Moruya River South Breakwall (Shelly Beach)

The Moruya River reaches the sea between two rock training walls at Moruya Heads, and the southern one ends on the sand of Shelly Beach, a short walk from the car park on Elizabeth Street. It is the inside wall — the long northern wall takes the swell — so it fishes the river channel just above the bar in water that stays fishable when the open rocks do not. Locals just call it Shelly Beach, after the beach at its root. Bream, flathead, whiting, trevally and luderick come up the channel on every tide, salmon and tailor chase bait through the mouth, and legal kingfish come off the wall to live bait in summer. The mouth sits in the general use zone of Batemans Marine Park, so standard NSW rules apply.

Walk out from the Shelly Beach end and fish the channel side of the wall, where the river runs deepest. Bream, trevally and flathead respond to soft plastics bounced along the rocks and the drop-off, or a lightly weighted prawn or nipper drifted down the current. Whiting work the sand at the beach end on the flood, best on live nippers or worms. On the run-out, salmon and tailor push bait through the mouth and a metal slice or a ganged pilchard cast across the current gets them, while the local kingfish trick is a live bait under a balloon drifted out on the falling tide. Luderick want green weed under a float tight to the rocks through the cooler months.

Yellowfin bream are year-round at 25 cm with a bag of 10 shared with tarwhine, and dusky flathead must be 36–70 cm with a bag of 5 — release the big females over 70 cm. Sand whiting are 27 cm on a bag of 20 shared across the whiting, luderick 27 cm with a bag of 10, and silver trevally 30 cm on a bag of 10 across all trevallies. Australian salmon have no minimum size in NSW and a bag of 5, tailor are 30 cm with a bag of 10, and a kingfish has to reach 65 cm to keep, with a bag of 5.

The first two hours of the run-out are the session to plan around — it lines bait up along the wall and through the mouth. Pump your own nippers on the sand flats along North Head Drive at Garlandtown at low tide, the best whiting and bream bait here. Fish the wall's channel side rather than the beach behind it, which shallows quickly. Bream are wary in this clear water, so drop to a 6–8lb leader once the fish get fussy. If the salmon are busting up out of range, the gutters along Moruya Heads and Bengello beaches are the next move, but Bengello Creek mouth is a sanctuary zone, so stay well clear of it.

Park in the car park off Elizabeth Street at Moruya Heads, near the Shelly Beach toilets, and walk a few hundred metres down the beach to the end of the wall. The wall is rough armour rock with no formed path, so stick to the first stretch from the sand unless you are steady on boulders. Shelly Beach itself is calm sand with toilets nearby and an easy place for kids to fish for whiting while adults work the wall. The boat ramps and the town of Moruya are a few minutes upstream.

The northern wall and the bar take most of the swell, so the south wall stays fishable in seas that close the open rocks, though a big south-easterly still pushes surge up the channel. North-easterly sea breezes blow up the river in summer afternoons, which makes dawn and evening the comfortable windows. Run-out tide is the trigger for salmon, tailor and kingfish, while bream and whiting fish better on the flood over the sand. Heavy rain turns the river brown for days and pushes flathead and bait down to the mouth.

The wall is uneven boulders with gaps and weed near the waterline, and there are no rails, so wear closed shoes and carry a headlamp if you stay past dark. The channel runs hard on the tide and the Moruya bar is dangerous on the run-out, so do not wade the end of the wall or let kids play at the mouth on a falling tide. Boats cross the bar and run the channel close to the wall, so watch your casts. Summer brings crowds on Shelly Beach — cast away from swimmers.

Most land-based anglers use the southern wall, walking out from Shelly Beach off Elizabeth Street at Moruya Heads. It fishes the river channel just inside the bar for bream, flathead, whiting, trevally, salmon and tailor, with the odd legal kingfish to live bait in summer.

Yes, it is part of Batemans Marine Park, but the river mouth and walls sit in a general use zone where line fishing is allowed under normal NSW bag and size limits. Bengello Creek to the north and Malabar Creek upstream are sanctuary zones where all fishing is banned.

The run-out is the standout for salmon, tailor and kingfish, when bait is flushed through the mouth past the walls. Bream and whiting often fish better on the flood over the sand at the Shelly Beach end. Avoid wading near the mouth on a falling tide — the bar is dangerous.

Eurobodalla is not one of the ten council areas declared under the NSW rock fishing lifejacket law, but a lifejacket is strongly recommended on the wall, which sits beside fast water and a river bar.