Speers Point Jetty (Lake Macquarie)

Speers Point Jetty reaches 83 metres out from Speers Point Park at the northern end of Lake Macquarie, close to where Cockle Creek runs into the lake, and finishes in an L-shaped head well clear of the park's edge. Lake Macquarie City Council rebuilt it for $1.5 million and reopened it in June 2020, with handrails, ladders, taps and solar lights that brighten as someone walks along the deck. Council's own list of the best places to cast a line in Lake Mac names the water around this jetty for tailor, bream and whiting, and the sand and weed edges either side hold dusky flathead through the warmer months. The whole lake is a Recreational Fishing Haven — no commercial netting, but the same bag and size limits as everywhere else — so the competition is other anglers rather than nets. With a playground, toilets and a café a few minutes' walk away, it is one of the easier family sessions anywhere on the lake.

Most rods end up on the L-shaped head, where a peeled prawn or a strip of mullet on a small running ball sinker covers the bream working the pylons and the bottom below. Whiting want the bait away from the structure — a running sinker rig cast onto the sand with live worms, worked back slowly rather than left to soak. Tailor come through in schools, most often at first and last light, and a 10–20 g metal or a pilchard on ganged hooks wound back briskly is the way to meet them. Lure anglers do better walking the park edge either side of the jetty, hopping small soft plastics across the weed edges and drop-offs for flathead. DPIRD's own Lake Macquarie advice for bream is berley and a slow lift-and-drop, which is not a bad summary of the place.

Yellowfin bream are the mainstay here and bite in every month, at 25 cm on a bag of 10 shared with tarwhine. Sand whiting are the October-to-April target over the sand at 27 cm, on a bag of 20 shared across the whiting. Tailor are 30 cm with a bag of 10, and outside the dawn and dusk schools most of the lake's tailor turn up as a bycatch on bream and flathead gear. Dusky flathead live on a slot — keep only fish between 36 and 70 cm, bag of 5 — and the big breeders over 70 cm go back. DPIRD also lists garfish, mullet, flounder and leatherjackets among the lake's other species, so the bucket rarely looks the same twice.

Fish the run of tide either side of the change in low light — the lake's tide range is modest, but the bite still follows it. The jetty is the park's walkway onto the water, so keep the deck clear of rigs, hooks and bait scraps, and check behind you before every cast. Bait-collection rules are strict lake-wide: no digging with a spade or fork, and no trap other than a bait trap — tagged at or above water level with BT, your initial and surname, year of birth and postcode — so a nipper pump or bought bait is the easy answer. Crab traps in Lake Macquarie are governed by a separate DPIRD order, so check the current order and its entrance-size rule on DPIRD's fishing closures, restrictions and permits page before setting one, and if you keep crabs, the NSW Government's cadmium advice for the lake is up to six 150 g serves a week of blue swimmer crab or six a month of giant mud crab (six a month in total if you eat both) for anyone aged six or over, and three 75 g serves on the same basis for children under six. Anyone 18 or over who isn't exempt needs the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee — $7 for three days or $35 for a year — with the receipt on you. Council's own tip is to rinse rods and reels in fresh water after every session, because the lake is salt water and will quietly eat a cheap reel.

Speers Point Park sits on the northern shore of the lake, with sealed car parks beside the Speers Point Swimming Centre and a short, flat walk across the grass to the jetty. The park has public toilets, picnic shelters, a café and the Variety Playground, and the paths are flat and pram-friendly. The jetty deck has handrails and ladders down to the water. For kids it is about as easy as lake fishing gets — shade, a playground for the sibling who has lost interest, and a lit deck if the session runs past dark.

At the head of an enclosed lake, the jetty never sees ocean swell and stays fishable on days that close the coast. The deck points south-south-west down the lake, so a southerly or south-westerly pushes chop straight onto it after a long run across open water, while a northerly or north-easterly blows off the land and flattens the water in front of you. Tide range this far from Swansea Channel is modest, so wind and light matter at least as much as the tide chart, though the change is still worth fishing. Heavy rain sends Cockle Creek's run-off into this corner of the lake and colours the water for a few days, which tends to suit flathead better than whiting.

This is a calm lake jetty, so the risks are small ones, but they are real. The deck stands over water deep enough to matter, and a child who goes in off the end needs an adult who was already watching — a kids' lifejacket on the jetty is cheap insurance. Lake Macquarie is a declared rock-fishing lifejacket area for its ocean-swell rock; on this jetty a lifejacket is strongly recommended for children and anyone fishing alone. Boats berth at the L-shaped end, so keep lines clear of anyone coming alongside and never cast across a mooring line. The timber gets slippery when wet and crowded on fine weekends, and the solar lights help after dark but do not replace a headtorch.

Yes. Lake Macquarie City Council lists Speers Point Jetty among its top places to cast a line in Lake Mac, naming tailor, bream and whiting. The 83-metre public jetty was rebuilt and reopened in June 2020, with solar lighting, taps, handrails and ladders. You need a current NSW Recreational Fishing Fee receipt, and the lake-wide closure on digging bait with a spade or fork, and on any trap other than a bait trap, applies here — crab traps are governed by a separate DPIRD order, so check its current terms before setting one.

Yellowfin bream are the year-round mainstay, with sand whiting over the sand from October to April, chopper tailor in schools and dusky flathead along the weed edges either side of the jetty. Bream are 25 cm on a bag of 10 shared with tarwhine, whiting 27 cm, tailor 30 cm on a bag of 10, and dusky flathead must be between 36 and 70 cm with a bag of 5. Garfish, mullet and the odd flounder turn up too.

It is one of the easiest family fishing spots on Lake Macquarie. Speers Point Park has parking, public toilets, a café, picnic shelters and the Variety Playground, the paths are flat and pram-friendly, and the jetty has handrails. The water off the end is deep enough to matter, so keep small children close and consider a kids' lifejacket on the deck.

Yes. The rebuilt jetty has solar lights that brighten as people walk along the deck, which makes an evening bream or tailor session practical. Bring a headtorch anyway for rigging and unhooking, and keep the deck clear for walkers, who use the jetty after dark as well.

Yes. DPIRD lists Lake Macquarie as a Recreational Fishing Haven, which means the lake is closed to commercial fishing. It does not mean relaxed rules — the normal NSW bag and size limits and the Recreational Fishing Fee still apply, along with the lake-wide closure on spade-or-fork digging and on traps other than bait traps, while crab traps are governed by a separate DPIRD order.