What fish can you catch at Parsley Bay Vaucluse?

Mostly bread-and-butter species: yellowfin bream and dusky flathead through the warmer months, with silver trevally and luderick (blackfish) more common in the cooler months. Leatherjacket, sand whiting and squid show up too, and the occasional yellowtail kingfish or jewfish is taken. You need a NSW Recreational Fishing Fee to fish here, like anywhere in NSW.

Can you fish off the jetty at Parsley Bay?

Yes — anglers fish the jetty on the harbour side, past the swimming net, where the bottom drops into a sand-and-weed edge that holds bream, flathead and trevally. Inside the netted enclosure is for swimmers, so cast from the outer end and keep lines clear of people in the water, especially in summer.

Is there parking at Parsley Bay Reserve?

The reserve car park and Horler Avenue vehicle access have been closed for Sydney Water's pump station works since May 2024, with reopening scheduled for late 2026, so park on the streets up top and walk in. Sydney Water nominates Hopetoun Avenue, Fitzwilliam Road and The Crescent as the pedestrian routes into the reserve, and Horler Avenue stays open to pedestrians and prams; it is a walk of around 10 to 15 minutes on concrete paths through the gully and across the suspension bridge. Buses run along the ridge above the reserve.

What is the size limit for flathead at Parsley Bay?

Dusky flathead in NSW have a slot limit of 36 to 70cm — you can keep fish within that range, with a bag limit of 5 and 10 in possession, and anything under 36cm or over 70cm must be released, as the big ones are the breeding females. It is worth checking the current NSW DPIRD limits before you keep a fish.

When is the best time to fish Parsley Bay?

A run-in tide around dawn or dusk is best, since the bay is shallow and the rising water brings fish in over the flats. Summer is the broad peak for bream and flathead; the cooler months favour trevally and luderick. Early or late sessions also dodge the swimmers and picnic crowds that fill the reserve in summer.

Bite Compass

Bite Forecast

Parsley Bay (Vaucluse)

Sun 25 Oct 2026 · Australia/Sydney

Forecast updated Sun 25 Oct, 11:07pm AEDT

Bite Alert

←

25 Oct

tap to pick date

→

Today Tomorrow Sat 31 Oct

📍 Parsley Bay (Vaucluse)

full · 99%

Weather: Sunny Wind: NW 320° · 17 km/h Swell: 1.1 m @ 6 s NE Water: 18.7 °C Pressure: 1007.2 hPa ↓ falling Sheltered water: wind direction matters less here

★★★☆☆

Medium Fish Activity

Email me when a High bite day is coming Free

▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 5:30 am

Solunar Minor window

Time of day Dawn

Tide Moving

Wind NW 15 km/h

Moon full all day

Water temp 18.7 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Day Timeline

