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)

Tue 08 Sep 2026 · Australia/Sydney

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8 Sep

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Today Tomorrow Sat 19 Sep

📍 Patonga (Hawkesbury River)

waning crescent · 15%

Weather: Rainy Wind: SE 150° · 16 km/h Swell: 1.1 m @ 6 s SE Water: 18.3 °C Pressure: 1025.6 hPa ↓ falling

★★★☆☆

Medium Fish Activity

▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 5:30 pm

Solunar Between windows

Time of day Dusk

Tide Moving

Wind SE 7 km/h

Moon waning crescent all day

Water temp 18.3 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Day timeline

Major Minor Tide Twilight

First light 5:39 am Last light 6:06 pm

High 5:16 am Low 10:56 am High 5:23 pm

Drag or use arrow keys to explore

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

4:30 pm → 7:00 pm

2h 30m

Good

4:30 am → 7:00 am

2h 30m

Good

9:00 am → 11:00 am

Good

9:00 pm → 10:00 pm

First light

5:39 am

Last light

6:06 pm

Sunrise

6:04 am

Sunset

5:41 pm

Moonrise

4:07 am

Moonset

2:25 pm

High tide

5:16 am

Low tide

10:56 am

High tide

5:23 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

🌧️

13°

↓︎

195°

14 km/h

1am

☀️

13°

↓︎

193°

17 km/h

2am

☀️

13°

↓︎

198°

17 km/h

3am

☀️

12°

↙︎

206°

16 km/h

4am

☀️

11°

↙︎

216°

15 km/h

5am

☀️

11°

↙︎

218°

15 km/h

6am

☁️

11°

↙︎

227°

14 km/h

7am

☁️

12°

↙︎

212°

14 km/h

8am

☀️

13°

↙︎

217°

14 km/h

9am

☁️

15°

↙︎

213°

13 km/h

10am

🌧️

17°

↘︎

157°

18 km/h

11am

☁️

16°

↘︎

153°

16 km/h

12pm

🌧️

17°

↘︎

150°

16 km/h

1pm

☁️

18°

↘︎

146°

14 km/h

2pm

☁️

17°

↘︎

143°

11 km/h

3pm

☁️

17°

↘︎

140°

9 km/h

4pm

☁️

17°

↘︎

133°

7 km/h

5pm

☁️

16°

↘︎

115°

7 km/h

6pm

☀️

14°

→︎

105°

8 km/h

7pm

☀️

13°

→︎

76°

6 km/h

8pm

☀️

11°

↗︎

46°

7 km/h

9pm

☀️

11°

↑︎

18°

5 km/h

10pm

☀️

10°

↖︎

319°

5 km/h

11pm

☀️

9°

↖︎

315°

7 km/h

Hourly Swell

Steady ~0.9 m SE

12am

0.9 m

@ 7 s

↘︎

Slight

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

1.2 m

@ 7 s

↘︎

Moderate

chop

5am

1.2 m

@ 7 s

↘︎

Moderate

chop

6am

1.2 m

@ 7 s

↘︎

Moderate

chop

7am

1.2 m

@ 7 s

↘︎

Moderate

chop

8am

1.1 m

@ 7 s

↘︎

Moderate

chop

9am

1.1 m

@ 7 s

↘︎

Moderate

chop

10am

1.1 m

@ 7 s

↘︎

Moderate

chop

11am

1.1 m

@ 6 s

↘︎

Moderate

chop

12pm

1.1 m

@ 6 s

↘︎

Moderate

chop

1pm

1.1 m

@ 6 s

↘︎

Moderate

chop

2pm

1.1 m

@ 6 s

↘︎

Moderate

chop

3pm

1.1 m

@ 6 s

↘︎

Moderate

chop

4pm

1.1 m

@ 6 s

↘︎

Moderate

chop

5pm

1.0 m

@ 6 s

↘︎

Moderate

chop

6pm

1.0 m

@ 6 s

↘︎

Moderate

chop

7pm

1.0 m

@ 6 s

↘︎

Slight

chop

8pm

1.0 m

@ 6 s

↘︎

Slight

chop

9pm

1.0 m

@ 6 s

↘︎

Slight

chop

10pm

0.9 m

@ 6 s

↘︎

Slight

chop

11pm

0.9 m

@ 6 s

↘︎

Slight

chop

Water Temp (°C)

→ steady around 18.3°

Sat

5 Sep

18.4°

Sun

6 Sep

18.4°

Mon

7 Sep

18.4°

Tue

8 Sep

18.3°

Wed

9 Sep

18.3°

Thu

10 Sep

18.2°

Fri

11 Sep

18.2°

Sat

12 Sep

18.3°

Sun

13 Sep

18.4°

Mon

14 Sep

18.5°

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 16 km/h SE (150°).

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

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

4:30 pm → 7:00 pm

2h 30m

Good

4:30 am → 7:00 am

2h 30m

Good

9:00 am → 11:00 am

Good

9:00 pm → 10:00 pm

First light

5:39 am

Last light

6:06 pm

Sunrise

6:04 am

Sunset

5:41 pm

Moonrise

4:07 am

Moonset

2:25 pm

High tide

5:16 am

Low tide

10:56 am

High tide

5:23 pm

Nearby spots

Species at this spot

Dusky Flathead
Mulloway (Jewfish)
Yellowfin Bream
Sand Whiting
Luderick
Tailor
Silver Trevally