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 23 Oct 2026 · Australia/Sydney

Forecast updated Fri 23 Oct, 11:15pm AEDT

Bite Alert

←

23 Oct

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→

Today Tomorrow Sat 31 Oct

📍 Patonga (Hawkesbury River)

waxing gibbous · 89%

Weather: Rainy Wind: NE 52° · 9 km/h Swell: 1.1 m @ 5 s E Water: 18.2 °C Pressure: 1018.7 hPa ↓ falling Sheltered water: wind direction matters less here

★★★☆☆

Medium Fish Activity

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▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 6:00 am

Solunar Between windows

Time of day Dawn

Tide Moving

Wind E 9 km/h

Moon waxing gibbous all day

Water temp 18.2 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Day Timeline

Major Minor Tide Twilight

First light 5:39 am Last light 7:39 pm

Low 12:30 am High 6:46 am Low 12:44 pm High 6:43 pm

Drag or use arrow keys to explore

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

4:30 am → 7:30 am

Good

6:30 pm → 8:30 pm

Good

10:00 am → 12:00 pm

Good

10:00 pm → 11:30 pm

1h 30m

First light

5:39 am

Last light

7:39 pm

Sunrise

6:04 am

Sunset

7:14 pm

Moonrise

4:13 pm

Moonset

4:03 am

Low tide

12:30 am

High tide

6:46 am

Low tide

12:44 pm

High tide

6:43 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

🌧️

18°

↗︎

58°

12 km/h

1am

🌧️

17°

↗︎

59°

11 km/h

2am

🌧️

17°

→︎

68°

11 km/h

3am

🌧️

17°

→︎

75°

10 km/h

4am

☁️

17°

↗︎

63°

10 km/h

5am

☁️

17°

↗︎

63°

8 km/h

6am

☁️

17°

→︎

84°

9 km/h

7am

☀️

17°

→︎

71°

11 km/h

8am

☀️

18°

↗︎

49°

12 km/h

9am

☀️

20°

↗︎

50°

13 km/h

10am

🌧️

22°

↗︎

47°

14 km/h

11am

🌧️

22°

↗︎

54°

11 km/h

12pm

🌧️

22°

↗︎

64°

12 km/h

1pm

☁️

22°

→︎

69°

14 km/h

2pm

🌧️

22°

→︎

76°

16 km/h

3pm

🌧️

20°

↗︎

65°

18 km/h

4pm

🌧️

22°

↗︎

63°

20 km/h

5pm

☀️

21°

↗︎

65°

19 km/h

6pm

☁️

21°

↗︎

59°

19 km/h

7pm

🌧️

19°

↗︎

60°

15 km/h

8pm

☀️

19°

↗︎

61°

13 km/h

9pm

☀️

18°

↗︎

64°

11 km/h

10pm

☀️

18°

↗︎

59°

10 km/h

11pm

☀️

17°

↗︎

52°

9 km/h

Hourly Swell

Steady ~1.1 m E

12am

1.0 m

@ 5 s

→︎

Moderate

chop

1am

1.0 m

@ 5 s

→︎

Moderate

chop

2am

1.0 m

@ 5 s

→︎

Slight

chop

3am

1.0 m

@ 5 s

→︎

Slight

chop

4am

1.0 m

@ 5 s

→︎

Slight

chop

5am

0.9 m

@ 5 s

→︎

Slight

chop

6am

0.9 m

@ 5 s

→︎

Slight

chop

7am

0.9 m

@ 5 s

→︎

Slight

chop

8am

0.9 m

@ 5 s

→︎

Slight

chop

9am

0.9 m

@ 5 s

→︎

Slight

chop

10am

0.9 m

@ 5 s

→︎

Slight

chop

11am

0.8 m

@ 5 s

→︎

Slight

chop

12pm

0.8 m

@ 5 s

→︎

Slight

chop

1pm

0.8 m

@ 5 s

→︎

Slight

chop

2pm

0.7 m

@ 6 s

→︎

Slight

chop

3pm

0.7 m

@ 6 s

→︎

Slight

chop

4pm

0.8 m

@ 6 s

→︎

Slight

chop

5pm

0.8 m

@ 6 s

→︎

Slight

chop

6pm

0.8 m

@ 5 s

→︎

Slight

chop

7pm

0.9 m

@ 5 s

→︎

Slight

chop

8pm

1.0 m

@ 5 s

→︎

Slight

chop

9pm

1.0 m

@ 5 s

→︎

Moderate

chop

10pm

1.0 m

@ 5 s

→︎

Moderate

chop

11pm

1.1 m

@ 5 s

→︎

Moderate

chop

Water Temp (°C)

↘ cooling — down 1.6° over the last 3 days

Tue

20 Oct

19.8°

Wed

21 Oct

19.8°

Thu

22 Oct

18.5°

Fri

23 Oct

18.2°

Sat

24 Oct

18.5°

Sun

25 Oct

18.7°

Mon

26 Oct

18.4°

Tue

27 Oct

18.4°

Wed

28 Oct

18.4°

Thu

29 Oct

18.6°

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 9 km/h NE (52°).

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 am → 7:30 am

Good

6:30 pm → 8:30 pm

Good

10:00 am → 12:00 pm

Good

10:00 pm → 11:30 pm

1h 30m

First light

5:39 am

Last light

7:39 pm

Sunrise

6:04 am

Sunset

7:14 pm

Moonrise

4:13 pm

Moonset

4:03 am

Low tide

12:30 am

High tide

6:46 am

Low tide

12:44 pm

High tide

6:43 pm

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