Major Minor Tide Twilight

First light 5:36 am Last light 7:42 pm

Low 1:39 am High 8:00 am Low 2:14 pm High 8:18 pm

Drag or use arrow keys to explore

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

5:00 am → 7:00 am

Good

6:30 pm → 9:00 pm

2h 30m

Good

11:30 am → 3:30 pm

Good

1:00 am → 2:30 am

1h 30m

First light

5:36 am

Last light

7:42 pm

Sunrise

6:02 am

Sunset

7:16 pm

Moonrise

6:23 pm

Moonset

4:58 am

Low tide

1:39 am

High tide

8:00 am

Low tide

2:14 pm

High tide

8:18 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

☀️

21°

↑︎

21°

11 km/h

1am

☀️

21°

↗︎

23°

9 km/h

2am

☀️

20°

↗︎

27°

8 km/h

3am

☀️

20°

↑︎

3°

10 km/h

4am

☀️

20°

↑︎

342°

14 km/h

5am

☀️

21°

↖︎

336°

15 km/h

6am

☀️

21°

↖︎

324°

13 km/h

7am

☀️

22°

↖︎

331°

12 km/h

8am

☀️

24°

↖︎

337°

13 km/h

9am

☀️

26°

↑︎

3°

13 km/h

10am

☀️

27°

↑︎

10°

15 km/h

11am

☀️

28°

↑︎

6°

15 km/h

12pm

☀️

30°

↑︎

3°

16 km/h

1pm

☀️

31°

↑︎

5°

18 km/h

2pm

☁️

31°

↑︎

2°

18 km/h

3pm

☁️

31°

↑︎

6°

17 km/h

4pm

☁️

28°

↗︎

29°

15 km/h

5pm

🌧️

26°

↗︎

29°

13 km/h

6pm

🌧️

26°

↑︎

15°

16 km/h

7pm

☁️

24°

↑︎

2°

17 km/h

8pm

☁️

24°

↑︎

346°

19 km/h

9pm

☁️

24°

↑︎

343°

18 km/h

10pm

🌧️

23°

↖︎

333°

16 km/h

11pm

🌧️

22°

↖︎

320°

17 km/h

Hourly Swell

Steady ~1.1 m NE

12am

1.0 m

@ 6 s

→︎

Moderate

chop

1am

1.1 m

@ 6 s

→︎

Moderate

chop

2am

1.1 m

@ 6 s

→︎

Moderate

chop

3am

1.1 m

@ 6 s

→︎

Moderate

chop

4am

1.1 m

@ 6 s

→︎

Moderate

chop

5am

1.1 m

@ 6 s

→︎

Moderate

chop

6am

1.1 m

@ 6 s

→︎

Moderate

chop

7am

1.0 m

@ 6 s

→︎

Moderate

chop

8am

1.0 m

@ 6 s

→︎

Moderate

chop

9am

0.9 m

@ 6 s

→︎

Slight

chop

10am

0.9 m

@ 6 s

↗︎

Slight

chop

11am

0.8 m

@ 6 s

↗︎

Slight

chop

12pm

0.8 m

@ 6 s

↗︎

Slight

chop

1pm

0.7 m

@ 6 s

↗︎

Slight

chop

2pm

0.7 m

@ 6 s

↗︎

Slight

chop

3pm

0.8 m

@ 6 s

↗︎

Slight

chop

4pm

0.8 m

@ 6 s

↗︎

Slight

chop

5pm

0.9 m

@ 6 s

→︎

Slight

chop

6pm

1.0 m

@ 6 s

↗︎

Moderate

chop

7pm

1.1 m

@ 6 s

↗︎

Moderate

chop

8pm

1.3 m

@ 6 s

↗︎

Moderate

chop

9pm

1.2 m

@ 6 s

↗︎

Moderate

chop

10pm

1.2 m

@ 6 s

↗︎

Moderate

chop

11pm

1.1 m

@ 6 s

↗︎

Moderate

chop

Water Temp (°C)

→ steady around 18.7°

Thu

22 Oct

18.6°

Fri

23 Oct

18.3°

Sat

24 Oct

18.5°

Sun

25 Oct

18.7°

Mon

26 Oct

18.5°

Tue

27 Oct

18.9°

Wed

28 Oct

18.9°

Thu

29 Oct

19.1°

Fri

30 Oct

19.5°

Sat

31 Oct

19.2°

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 17 km/h NW (320°).

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

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

5:00 am → 7:00 am

Good

6:30 pm → 9:00 pm

2h 30m

Good

11:30 am → 3:30 pm

Good

1:00 am → 2:30 am

1h 30m

First light

5:36 am

Last light

7:42 pm

Sunrise

6:02 am

Sunset

7:16 pm

Moonrise

6:23 pm

Moonset

4:58 am

Low tide

1:39 am

High tide

8:00 am

Low tide

2:14 pm

High tide

8:18 pm

Nearby Spots

Species at This Spot

Keep Tabs on Parsley Bay (Vaucluse)

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