What fish can you catch at Yarra Bay in Botany Bay?

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.

Do you need a fishing licence to fish at Yarra Bay?

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.

What's the size and bag limit for dusky flathead at Yarra Bay?

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.

Where do you catch squid at Yarra Bay?

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.

Is Yarra Bay good for fishing with kids?

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.

Bite Compass

Bite Forecast

Yarra Bay (Phillip Bay)

Sat 12 Sep 2026 · Australia/Sydney

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12 Sep

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Today Tomorrow Sat 19 Sep

📍 Yarra Bay (Phillip Bay)

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Weather: Sunny Wind: N 355° · 9 km/h Swell: 1.2 m @ 10 s S Water: 18.0 °C Pressure: 1028.2 hPa ↓ falling

★★★☆☆

Medium Fish Activity

▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 6:00 pm

Solunar Between windows

Time of day Dusk

Tide Moving

Wind NE 15 km/h

Moon new all day

Water temp 18.0 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Day timeline

Major Minor Tide Twilight

First light 5:34 am Last light 6:08 pm

Low 2:07 am High 8:19 am Low 2:12 pm High 8:26 pm

Drag or use arrow keys to explore

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

5:30 pm → 9:00 pm

3h 30m

Good

5:30 am → 7:00 am

1h 30m

Good

12:00 pm → 3:00 pm

First light

5:34 am

Last light

6:08 pm

Sunrise

5:59 am

Sunset

5:44 pm

Moonrise

6:18 am

Moonset

6:54 pm

Low tide

2:07 am

High tide

8:19 am

Low tide

2:12 pm

High tide

8:26 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

☀️

13°

←︎

288°

1 km/h

1am

☀️

12°

←︎

287°

6 km/h

2am

☀️

11°

←︎

290°

8 km/h

3am

☀️

11°

↖︎

293°

7 km/h

4am

☀️

10°

↖︎

304°

7 km/h

5am

☀️

10°

↖︎

296°

7 km/h

6am

☀️

10°

↖︎

295°

7 km/h

7am

☀️

10°

↖︎

301°

7 km/h

8am

☀️

12°

↖︎

297°

6 km/h

9am

☀️

15°

←︎

287°

5 km/h

10am

☀️

18°

←︎

291°

4 km/h

11am

☁️

20°

↑︎

22°

4 km/h

12pm

☀️

21°

→︎

94°

8 km/h

1pm

☀️

20°

→︎

89°

14 km/h

2pm

☀️

20°

→︎

76°

15 km/h

3pm

☀️

20°

→︎

69°

14 km/h

4pm

☀️

19°

↗︎

59°

16 km/h

5pm

☀️

19°

↗︎

52°

15 km/h

6pm

☀️

18°

↗︎

45°

15 km/h

7pm

☀️

17°

↗︎

42°

15 km/h

8pm

☀️

17°

↗︎

37°

12 km/h

9pm

☀️

17°

↑︎

22°

11 km/h

10pm

☀️

16°

↑︎

355°

9 km/h

11pm

☀️

15°

↖︎

334°

8 km/h

Hourly Swell

Steady ~1.2 m S

12am

1.4 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

1am

1.3 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

2am

1.3 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

3am

1.3 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

4am

1.3 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

5am

1.3 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

6am

1.3 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

7am

1.3 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

8am

1.3 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

9am

1.3 m

@ 9 s

↓︎

Moderate

10am

1.3 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Moderate

11am

1.3 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Moderate

12pm

1.3 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Moderate

1pm

1.3 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Moderate

2pm

1.3 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Moderate

3pm

1.4 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Moderate

4pm

1.4 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Moderate

5pm

1.3 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Moderate

6pm

1.3 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Moderate

7pm

1.3 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Moderate

8pm

1.3 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Moderate

9pm

1.3 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Moderate

10pm

1.2 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Moderate

11pm

1.2 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Moderate

Water Temp (°C)

→ steady around 17.9°

Wed

9 Sep

17.8°

Thu

10 Sep

17.7°

Fri

11 Sep

17.9°

Sat

12 Sep

17.9°

Sun

13 Sep

17.9°

Mon

14 Sep

18.0°

Tue

15 Sep

18.0°

Wed

16 Sep

17.8°

Thu

17 Sep

17.7°

Fri

18 Sep

17.8°

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 9 km/h N (355°).

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

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

5:30 pm → 9:00 pm

3h 30m

Good

5:30 am → 7:00 am

1h 30m

Good

12:00 pm → 3:00 pm

First light

5:34 am

Last light

6:08 pm

Sunrise

5:59 am

Sunset

5:44 pm

Moonrise

6:18 am

Moonset

6:54 pm

Low tide

2:07 am

High tide

8:19 am

Low tide

2:12 pm

High tide

8:26 pm

Nearby spots

Species at this spot

Sand Whiting
Yellowfin Bream
Dusky Flathead
Southern Calamari (Squid)
Silver Trevally
Yellowtail Kingfish
Tailor
Australian Salmon