Port Macquarie Breakwall (Town Beach)

The southern wall of the Hastings River entrance runs along the front of the breakwall holiday park to a light at the river mouth, at the north end of Town Beach — the town-side wall, with the CBD a ten-minute walk behind it. The Hastings breakwalls are the river's luderick hot spot, and they produce mulloway, longtail tuna and cobia when conditions are right. Luderick build through autumn, bream bite after dark, and mullet schools around the walls draw in jewies. The rocks are covered in painted messages from travellers, so there is reading material between bites.

Luderick anglers work the river face with long, slow rods, a stem float and green weed or cabbage, trotting baits down the wall on the tide. Bream are fished at dusk and after dark with prawn, mullet strip or small plastics dropped against the rocks. The mulloway crowd moves to the mouth end at night with live mullet, squid or big plastics, especially when mullet are schooling in the lower river. Tailor and the summer pelagics are a spin-and-pilchard game off the outer end at first light.

Luderick are the headline fish, present year-round and thickest from autumn into spring. Bream come on after dark along the whole wall and peak in winter. Mulloway are a year-round night target, with bigger fish when the mullet run. Dusky flathead work the sand at the base of the wall in the warmer months, tailor pass through in autumn and winter, and longtail tuna or cobia are an occasional summer-autumn bonus off the end in clean, warm water.

For Hastings luderick, use a 3 m slow-action rod, a stem float weighted with split shot and a No. 6–8 sneck hook with strands of green weed or cabbage. Luderick are 27 cm with a bag of 10; mulloway 70 cm and one; bream 25 cm with a combined 10 including tarwhine. Cobia have no size limit and a bag of five, and longtail tuna are five per person under 90 cm, two at 90 cm or over, across the tuna group. Spearfishing is closed in the lower Hastings between the walls.

Walk or drive to the Town Green and the breakwall holiday park at the end of Munster Street; the wall runs east from there to the river mouth along the front of the park. A sealed path follows the top of the wall, so the walk out is easy and takes a pram or wheelchair a long way, but the fishing positions are on the rock armour below. Toilets, picnic tables and the town centre are all close. Watch for cyclists and walkers on the path while you cast.

The wall fishes in most winds because the river face is sheltered; a strong north-easterly makes the mouth end messy. Big easterly or south-easterly swell breaks across the bar and washes the outer section — fish further up the wall then. Tide matters more than weather: the run-in brings clean ocean water for luderick, and the change into dark suits bream and mulloway. After heavy rain the Hastings runs brown and the action shifts to the cleaner water at the mouth.

The rock armour below the path is slippery with weed and spray, and gaps between boulders can swallow a foot. The outer end at the river mouth takes breaking swell in a big easterly — check the swell forecast, watch the sets for ten minutes first, never turn your back on the sea, and keep back when spray reaches the path. Port Macquarie-Hastings is not one of the ten council areas declared under the Rock Fishing Safety Act 2016, but a lifejacket is strongly recommended on the lower rocks and at the mouth, with grippy footwear and light clothing you can swim in. Don't fish the lower rocks alone; if you go in, swim clear of the wall, float, signal and have your mate call 000, and know your way back up to the path. The ebb runs hard out over the bar, so anyone who falls in is carried seaward; keep children up on the path. Boats use the entrance, so keep lines clear when a vessel is crossing.

Luderick are the main target, with bream after dark and mulloway at night around the mouth. Longtail tuna and cobia also come off the Hastings River breakwalls when conditions are right, and dusky flathead work the sand at the base in summer. You need a NSW Recreational Fishing Fee receipt unless you're exempt.

Use a long, slow-action float rod around 3 m, a stem float weighted with split shot and a No. 6–8 sneck hook baited with strands of green weed or cabbage, and trot it along the breakwall on the tide. Luderick in NSW are 27 cm minimum with a bag of 10.

The sealed path along the wall is easy walking and close to toilets and the Town Green, so it's a good outing. Keep children on the path rather than the rocks below, especially near the river mouth where swell and current are strongest.