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Bite Compass

Sydney & NSW Fish Species Guide

The fish New South Wales anglers chase, under their NSW names, with NSW seasons and the spots in our guide that hold them.

19 species. Size and bag limits are set by NSW DPIRD — each guide links them.

Filter by habitat:
Tailor
Pomatomus saltatrix
A fast, toothy schooling predator of surf beaches, headlands and estuary mouths. Best at first and last light on...
Listed at 80 NSW spots in our guide.
NSW season Year-round
Australian Salmon
Arripis truttaceus
A hard-fighting schooling fish of surf beaches and rock platforms, and the juvenile "salmon trout" of bays and...
Listed at 56 NSW spots in our guide.
NSW season Year-round
Silver Trevally
Pseudocaranx georgianus
A deep-bodied, hard-pulling schooling trevally of jetties, breakwalls, reef and estuary channels. Comes readily to...
Listed at 66 NSW spots in our guide.
NSW season Year-round
Mulloway
Argyrosomus japonicus
A big, nocturnal predator of estuaries, river mouths, surf gutters and rock walls, and one of the most prized...
Listed at 42 NSW spots in our guide.
NSW season Year-round
Southern Calamari (Squid)
Sepioteuthis australis
A fast-growing, short-lived squid of shallow seagrass and reef, jigged from jetties, rocks and boats, best at low...
Listed at 31 NSW spots in our guide.
NSW season Year-round
Snapper
Chrysophrys auratus
A pink, blue-spotted reef fish with crushing teeth, prized for its fight and its eating. Taken on fresh bait or soft...
Listed at 10 NSW spots in our guide.
NSW season Year-round (best Jun–Nov)
Yellowtail Kingfish
Seriola lalandi
Yellowtail kingfish are the southern coast's hardest-pulling land-based fish: a fast, structure-loving pelagic that...
Listed at 40 NSW spots in our guide.
NSW season Year-round (best Dec–May)
Tarwhine
Rhabdosargus sarba
Tarwhine are the gold-lined, round-faced cousin of bream: a schooling fish of harbours, estuary mouths, rock walls...
Listed at 6 NSW spots in our guide.
NSW season Year-round
Garfish
Hyporhamphus australis
Garfish are slender, silver surface schoolers of sheltered bays, jetties and seagrass, with a long needle of a lower...
Listed at 3 NSW spots in our guide.
NSW season Year-round (best Mar–May)
Dart
Trachinotus coppingeri
Dart are the hard-pulling silver speedsters of the surf gutters: compact, deep-tailed members of the pompano family...
Listed at 8 NSW spots in our guide.
NSW season Nov–Apr
Leatherjacket
Monacanthidae (various)
A group of small-mouthed, tough-skinned reef and jetty fish with a single spine on the head: notorious bait thieves...
Listed at 12 NSW spots in our guide.
NSW season Year-round
Yellowfin Bream
Acanthopagrus australis
The east coast's everyday bream: a silvery, yellow-finned fish of estuaries, breakwalls, wharves and ocean rocks,...
Listed at 85 NSW spots in our guide.
NSW season Year-round
Luderick
Girella tricuspidata
A schooling weed-eater of breakwalls, rock ledges, jetties and estuary channels, caught on a float, a long soft rod...
Listed at 79 NSW spots in our guide.
NSW season Year-round (best Apr–Sep)
Dusky Flathead
Platycephalus fuscus
The biggest of the flatheads and the east coast's favourite estuary ambusher: lying half-buried on sand and mud...
Listed at 66 NSW spots in our guide.
NSW season Year-round (best Oct–Apr)
Sand Whiting
Sillago ciliata
A silvery, yellow-finned whiting of surf beaches, estuary flats and coastal lakes: fished with worms and nippers on...
Listed at 60 NSW spots in our guide.
NSW season Year-round (best Oct–Apr)
Rock Blackfish
Girella elevata
A thick-shouldered, dark blue-black fish of the wash zone on exposed ocean rocks, fished in white water with heavy...
Listed at 25 NSW spots in our guide.
NSW season Year-round
Bonito
Sarda australis
A small, striped, fast-swimming relative of the tunas that schools along headlands, breakwalls and harbour mouths,...
Listed at 22 NSW spots in our guide.
NSW season Nov–Jun (best Mar–Jun)
Eastern Blue Groper
Achoerodus viridis
A big, thick-lipped, peg-toothed wrasse of the rocky reefs, famous for its curiosity and its cobalt-blue males; on...
Listed at 3 NSW spots in our guide.
NSW season Closed (no-take)
Australian Bass
Percalates novemaculeata
The native sportfish of the coastal rivers of the south-east, living in the freshwater reaches among snags and...
Listed at 1 NSW spot in our guide.
NSW season Sep–Apr (release only May–Aug)

Fishing elsewhere? Western Australia species guide · South Australia species guide