Tuncurry Breakwall (Wallis Lake entrance)

The Tuncurry breakwall is the northern wall of the Wallis Lake entrance, running out from the Tuncurry Rockpool end and forming the outer edge of the channel boats use to cross the bar. It is the longer of the two walls and is reached from the Tuncurry side, so it fishes as a separate spot from Forster even though the two tips are only a long cast apart. The two walls are the lake's luderick hot spots and produce kingfish, longtail tuna and cobia when conditions are right. The long inside face gives more room to spread out than the Forster wall on a busy morning.

Luderick anglers walk the inside face and float green weed or cabbage down the channel edge on the run. Bream fishers drift yabbies or cooked prawns into the eddies between the boulders with as little weight as the current allows. The mulloway crowd fishes the run-out and slack water at night with live mullet, squid or large soft plastics and vibes. Out at the tip, slimy mackerel and yellowtail can be jigged on bait jigs and then sent back out alive for kingfish, while tailor take metals and pilchards through the cooler months.

Luderick are the main event, 27 cm minimum with a bag of 10. Yellowfin bream are 25 cm in a combined bag of 10 with tarwhine, and leatherjackets — no size limit, general bag of 20 — pick at every bait. Mulloway are 70 cm minimum with a bag of one, tailor 30 cm with a bag of 10, and yellowtail kingfish 65 cm with a bag of five. Longtail tuna and cobia are an occasional warm-water bonus off the tip rather than something to plan around.

The lake tide lags the ocean, and the run at the entrance often keeps going well after the printed high or low — watch the water rather than the clock. The DPIRD Wallis Lake closure starts at the eastern tip of this wall and covers the channel and the Tuncurry foreshores inside it, banning hoop and lift nets, hand-hauled and push prawn nets, crab traps and lobster traps all year; line fishing is unaffected. Jig your livebait early before the boat traffic builds, and keep live baits in a bucket with regular changes of seawater. Fish the inside face for luderick and bream when there is any swell on the outer rocks.

Park off Rockpool Road near the Tuncurry Rockpool and Barry Stonham Park, where the wall starts. The walk out is flat but the wall is uneven rock, so it is not suitable for wheels. The rockpool, playground and beach beside the wall root make it an easy family stop, and Tuncurry's boat ramp and fish-cleaning tables are a short drive back up the channel.

The inside face is sheltered from most swell, while the outer face and tip take any east or north-east sea directly. The entrance runs hardest on the middle of the tide, and the run-out is the stronger of the two. Heavy rain sends brown lake water out through the entrance for days. Calm, clear water suits luderick and bream; low light and some colour suit mulloway and tailor.

The wall is loose, uneven rock that is slippery wet or dry, and the outer face and tip are exposed to breaking swell. A fall into the entrance channel means a fast current carrying you toward the bar — check the swell forecast, watch the sets for ten minutes before walking out, never turn your back on the sea, stay off the tip when swell is breaking and keep children well back from the edge. MidCoast is not a declared lifejacket area, but a lifejacket is strongly recommended on the outer end, with grippy footwear and light clothing you can swim in. Don't fish the tip alone; if you go in, swim clear of the wall, float, signal and have your mate call 000, and know your retreat along the wall. This is the main channel for boats crossing the bar, so keep casts and lines clear of passing traffic.

Park off Rockpool Road near the Tuncurry Rockpool and Barry Stonham Park, where the wall starts. It is a short, flat walk to the rocks, but the wall itself is uneven and not suitable for wheels.

Luderick, yellowfin bream, mulloway, tailor, leatherjackets and, in the warmer months, yellowtail kingfish, with the odd longtail tuna or cobia off the tip. The Forster and Tuncurry breakwalls are Wallis Lake's luderick hot spots.

Yes. They are the northern and southern walls of the same Wallis Lake entrance, but they are reached from different sides of the channel — Tuncurry from Rockpool Road, Forster from the Main Beach end — and you cannot walk between them.

MidCoast is not on the list of declared areas under the Rock Fishing Safety Act, but a lifejacket is strongly recommended on the outer face and tip, where swell breaks on the rocks.