Marks Point (The Drop Over)

Marks Point sits on the eastern foreshore of Lake Macquarie where the shallow sand flats and weed beds drop away into the deeper Swansea Channel — the edge locals call The Drop Over. It is that drop-off that earns the spot its name and its reputation, because flathead, bream and whiting stack along the change from sand to channel while jewfish hold in the deeper holes. The water here runs cleaner and calmer than the channel proper, and the same tide that feeds Swansea sweeps bait across the flats twice a day. From the foreshore you fish the flats and the inside of the edge; the true deep lip of the drop is mostly a boat or kayak prospect. It is unglamorous, productive estuary water, and the fish know it before the anglers do.

Locals work the run-out tide hardest, when water draining off the flats pulls baitfish and prawns toward the deeper edge and the predators line up to meet them. Soft plastics are the day-in workhorse — fan-cast across the sand-to-weed transition and hop them back down the slope where flathead ambush. Dawn and the last hour of light are the prime bites, with bream and whiting taking baits and small plastics on the flats and jewfish coming on after dark in the deeper holes near the channel. Wade out a few metres on the flats at low water to reach the edge, or fish the moored-boat fringe further north where bream and luderick shelter under the craft. Berley helps for bream and luderick; a slow, patient retrieve helps for everything.

Dusky flathead are the headline and they are caught year-round, with the best run of bigger fish through the warmer months from spring into autumn. Yellowfin bream are reliable all year and respond to berley and lightly weighted baits around the moorings and weed edges. Sand whiting fire up over the flats through the warmer half of the year, roughly October to April, and take poppers and live nippers. Mulloway — jewfish — move into the deeper channel holes off Marks Point and Coon Island through the cooler months, biting best at night in winter. Tailor and yellowtail kingfish push through with bait, tailor most often in autumn and kingfish through summer, while luderick come onto the weed and mooring lines from autumn into spring.

Fish the tide, not the clock — a run-out around dawn or dusk beats a slack high any day. Whiting and bream feel the sun, so a quiet approach and long casts on the flats pay off as the water clears. Bait-collection restrictions apply right across Lake Macquarie and its tributaries: the closure names a spade or fork and bans traps other than a bait trap, so a nipper pump is still legal here but digging with a spade or fork is not — read the DPIRD Lake Macquarie closure before you collect your own, and bought bait and berley are the easy answer. A bait trap stays legal, but only with the standard tag above water level carrying BT, your initial and surname, year of birth and postcode. Prawn nets are closed below a line drawn from Marks Point to Coon Island, which starts right here. Prawns run on the dark of the moon over summer, and where the prawns go the flathead and bream follow, so time a session around a new-moon run-out. Mulloway are 70 cm minimum with a bag of one per person, and a boat limit of two per boat per day when two or more people are aboard. Keep clear of the moored boats and the launching lanes — this is shared water and Naru Beach gets busy. Measure your flathead: NSW runs a 36–70cm slot, so the better breeding fish over 70cm go back.

The foreshore is reached via the Naru Beach reserve at the end of Marks Point, down roughly a kilometre of bumpy dirt road through the trees — narrow, with oncoming traffic, and the small car park fills fast on warm days, so you may park a few hundred metres back. Council has flagged increased truck movements along Docker Street, Ashley Street and Marks Point Road for a dune management project, so take extra care on the way in. There are no toilets or water on site, and the nearest public toilets are back in Marks Point. The walk to the water is short and flat once you park, though the shelly sand is rough underfoot. It is genuinely kid-friendly on the shallow northern side for a paddle and a flick, but the current strengthens toward the deeper edge and the bottom is shelly, so keep small children close and shod.

Being tucked inside Lake Macquarie, this foreshore is protected from ocean swell and fishes in conditions that blow out the breakwalls and headlands. A westerly off the land flattens the flats and is ideal; a fresh north-easterly through summer afternoons chops up the surface and pushes boat wash onto the western side. Tide is the real driver — the run-out moves bait over the edge and switches the fish on, while a dead slack tide tends to go quiet. Heavy rain dirties the lake and slows the bite for a few days but can fire up the jewfish once it settles. Early morning before the boats and jet skis arrive is consistently the cleanest, calmest water.

This is calm estuary fishing, so the risks are the small ones — but they bite. The sand is heavily shelled and there are oyster-encrusted edges, so wear shoes and watch bare feet, especially with kids. Blue-ringed octopus turn up in Lake Macquarie's shallows, so do not handle shells, rock pools or anything tucked under a ledge. The current strengthens noticeably as the bottom drops away toward the channel, so do not let children wade past the shallows and be wary wading the edge yourself on a strong run-out. Boat and jet-ski traffic is heavy near the reserve and the channel, so keep casts and kids clear of the lanes. Standard estuary cautions apply — bluebottles after onshore winds, strong summer sun and the dirt access road after rain.

You can fish it from the shore. The Marks Point foreshore and Naru Beach reserve give land-based access to the sand flats and the inside of the drop-off, which produce flathead, bream and whiting. The true deep lip of The Drop Over — the channel edge proper — is best reached by boat or kayak, but plenty of fish are caught wading and casting from the bank, especially on a run-out tide around dawn. A NSW Recreational Fishing Fee is required to fish anywhere in NSW, shore or boat.

NSW runs a slot limit for dusky flathead of 36cm minimum to 70cm maximum, with a daily bag limit of 5. Any fish under 36cm or over 70cm must be released, so the big breeding females go back. The slot and bag limits apply right across Lake Macquarie and the rest of the state. A NSW Recreational Fishing Fee is required to fish in NSW.

The run-out tide around dawn or dusk is the standout, when water draining off the flats pulls bait toward the deeper edge and the flathead, bream and whiting feed hard. The warmer months from spring into autumn are best for flathead and whiting, while winter nights are the time for jewfish in the deeper channel holes. Get there early to beat the boat and jet-ski traffic, which builds through the day in summer.

There is a small car park at the Naru Beach reserve, reached by about a kilometre of bumpy dirt road, and council lists parking as the facility there. There are no toilets or water on site — the nearest public toilets are back in Marks Point. The car park fills quickly on warm days, so you may need to park a few hundred metres back along the road, and council has flagged extra truck movements on the access streets for a dune management project.

Dusky flathead, yellowfin bream and sand whiting are the bread and butter, with mulloway (jewfish) in the deeper channel holes through the cooler months, mostly at night — 70cm minimum, bag of 1 per person. Tailor and yellowtail kingfish push through with bait, tailor often in autumn and kingfish in summer, and luderick come onto the weed and moorings from autumn into spring. Bait-collection restrictions apply lake-wide — a nipper pump is fine, a spade or fork is not, so read the DPIRD Lake Macquarie closure before you collect your own. A NSW Recreational Fishing Fee is required to fish in NSW.