Is Patonga good for flathead?

Yes — Patonga has a long reputation as one of the best flathead stretches on the Hawkesbury. The sand flats off the beach and creek are open to clean ocean water and hold dusky flathead year-round, with the best fishing from spring through autumn. Drift or wade the flats with soft plastics or live poddy mullet on the run-out tide. The NSW dusky flathead slot is 36–70cm with a bag of 5 — fish over 70cm must be released — and you need a NSW Recreational Fishing Fee to fish anywhere in NSW.

Can you catch jewfish at Patonga?

Yes, but not from the wharf. The lower Hawkesbury around Patonga is one of the better land-based mulloway stretches in NSW, and the fish sit in the deeper holes, channel and rock walls a short drive from the village rather than under the village wharf. They are caught at night around the change of tide on live mullet, mullet strips, soft vibes and large soft plastics worked slow. The NSW limit is one mulloway per person at 70cm or longer, with a boat limit of two per boat per day.

Can you fish off Patonga wharf?

Yes, the public wharf is one of the most popular land-based spots in the village. Anglers take bream, flathead, whiting and tailor by dropping bait tight to the pylons on a moving tide. The fish-cleaning table is at the creek foreshore ramp by the camping ground, not at the beach ramp, so factor that into the walk home. A NSW Recreational Fishing Fee is required and the receipt must be carried.

Is Patonga good for kids fishing?

It is one of the more kid-friendly spots on the Central Coast. The water is calm and shallow, parking is metres from the wharf and flats, and there is play equipment, a fish-and-chip shop and the pub close by. The beach is unpatrolled with no lifeguards, so watch the current at the creek mouth, and shuffle your feet for stingrays on the warm sand flats. The wharf is not wheelchair accessible at low tide.

What is the best tide for fishing Patonga?

A moving tide beats the slack, and the first of the run-out is the classic window over the sand flats for flathead and whiting. For mulloway, work the change of tide, including the periods around dead low and dead high. Calm, clear mornings on a building or falling tide are the pick.

Bite Compass

Bite Forecast

Patonga (Hawkesbury River)

Fri 30 Oct 2026 · Australia/Sydney

Forecast updated 7:03pm AEDT

Bite Alert

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30 Oct

Today

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Today Tomorrow Sun 1 Nov

📍 Patonga (Hawkesbury River)

waning gibbous · 84%

Weather: Cloudy Wind: NE 61° · 15 km/h Swell: 0.7 m @ 9 s S Water: 19.4 °C Pressure: 1020.6 hPa → steady Sheltered water: wind direction matters less here

★★★☆☆

Medium Fish Activity

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▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 7:30 pm

Solunar Between windows

Time of day Dusk

Tide Moving

Wind NE 15 km/h

Moon waning gibbous all day

Water temp 19.4 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Now

Day Timeline

Major Minor Tide Twilight

First light 5:31 am Last light 7:46 pm

Low 5:25 am High 12:01 pm Low 6:53 pm

Drag or use arrow keys to explore

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

6:30 pm → 9:00 pm

2h 30m

Good

3:30 am → 7:00 am

3h 30m

Good

3:30 pm → 5:00 pm

1h 30m

Good

12:00 pm → 12:30 pm

30m

First light

5:31 am

Last light

7:46 pm

Sunrise

5:57 am

Sunset

7:20 pm

Moonrise

—

Moonset

8:45 am

Low tide

5:25 am

High tide

12:01 pm

Low tide

6:53 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

☀️

15°

←︎

256°

1 km/h

1am

☀️

14°

←︎

274°

3 km/h

2am

☀️

14°

←︎

270°

3 km/h

3am

☀️

13°

←︎

265°

2 km/h

4am

☀️

13°

←︎

267°

3 km/h

5am

☀️

13°

←︎

282°

3 km/h

6am

☀️

13°

←︎

286°

3 km/h

7am

☀️

15°

↖︎

298°

4 km/h

8am

☀️

18°

↗︎

51°

3 km/h

9am

☀️

20°

↗︎

42°

9 km/h

10am

☁️

22°

↗︎

30°

9 km/h

11am

☀️

23°

↗︎

54°

10 km/h

12pm

☁️

24°

→︎

77°

14 km/h

1pm

☁️

23°

→︎

75°

18 km/h

2pm

☁️

23°

→︎

73°

19 km/h

3pm

☁️

23°

→︎

68°

19 km/h

4pm

☁️

22°

↗︎

65°

19 km/h

5pm

☁️

21°

↗︎

60°

19 km/h

6pm

☁️

20°

↗︎

61°

17 km/h

7pm

☁️

19°

↗︎

61°

15 km/h

Now

☁️

18°

↗︎

55°

16 km/h

9pm

☁️

18°

↗︎

55°

16 km/h

10pm

☁️

17°

↗︎

45°

12 km/h

11pm

☁️

17°

↗︎

36°

9 km/h

Hourly Swell

Easing 1.0 → 0.6 m S

12am

1.0 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Slight

chop

1am

1.0 m

@ 8 s

↘︎

Slight

chop

2am

1.0 m

@ 8 s

↘︎

Slight

chop

3am

1.0 m

@ 8 s

↘︎

Slight

chop

4am

1.0 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Slight

5am

1.0 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Slight

6am

1.0 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Slight

7am

1.0 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Slight

8am

1.0 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Slight

9am

1.0 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Slight

10am

0.9 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Slight

11am

0.9 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Slight

12pm

0.9 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Slight

1pm

0.9 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Slight

2pm

0.8 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Slight

3pm

0.8 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Slight

4pm

0.8 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Slight

5pm

0.8 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Slight

6pm

0.7 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Slight

7pm

0.7 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Slight

Now

0.7 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Slight

9pm

0.7 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Slight

10pm

0.7 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Slight

11pm

0.6 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Slight

Water Temp (°C)

↗ warming — up 1.0° over the last 3 days

Tue

27 Oct

18.4°

Wed

28 Oct

18.4°

Thu

29 Oct

18.6°

Fri

30 Oct

19.4°

Sat

31 Oct

19.4°

Sun

1 Nov

19.6°

Mon

2 Nov

19.8°

Tue

3 Nov

19.9°

Wed

4 Nov

19.9°

Thu

5 Nov

19.8°

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 15 km/h NE (61°).

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

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

6:30 pm → 9:00 pm

2h 30m

Good

3:30 am → 7:00 am

3h 30m

Good

3:30 pm → 5:00 pm

1h 30m

Good

12:00 pm → 12:30 pm

30m

First light

5:31 am

Last light

7:46 pm

Sunrise

5:57 am

Sunset

7:20 pm

Moonrise

—

Moonset

8:45 am

Low tide

5:25 am

High tide

12:01 pm

Low tide

6:53 pm

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