What fish can you catch at Palm Beach wharf in Pittwater?

Mostly bread-and-butter estuary fish: yellowfin bream and dusky flathead year-round, southern calamari over the nearby weed beds, and sand whiting on the summer flats. The deeper channel out front pushes through tailor, in schools to around 45cm, plus bonito, the odd kingfish underneath them, and a chance mulloway after dark. A NSW recreational fishing fee is required to fish anywhere in NSW, including here.

Is Palm Beach wharf good for fishing with kids?

Yes. The wharf is flat and railed, parking and toilets are metres away at Pittwater Park, and there's a playground and picnic area on hand. Bream and small flathead keep rods bending, and squid jigging over the weed is a good way to keep kids interested. Just mind the gap at the deck edge and keep clear when a ferry is loading.

What's the best bait for bream and flathead at Palm Beach?

For bream, fresh prawns, mullet gut and pilchard work well, and they fire after rain washes food through the system. For flathead, fish pilchard or squid baits and 3–5in soft plastic paddletails on the run-out tide along the weed edges. Light fluorocarbon leader of 6–12lb helps in the clear estuary water.

Do you need a fishing licence to fish at Palm Beach wharf?

You need to pay the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, which covers you to fish anywhere in NSW including estuary wharves like this one. There's no separate licence — carry proof of payment while you fish. Check the bag and size limits before keeping anything: dusky flathead sit in a 36–70cm slot with a bag of 5, and a mulloway has to be 70cm, with a bag of one per person and two per boat when two or more people are aboard.

When is the best time to fish Palm Beach wharf?

Early morning and the hour after sunset are best — quieter foot and ferry traffic and a better bite. Work the run-out tide for flathead off the weed and the rising tide for squid and whiting when the water is cleaner. Autumn into winter is when tailor show in the channel, and December into April is the bonito window.

Bite Compass

Bite Forecast

Palm Beach Wharf (Pittwater)

Thu 17 Sep 2026 · Australia/Sydney

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17 Sep

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Today Tomorrow Sat 19 Sep

📍 Palm Beach Wharf (Pittwater)

waxing crescent · 28%

Weather: Cloudy Wind: S 188° · 27 km/h Swell: 1.4 m @ 8 s SE Water: 18.0 °C Pressure: 1031.5 hPa → steady

★★★☆☆

Medium Fish Activity

▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 6:00 pm

Solunar Between windows

Time of day Dusk

Tide Turning

Wind S 17 km/h

Moon waxing crescent all day

Water temp 18.0 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Day timeline

Major Minor Tide Twilight

First light 5:27 am Last light 6:11 pm

Low 4:50 am High 11:30 am Low 6:23 pm

Drag or use arrow keys to explore

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

4:00 pm → 7:00 pm

Good

5:00 am → 6:30 am

1h 30m

First light

5:27 am

Last light

6:11 pm

Sunrise

5:51 am

Sunset

5:47 pm

Moonrise

8:57 am

Moonset

11:59 pm

Low tide

4:50 am

High tide

11:30 am

Low tide

6:23 pm

High tide

11:56 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

☁️

13°

↓︎

194°

28 km/h

1am

☁️

13°

↓︎

200°

27 km/h

2am

☁️

12°

↙︎

207°

25 km/h

3am

☀️

11°

↙︎

217°

23 km/h

4am

☀️

10°

↙︎

225°

21 km/h

5am

☀️

10°

↙︎

231°

20 km/h

6am

☀️

10°

↙︎

234°

19 km/h

7am

☁️

10°

↙︎

232°

18 km/h

8am

☁️

12°

↙︎

217°

19 km/h

9am

☁️

14°

↓︎

202°

23 km/h

10am

☀️

15°

↓︎

193°

27 km/h

11am

☀️

16°

↓︎

190°

28 km/h

12pm

☁️

16°

↓︎

188°

27 km/h

1pm

☁️

16°

↓︎

187°

25 km/h

2pm

☁️

16°

↓︎

186°

24 km/h

3pm

☁️

16°

↓︎

187°

23 km/h

4pm

☁️

15°

↓︎

187°

21 km/h

5pm

☁️

15°

↓︎

185°

19 km/h

6pm

☀️

15°

↓︎

183°

17 km/h

7pm

☀️

14°

↓︎

181°

15 km/h

8pm

☀️

14°

↓︎

179°

13 km/h

9pm

☀️

14°

↓︎

178°

11 km/h

10pm

☀️

13°

↓︎

185°

9 km/h

11pm

☀️

12°

↙︎

212°

8 km/h

Hourly Swell

Steady ~1.1 m SE

12am

1.2 m

@ 7 s

↘︎

Moderate

chop

1am

1.3 m

@ 7 s

↘︎

Moderate

chop

2am

1.4 m

@ 7 s

↘︎

Moderate

chop

3am

1.5 m

@ 7 s

↘︎

Moderate

chop

4am

1.6 m

@ 7 s

↘︎

Moderate

chop

5am

1.5 m

@ 6 s

↘︎

Moderate

chop

6am

1.5 m

@ 6 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

7am

1.5 m

@ 6 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

8am

1.5 m

@ 7 s

↘︎

Moderate

chop

9am

1.5 m

@ 7 s

↘︎

Moderate

chop

10am

1.4 m

@ 8 s

↘︎

Moderate

chop

11am

1.4 m

@ 8 s

↘︎

Moderate

12pm

1.4 m

@ 8 s

↘︎

Moderate

1pm

1.4 m

@ 8 s

↘︎

Moderate

2pm

1.4 m

@ 8 s

↘︎

Moderate

3pm

1.4 m

@ 8 s

↘︎

Moderate

4pm

1.4 m

@ 8 s

↘︎

Moderate

5pm

1.4 m

@ 8 s

↘︎

Moderate

6pm

1.4 m

@ 8 s

↘︎

Moderate

chop

7pm

1.4 m

@ 8 s

↘︎

Moderate

chop

8pm

1.3 m

@ 8 s

↘︎

Moderate

chop

9pm

1.2 m

@ 8 s

↘︎

Moderate

chop

10pm

1.1 m

@ 8 s

↘︎

Moderate

chop

11pm

1.1 m

@ 7 s

↘︎

Moderate

chop

Water Temp (°C)

↘ cooling — down 0.4° over the last 3 days

Mon

14 Sep

18.4°

Tue

15 Sep

18.5°

Wed

16 Sep

18.3°

Thu

17 Sep

18.0°

Fri

18 Sep

18.0°

Sat

19 Sep

18.2°

Sun

20 Sep

18.4°

Mon

21 Sep

18.4°

Tue

22 Sep

18.6°

Wed

23 Sep

—

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 27 km/h S (188°).

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

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

4:00 pm → 7:00 pm

Good

5:00 am → 6:30 am

1h 30m

First light

5:27 am

Last light

6:11 pm

Sunrise

5:51 am

Sunset

5:47 pm

Moonrise

8:57 am

Moonset

11:59 pm

Low tide

4:50 am

High tide

11:30 am

Low tide

6:23 pm

High tide

11:56 pm

Nearby spots

Species at this spot

Yellowfin Bream
Dusky Flathead
Southern Calamari (Squid)
Tailor
Sand Whiting
Luderick
Bonito
Mulloway (Jewfish)