What fish can you catch at Wollongong Harbour / Belmore Basin?

Mainly luderick, yellowfin bream, silver trevally and southern calamari off the basin walls and around the fishing-fleet moorings, with dusky flathead over the sand in the warmer months and leatherjacket year-round. Runs of Australian salmon and tailor turn up around the harbour mouth and breakwater tips. You'll need a paid NSW Recreational Fishing Fee to fish here, as you do anywhere in NSW.

Is Belmore Basin good for fishing when it's rough outside?

Yes — that's its main strength. The seawalls and breakwaters shelter the basin from south-easterly swell and southerly wind, so when the open beaches and rock platforms are blown out, the inner harbour keeps producing luderick, bream and trevally. A big east-to-north-east swell can still surge over the outer breakwater rocks, so stay off the exposed tips in those conditions.

Do you need a lifejacket to fish Wollongong Harbour?

Wollongong is a declared rock-fishing area under the Rock Fishing Safety Act 2016, so a lifejacket is compulsory when you fish with rod, line or handline from naturally occurring rock exposed to ocean swell here, and the duty covers anyone helping you and any child under 12 in your care. Adults need AS 4758 level 50S or greater and under-12s level 100 or greater, and the fine is $100 on the spot. The basin is the sheltered half of the harbour, but the breakwater tips take real surge, so wear one on any swell-exposed rock or wall here.

How do you catch luderick at Wollongong Harbour?

Float fresh green weed under a quill or stem float along the stone walls, and trickle a bread-and-chook-pellet burley to bring the school up and hold it — burleying is the difference-maker here. Fish tide change and low light, autumn through winter when the weed is freshest, with a 9–12ft float rod and small sneck hooks. Luderick have a 27cm minimum length in NSW and a daily bag of 10, with a possession limit of 20.

Can you keep the flathead you catch at Belmore Basin?

Dusky flathead in NSW have a 36–70cm slot — keep fish within that range and release anything over 70cm, with a daily bag limit of five. Those big breeding females over 70cm do most of the spawning, so they go back regardless of how good they'd look on the table. Always check the current NSW DPIRD limits, and carry your NSW Recreational Fishing Fee receipt.

Bite Compass

Bite Forecast

Wollongong Harbour (Belmore Basin)

Wed 16 Sep 2026 · Australia/Sydney

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16 Sep

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Today Tomorrow Sat 19 Sep

📍 Wollongong Harbour (Belmore Basin)

waxing crescent · 19%

Weather: Sunny Wind: S 199° · 23 km/h Swell: 1.2 m @ 7 s S Water: 17.9 °C Pressure: 1031.0 hPa ↑ rising

★★★☆☆

Medium Fish Activity

▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 6:00 pm

Solunar Between windows

Time of day Dusk

Tide Moving

Wind S 25 km/h

Moon waxing crescent all day

Water temp 17.9 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Now

Day timeline

Major Minor Tide Twilight

First light 5:30 am Last light 6:12 pm

Low 4:14 am High 10:52 am Low 5:24 pm

Drag or use arrow keys to explore

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

3:30 pm → 7:00 pm

3h 30m

Good

5:00 am → 6:30 am

1h 30m

First light

5:30 am

Last light

6:12 pm

Sunrise

5:55 am

Sunset

5:48 pm

Moonrise

8:18 am

Moonset

11:05 pm

Low tide

4:14 am

High tide

10:52 am

Low tide

5:24 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

🌧️

11°

↙︎

218°

13 km/h

1am

☀️

11°

↙︎

216°

14 km/h

2am

☁️

11°

↙︎

212°

17 km/h

3am

☁️

11°

↓︎

200°

21 km/h

4am

☁️

11°

↙︎

221°

12 km/h

5am

☀️

10°

↙︎

217°

21 km/h

6am

☀️

9°

↙︎

224°

19 km/h

7am

☀️

9°

↙︎

224°

21 km/h

8am

☀️

11°

↙︎

217°

21 km/h

9am

☀️

12°

↙︎

207°

26 km/h

10am

☀️

13°

↙︎

204°

24 km/h

11am

☀️

14°

↓︎

195°

24 km/h

12pm

☀️

14°

↓︎

193°

25 km/h

1pm

☀️

15°

↓︎

189°

25 km/h

2pm

☀️

16°

↓︎

184°

27 km/h

3pm

☀️

15°

↓︎

182°

27 km/h

4pm

☀️

14°

↓︎

178°

27 km/h

5pm

☀️

14°

↓︎

190°

26 km/h

6pm

☀️

13°

↓︎

193°

25 km/h

7pm

☀️

13°

↓︎

194°

25 km/h

8pm

☀️

13°

↓︎

199°

23 km/h

Now

☀️

12°

↙︎

207°

20 km/h

10pm

☀️

11°

↙︎

212°

21 km/h

11pm

☀️

11°

↙︎

211°

23 km/h

Hourly Swell

Steady ~1.6 m S

12am

1.5 m

@ 6 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

1am

1.6 m

@ 6 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

2am

1.5 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

3am

1.4 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

4am

1.4 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

5am

1.3 m

@ 6 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

6am

1.3 m

@ 6 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

7am

1.2 m

@ 6 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

8am

1.2 m

@ 6 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

9am

1.3 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

10am

1.3 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

11am

1.2 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

12pm

1.2 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

1pm

1.2 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

2pm

1.1 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

3pm

1.1 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

4pm

1.1 m

@ 6 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

5pm

1.1 m

@ 6 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

6pm

1.1 m

@ 6 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

7pm

1.1 m

@ 6 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

8pm

1.2 m

@ 7 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

Now

1.3 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

10pm

1.4 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

11pm

1.6 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Moderate

Water Temp (°C)

→ steady around 17.9°

Sun

13 Sep

17.9°

Mon

14 Sep

18.0°

Tue

15 Sep

18.0°

Wed

16 Sep

17.9°

Thu

17 Sep

17.8°

Fri

18 Sep

17.9°

Sat

19 Sep

18.0°

Sun

20 Sep

18.2°

Mon

21 Sep

18.2°

Tue

22 Sep

18.1°

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 23 km/h S (199°).

Wind map data: ECMWF HRES (operational), updated every 6 hours. Not for navigation.

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

3:30 pm → 7:00 pm

3h 30m

Good

5:00 am → 6:30 am

1h 30m

First light

5:30 am

Last light

6:12 pm

Sunrise

5:55 am

Sunset

5:48 pm

Moonrise

8:18 am

Moonset

11:05 pm

Low tide

4:14 am

High tide

10:52 am

Low tide

5:24 pm

Nearby spots

Species at this spot

Luderick
Yellowfin Bream
Silver Trevally
Southern Calamari (Squid)
Dusky Flathead
Leatherjacket
Australian Salmon
Tailor