Yarra Bay (Phillip Bay)

Yarra Bay sits on the northern shore of Botany Bay in Phillip Bay, a calm sandy half-moon bookended by Yarra Point to the south and Bumborah Point to the north. The sand flats and seagrass hold whiting, bream and flathead within an easy cast of the shore, and the small breakwall and rocky point east of the Yarra Bay Sailing Club add the structure that turns a swimming beach into a genuine fishing spot. The breakwall and the concrete pylons toward the Port Botany end are the local go-to for squid and yellowtail livies, which in turn brings the kingfish that get hooked on plastics through summer. It's a forgiving, land-based bay that rewards light gear and patience rather than big surf tackle.

Locals work the sand and seagrass with worm baits for whiting, bream and flathead, fishing a rising tide that pushes water and bait up onto the flats. Around the breakwall and rocky point, soft plastics and blades cast wide into the deeper water and hopped slowly back account for bream and flathead, while a live yellowtail or a slow-jigged bait fished tight to the structure tempts the better bream. Squid jigs over the seagrass edges produce calamari, and those squid and yellowtail double as livebait for kingfish off the pylons. Low light at either end of the day, and the couple of hours either side of the tide change, are when the bay fishes best.

Sand whiting are the warm-season headline from roughly October through April, best on worms over the clean sand, at 27 cm and a bag of 20 shared across the whiting. Yellowfin bream are year-round and reliable around the breakwall and rocky point at 25 cm on a bag of 10 shared with tarwhine, joined by dusky flathead from spring into autumn over the flats and drop-offs, where the keeper window is 36 to 70 cm and the bag is 5. Southern calamari hold over the seagrass year-round, schooling up best as the water cools, and are a target in their own right as much as prime live bait, with no size limit and a bag of 20 shared across all squid and cuttlefish. Silver trevally show along the wall at 30 cm on a bag of 10 shared across the trevallies, and the cooler months bring tailor and Australian salmon through — tailor 30 cm on a bag of 10, salmon with no minimum size at all on a bag of 5. Yellowtail kingfish chase live bait off the pylons from December into April at 65 cm and a bag of 5. This is Botany Bay water, so the NSW PFAS Taskforce advises releasing Australian salmon rather than eating them, and it caps weekly servings of tailor, silver trevally and mulloway, tighter again for children aged two to six.

Fresh blood or beach worms out-fish everything else on the flats here, so have them sorted before a whiting session. If you pump your own, work clean sand only, because digging for bait in seagrass, mangroves or saltmarsh is prohibited state-wide and this bay carries a lot of seagrass. When chasing the better bream around the wall, keep a live bait moving with a short, slow jigging action rather than letting it sit dead. Catch a few squid or yellowtail early and the kingfish bait is sorted for the rest of the session. Leave the oysters on the breakwall alone, because taking them is prohibited throughout Botany Bay and all its tributaries. The bay is busy with sailing-club traffic and swimmers in summer, so fish the early mornings and the shoulders of the day when the water is quieter.

Access is through Yarra Bay Bicentennial Park off Yarra Road, with car and bus parking, public toilets and picnic facilities under the trees. The Yarra Bay Sailing Club end adds more parking and an easier ramp down to the beach and breakwater. It is a short, flat walk from the car to the sand, which makes it one of the more mobility-friendly land-based options on Botany Bay. The calm, shallow water and the picnic facilities make it genuinely kid-friendly, though check the council signage for dog rules before you bring one. One boundary to know before you wander west — Penrhyn Estuary at the Port Botany end is closed to all fishing methods, from its source down to the container terminal bridge off Foreshore Road.

Yarra Bay faces south into Botany Bay and is sheltered from the open ocean swell, so it stays fishable in conditions that shut the outside rock and beach spots down. A southerly blows straight in and chops the bay up, while northerly and westerly winds are offshore here and leave the water clean and calm. A rising tide that floods the sand flats is the prime whiting and flathead window, and the breakwall fishes best on the run-in toward dusk. Heavy rain runs dirty water out of the catchment and the bite tends to drop until it clears.

This is a calm estuary bay, so the risks are the small ones rather than washed-off-the-rocks drama. The breakwall and rocky point are oyster-encrusted and slippery, so wear closed footwear and watch your hands and your footing, especially when landing fish. Bluebottles blow into the bay on summer north-easterlies and can litter the sand. The bay is shared with sailing-club boats, swimmers and the busy Port Botany shipping channel nearby, so keep lines clear of moored and moving craft and do not cast where people are in the water. The western side is the one to respect: the Port Botany operational area begins immediately west, with port security exclusion zones on the water, and Penrhyn Estuary beyond it is closed to all fishing methods all year. Sun exposure is real on an open sand beach with little shade away from the picnic area, so cover up.

Sand whiting, yellowfin bream, dusky flathead and southern calamari are the mainstays, with silver trevally year-round and tailor and Australian salmon through the cooler months. The breakwall and concrete pylons toward the Port Botany end also produce kingfish on live bait and plastics from around December to April. Because this is Botany Bay, the NSW PFAS Taskforce advises releasing Australian salmon caught here rather than eating them, and weekly servings of tailor, silver trevally and mulloway are capped.

Yes. A NSW Recreational Fishing Fee is required to fish anywhere in NSW, including the shore and breakwall at Yarra Bay, unless you hold an exemption — $7 for three days, $14 for a month, $35 for a year or $85 for three years. You can buy it online, by phone or from a fishing fee agent, and the receipt has to be carried while you fish. People under 18, pensioner concession card holders and Aboriginal people are among those exempt.

Under current NSW rules dusky flathead sit in a 36 to 70 cm slot — keepers must fall between those lengths and any fish over 70 cm goes back — with a daily bag of 5 and 10 in possession. Sand whiting are 27 cm on a bag of 20 shared across the whiting, yellowfin bream 25 cm on a bag of 10 shared with tarwhine, and silver trevally 30 cm on a bag of 10 shared across the trevallies. A NSW Recreational Fishing Fee is required as well.

Work squid jigs over the seagrass edges and around the breakwall and rocky point east of the sailing club. Calamari hold there year-round, best through the cooler months, and they double as prime live bait for the kingfish that turn up off the concrete pylons in summer.

Yes. It is a calm, shallow sandy bay with a short flat walk from the car park, plus toilets and picnic facilities at Yarra Bay Bicentennial Park. The whiting and bream are within easy casting range on light gear. Check the council signage for the current dog rules before you bring one down.