am

Low tide

2:13 pm

High tide

8:15 pm

Nearby Spots

Species at This Spot

Keep Tabs on Little Beach (Nelson Bay)

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