Mrs Macquaries Point / Chair

Mrs Macquaries Point is the sandstone toe of The Domain, jutting into Farm Cove and Woolloomooloo Bay at the northeastern edge of the Royal Botanic Garden. The point drops into deeper harbour water than the sand-flat coves either side of it, so bait and current funnel past the rocks and the fish follow. It is one of the few genuinely deep-water land-based marks you can reach off a footpath in the middle of the city, which is why it gathers flathead and bream as the bread and butter, tailor on the run-in, and the occasional mulloway after dark or kingfish in summer. The Opera House and Harbour Bridge backdrop draws tourists by the busload, so the trick is fishing the edges they walk straight past.

Locals fish the deeper eastern and northern faces where the rock falls away quickly, working a moving tide rather than slack water. For the bread-and-butter session a paternoster rig with two hooks earns its keep — a half pilchard on one, a strip of mullet on the other — bounced down the rock face for bream, flathead, trevally and tarwhine. Tailor come past on the rising tide, so metal slices flicked across the run or a whole pilchard on ganged hooks under a ball sinker cover that. For tailor, salmon and kingfish a large bobby cork suspending a bait three to four metres down does the work, and the harbour kingfish answer is a live yellowtail or squid fished under a float. Early and late light, into the dark, is when the better fish move in close.

Dusky flathead and yellowfin bream are the year-round mainstays, with tarwhine and silver trevally mixed through the bread-and-butter sessions. Tailor school past on the rising tide through the warmer half of the year, roughly September to April, and are the most reliable sport target from the rocks. Luderick come on through the cooler months from autumn into spring for anglers floating weed under a stem float and trickling berley. Mulloway are the after-dark prize on whole baits or large soft plastics around the tide change, never a sure thing but genuinely on the cards. Yellowtail kingfish push into the harbour from late spring into autumn and will eat a live yellowtail or squid — most are rat-sized, but the point has given up better fish to anglers who put in the hours.

Berley quietly and steadily — weed and sand for the luderick, a chopped-pilchard trail for the bream and trevally — and concentrate the fish rather than chasing them. The point is shoulder-to-shoulder with sightseers in daylight, so the better fishing is dawn, dusk and into the dark when the crowds thin and the deeper fish move up. Catch a few yellowtail on a bait jig first and you have live bait for kingfish and mulloway without leaving the rock. The point is Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust land, and the Trust's own regulation allows fishing from the Domain only where the Trust permits it, so read the signs at the point before you set up. Keep gear tight and tidy on a busy footpath, and know the limits before you keep anything — dusky flathead sit in a 36–70cm slot with a bag of 5, mulloway need 70cm with a bag of one fish, and bream are 25cm with a bag of 10 shared with tarwhine. Bring your bait rather than gathering it, because the harbour foreshore is an Intertidal Protected Area and prising cunjevoi, oysters or nippers off the rock is prohibited. The point sits barely 800 metres east of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, on the gentler side of the dioxin line, where the advice is no more than about 150 grams of harbour fish a month — a few hundred metres west of here and it would be release-only.

Park on Mrs Macquaries Road, which runs right past the point — the meters run 24 hours at about $4.40 an hour from 8am to 8pm and $2.20 an hour overnight, with a four-hour limit on weekdays and six on weekends, and the Domain car park nearby as a paid alternative. The point sits in The Domain, which is open around the clock, so a night session is not gated out the way it would be in the Royal Botanic Garden next door, where the gates shut at 8pm. From the kerb it is a flat, sealed, stroller-and-wheelchair-friendly walk of a minute or two down to the seating around the point itself, though the actual fishing rocks below the path are uneven sandstone and a step down. There are public toilets and a cafe close by within The Domain, plus shade and benches, which is rare for a land-based mark. That mix of flat access, toilets and somewhere to sit makes it one of the more family-friendly harbour spots, provided you keep kids back from the edge.

Tucked inside the harbour, the point is sheltered from ocean swell and fishes in conditions that shut the open coast down completely, which is its biggest drawcard. A moving tide is what matters here far more than wind — the run-in for tailor and the change of tide for the bigger fish. A fresh westerly blows straight off the city and can make the eastern face uncomfortable, while a southerly buster brings wind chop and dirty water that slows the bite for a day or two afterwards. After heavy rain the harbour freshens and colours up; give it a couple of days to settle and the fishing returns.

This is sheltered inner-harbour sandstone rather than an exposed ocean ledge, so the risks are smaller than a true coastal rock platform — but the rock is still slippery when wet and the deeper water drops away fast right at the edge, so grippy footwear and a careful footing matter, especially in the dark. A lifejacket remains sensible on any wet rock over deep water, and the water right off this edge is deep. Oyster-crusted rock will open a hand, harbour boat and ferry traffic passes close by, bluebottles blow in on a nor-easter, and the unshaded point cooks in summer sun. Keep well clear of the edge with children and watch your gear among the constant foot traffic.

Dusky flathead and yellowfin bream year-round, with tarwhine, silver trevally, tailor on the rising tide in the warmer months, luderick through the cooler months, and the occasional mulloway after dark or yellowtail kingfish in summer. It is a deep-water harbour mark on sandstone, so a moving tide and low light fish best. You need to pay the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee before fishing unless you are exempt — see below.

Land-based fishing from the rocks around the point is a long-standing thing to do here, and the point sits in The Domain at the northeastern edge of the Garden. The Trust's regulation expressly contemplates fishing from the Domain into Sydney Harbour, but only where the Trust permits it, so read the signage at the point rather than assuming. Park on Mrs Macquaries Road, which runs past the point, and you will find toilets, a cafe and shade nearby. Keep clear of swimmers and pedestrians, and remember the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee is required to fish anywhere in NSW.

There is no separate licence, but the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee applies to anyone 18 or over fishing in NSW waters, fresh or salt, and you must carry the receipt. It is $7 for three days, $14 for a month, $35 for a year or $85 for three years, bought online through Service NSW. Some exemptions apply, including under-18s, Pensioner Concession Card holders and Aboriginal fishers — a Seniors Card or Health Care Card does not count.

Dusky flathead must be within a 36–70cm slot — anything under 36cm or over 70cm has to go back — with a bag limit of 5 and 10 in possession. Mulloway need to be at least 70cm with a bag limit of one fish per person, plus a boat limit of two per boat per day when two or more people are aboard. Yellowfin bream are 25cm minimum with a bag of 10 shared with tarwhine, and tarwhine themselves only need to be 20cm. These are NSW DPIRD rules and can change, so check the current saltwater bag and size limits before you keep a fish.

Fish a moving tide rather than the slack, and favour dawn, dusk and into the dark when the sightseeing crowds thin out and the better fish move close to the rocks. Tailor come on the rising tide, kingfish and mulloway respond around the change of tide, and luderick prefer a run-out in the cooler months. The point is sheltered from ocean swell, so it stays fishable when the open coast is blown out.