Can you fish from the rock platform at Long Reef Aquatic Reserve?

Yes. Long Reef is an aquatic reserve, but fishing for finfish is allowed by hand-held line, subject to normal NSW size and bag limits, and spearguns are permitted off the rock — NSW closes every ocean beach to spearfishing apart from a 20-metre strip at each end, so the beach frontage is out. The reserve runs from the Collaroy rock baths south to the Long Reef surf club and 100 metres out from the low-water mark, and inside it you cannot take or collect any invertebrate, weed or other marine life — no cunjevoi, no worms, no squid or cuttlefish, dead or alive — so bring every bait with you. A NSW Recreational Fishing Fee is required to fish anywhere in NSW and the receipt has to be on you.

Do you have to wear a lifejacket rock fishing at Long Reef?

Yes. The Northern Beaches is a declared area under the NSW Rock Fishing Safety Act 2016, and the law requires an appropriate lifejacket when you fish with rod, line or handline from naturally occurring rock exposed to ocean swell. Going without can earn a $100 on-the-spot fine. The rule applies to anyone helping you and to any child under 12 in your care — adults need Australian Standard AS 4758 level 50S or greater, under-12s level 100 or greater. The outer Long Reef ledges face the swell head-on, so a lifejacket is genuine safety gear, not just paperwork.

What can you catch off Long Reef?

Yellowtail kingfish off the outer ledges from late spring to autumn, snapper year-round on fresh bait and berley, tailor and Australian salmon in the wash, plus luderick, rock blackfish, silver trevally and leatherjackets off the reef. Eastern blue groper turns up too, but it is a no-take species everywhere in NSW and line fishing for it is prohibited until 1 March 2028, so it goes back in the water.

Where do you park to fish Long Reef?

Turn off Pittwater Road onto Anzac Avenue in Collaroy and follow it past the Long Reef Golf Club. There's free street parking plus a paid road running past Fishermans Beach toward the headland, with toilets and showers at the beach. From the car park you walk along the beach and around to the platform.

When is the best time to fish Long Reef?

Dawn or dusk on a rising tide with a small, clean swell under about 1.5 metres. Summer through autumn is the kingfish window; winter swings toward salmon, snapper and luderick. The spot blows out when the swell builds past roughly 1.5m onto the exposed outer ledges.

Bite Compass

Bite Forecast

Long Reef Rock Platform

Wed 16 Sep 2026 · Australia/Sydney

Save

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16 Sep

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Today Tomorrow Sat 19 Sep

📍 Long Reef Rock Platform

waxing crescent · 19%

Weather: Sunny Wind: S 191° · 28 km/h Swell: 1.2 m @ 9 s S Water: 18.2 °C Pressure: 1027.4 hPa → steady

★★☆☆☆

Low Fish Activity

▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 6:00 pm

Solunar Between windows

Time of day Dusk

Tide Moving

Wind S 29 km/h

Moon waxing crescent all day

Water temp 18.2 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Day timeline

Major Minor Tide Twilight

First light 5:28 am Last light 6:11 pm

Low 4:12 am High 10:50 am Low 5:23 pm High 11:06 pm

Drag or use arrow keys to explore

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

5:30 pm → 7:00 pm

1h 30m

Good

4:30 am → 6:30 am

First light

5:28 am

Last light

6:11 pm

Sunrise

5:53 am

Sunset

5:46 pm

Moonrise

8:18 am

Moonset

11:01 pm

Low tide

4:12 am

High tide

10:50 am

Low tide

5:23 pm

High tide

11:06 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

☀️

13°

↓︎

193°

20 km/h

1am

☀️

12°

↙︎

206°

19 km/h

2am

☀️

12°

↙︎

218°

16 km/h

3am

☁️

12°

↙︎

226°

14 km/h

4am

☀️

11°

↙︎

238°

14 km/h

5am

☀️

11°

↙︎

219°

19 km/h

6am

☀️

10°

↙︎

225°

20 km/h

7am

☀️

11°

↙︎

230°

19 km/h

8am

☀️

12°

↙︎

233°

19 km/h

9am

☀️

13°

↙︎

209°

22 km/h

10am

☀️

14°

↓︎

198°

25 km/h

11am

☀️

15°

↓︎

195°

26 km/h

12pm

☀️

15°

↓︎

191°

28 km/h

1pm

☀️

15°

↓︎

191°

30 km/h

2pm

☀️

15°

↓︎

189°

31 km/h

3pm

☀️

15°

↓︎

191°

32 km/h

4pm

☀️

15°

↓︎

191°

31 km/h

5pm

☀️

15°

↓︎

191°

30 km/h

6pm

☀️

15°

↓︎

191°

29 km/h

7pm

☀️

15°

↓︎

191°

27 km/h

8pm

☀️

14°

↓︎

189°

27 km/h

9pm

☀️

14°

↓︎

188°

27 km/h

10pm

☀️

14°

↓︎

188°

26 km/h

11pm

☀️

13°

↓︎

192°

26 km/h

Hourly Swell

Building 0.8 → 1.4 m S

12am

0.8 m

@ 7 s

↘︎

Slight

chop

1am

1.0 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Slight

chop

2am

1.0 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

3am

1.0 m

@ 6 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

4am

1.0 m

@ 6 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

5am

1.1 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

6am

1.2 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

7am

1.3 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

8am

1.3 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

9am

1.4 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

10am

1.4 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

11am

1.3 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

12pm

1.2 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

1pm

1.1 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

2pm

1.1 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

3pm

1.1 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

4pm

1.1 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

5pm

1.1 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

6pm

1.2 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

7pm

1.3 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

8pm

1.3 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

9pm

1.3 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

10pm

1.3 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

11pm

1.4 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

Water Temp (°C)

→ steady around 18.2°

Sun

13 Sep

18.2°

Mon

14 Sep

18.3°

Tue

15 Sep

18.4°

Wed

16 Sep

18.2°

Thu

17 Sep

17.8°

Fri

18 Sep

17.9°

Sat

19 Sep

18.0°

Sun

20 Sep

18.2°

Mon

21 Sep

18.2°

Tue

22 Sep

18.4°

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 28 km/h S (191°).

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

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

5:30 pm → 7:00 pm

1h 30m

Good

4:30 am → 6:30 am

First light

5:28 am

Last light

6:11 pm

Sunrise

5:53 am

Sunset

5:46 pm

Moonrise

8:18 am

Moonset

11:01 pm

Low tide

4:12 am

High tide

10:50 am

Low tide

5:23 pm

High tide

11:06 pm

Nearby spots

Species at this spot

Yellowtail Kingfish
Snapper
Tailor
Australian Salmon
Rock Blackfish
Silver Trevally
Luderick
Leatherjacket