What fish can you catch at Pelican Foreshore on Lake Macquarie?

Mainly sand whiting, dusky flathead and yellowfin bream, with tarwhine, luderick and silver trevally also caught. Whiting and flathead are best in the warmer months from spring to autumn, while luderick come on through winter on green weed. A NSW Recreational Fishing Fee is required to fish anywhere in NSW, salt or fresh.

What is the best bait for whiting at Pelican?

Live or fresh worms — tube, blood or beach worms — and live nippers (yabbies) are the standout. Fish them on a light running-sinker rig with a long-shank hook and let the bait drift along the sand on a moving tide for the best results. Bait-collection restrictions apply right across Lake Macquarie and its tributaries, so either buy your nippers and worms or pump your own — a nipper pump is legal here, a spade or fork is not — and read the DPIRD Lake Macquarie closure first.

Is Pelican Foreshore good for fishing with kids?

Yes — it is a grassed reserve with a playground, a sandy lake beach, BBQs, picnic shelters, toilets and parking right by the water, so it suits a family session. Watch children closely near the water though: the bottom drops off suddenly in places, currents pick up near the Swansea Channel, and blue-ringed octopus are found in the lake's shallows. Nothing here needs a long walk, which is half the appeal with kids in tow.

Do you need a fishing licence to fish at Pelican Foreshore?

Yes. A NSW Recreational Fishing Fee is required to fish anywhere in NSW unless you hold an exemption. NSW DPIRD bag and size limits also apply — sand whiting at 27cm minimum inside a combined bag of 20 across the whiting species, dusky flathead within a 36–70cm slot with a bag of 5, bream at 25cm and tarwhine at 20cm sharing a combined bag of 10. Bait-collection restrictions also apply lake-wide — a nipper pump is fine, a spade or fork is not, so read the DPIRD Lake Macquarie closure before you collect your own.

When do flathead fire at Pelican Foreshore?

Dusky flathead move into the shallows from about September and stay catchable into May, with the dawn bite over the drop-offs the standout. Casting soft plastics on 1/8–1/4oz jigheads and hopping them back along the sand edge on a moving tide is the go-to method.

Bite Compass

Bite Forecast

Pelican Foreshore

Fri 18 Sep 2026 · Australia/Sydney

Save

←

18 Sep

tap to pick date

→

Today Tomorrow Sat 19 Sep

📍 Pelican Foreshore

first quarter · 38%

Weather: Sunny Wind: SE 114° · 11 km/h Swell: 0.9 m @ 7 s S Water: 18.9 °C Pressure: 1030.0 hPa ↓ falling

★★★★☆

High Fish Activity

▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 6:00 pm

Solunar Major window

Time of day Dusk

Tide Moving

Wind NE 10 km/h

Moon first quarter all day

Water temp 18.9 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Day timeline

Major Minor Tide Twilight

First light 5:24 am Last light 6:11 pm

Low 5:38 am High 12:30 pm Low 7:30 pm

Drag or use arrow keys to explore

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

4:30 pm → 8:00 pm

3h 30m

Good

5:00 am → 7:00 am

Good

12:30 pm → 2:00 pm

1h 30m

First light

5:24 am

Last light

6:11 pm

Sunrise

5:49 am

Sunset

5:46 pm

Moonrise

9:42 am

Moonset

12:51 am

Low tide

5:38 am

High tide

12:30 pm

Low tide

7:30 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

☀️

13°

↓︎

202°

10 km/h

1am

☀️

13°

↙︎

222°

9 km/h

2am

☀️

12°

↙︎

230°

9 km/h

3am

☀️

12°

↙︎

233°

9 km/h

4am

☀️

11°

↙︎

236°

8 km/h

5am

☀️

11°

↙︎

241°

8 km/h

6am

☀️

12°

↙︎

246°

8 km/h

7am

☀️

12°

↙︎

247°

7 km/h

8am

☀️

14°

↙︎

239°

5 km/h

9am

☀️

15°

↓︎

196°

3 km/h

10am

☀️

17°

↘︎

135°

4 km/h

11am

☀️

17°

↘︎

119°

7 km/h

12pm

☀️

18°

↘︎

114°

11 km/h

1pm

☀️

18°

→︎

110°

13 km/h

2pm

☀️

18°

→︎

103°

14 km/h

3pm

☀️

18°

→︎

93°

14 km/h

4pm

☀️

17°

→︎

84°

13 km/h

5pm

☀️

17°

→︎

75°

12 km/h

6pm

☀️

16°

↗︎

62°

10 km/h

7pm

☀️

15°

↗︎

47°

8 km/h

8pm

☀️

15°

↗︎

36°

5 km/h

9pm

☀️

14°

↑︎

360°

5 km/h

10pm

☀️

13°

↑︎

339°

5 km/h

11pm

☀️

13°

↖︎

332°

6 km/h

Hourly Swell

Easing 1.6 → 0.8 m SE

12am

1.6 m

@ 7 s

↘︎

Moderate

chop

1am

1.5 m

@ 7 s

↘︎

Moderate

chop

2am

1.4 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

3am

1.2 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

4am

1.1 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

5am

1.1 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

6am

1.0 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

7am

1.0 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

8am

1.0 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Slight

chop

9am

0.9 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Slight

chop

10am

0.9 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Slight

chop

11am

0.9 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Slight

chop

12pm

0.9 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Slight

chop

1pm

0.8 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Slight

chop

2pm

0.8 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Slight

chop

3pm

0.8 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Slight

chop

4pm

0.8 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Slight

5pm

0.8 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Slight

6pm

0.8 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Slight

7pm

0.8 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Slight

8pm

0.7 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Slight

9pm

0.7 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Slight

10pm

0.7 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Slight

11pm

0.8 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Slight

chop

Water Temp (°C)

↘ cooling — down 0.5° over the last 3 days

Tue

15 Sep

19.4°

Wed

16 Sep

19.2°

Thu

17 Sep

18.9°

Fri

18 Sep

18.9°

Sat

19 Sep

19.0°

Sun

20 Sep

19.0°

Mon

21 Sep

19.1°

Tue

22 Sep

19.1°

Wed

23 Sep

—

Thu

24 Sep

—

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 11 km/h SE (114°).

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 → 8:00 pm

3h 30m

Good

5:00 am → 7:00 am

Good

12:30 pm → 2:00 pm

1h 30m

First light

5:24 am

Last light

6:11 pm

Sunrise

5:49 am

Sunset

5:46 pm

Moonrise

9:42 am

Moonset

12:51 am

Low tide

5:38 am

High tide

12:30 pm

Low tide

7:30 pm

Nearby spots

Species at this spot

Sand Whiting
Dusky Flathead
Yellowfin Bream
Luderick
Tarwhine
Silver Trevally
Tailor