Sydney fishing report: 14 to 21 October 2026
14 to 21 October 2026
Short version: Typical spring weather, but the fish are biting. Blackfish are on fire in the lower harbour, small kingfish are everywhere, and big bream are on the beaches after dark.
Harbour: Blackfish (luderick) have been on fire in the lower harbour. Sow and Pigs Reef and Bottle and Glass Point have been the top spots. There are lots of small kingfish in the harbour, with the odd bigger one, and bait has been easy to find.
Offshore: Big snapper and pearl perch are on the offshore reefs. Kingfish have been scarce out wide, but mulloway and teraglin have made up for it. A sailfish was even hooked and released by a crew chasing snapper.
Beaches: Big bream and tarwhine are biting after dark, even with the clear water. Fish the corners of the beaches where the sand meets the rocks. Beach worms are the bait to use, and fresh or frozen both work.
Rocks: The rocks have been up and down for pelagics, with a few small kingfish and bonito. Rock blackfish (drummer) are very active on most headlands.
Hawkesbury: In the lower Hawkesbury just upriver of Coba Point, Saturday 17 October was slow for the first 90 minutes. Once the run-in tide got going, it turned on 4 flathead around 45 cm, plus a small jewfish and a good bream.
Weekend weather: North-easterly winds of 15 to 25 knots on Thursday and Friday, with seas of 1.5 to 2 metres off Sydney. Saturday looks partly cloudy with a 30 per cent chance of rain and a top of 27. Sunday is hotter, around 30, with showers likely. A cold front is due to bring a southerly change late in the weekend or early next week.
Rules check
- Luderick (blackfish) must be 27 cm or more. You can keep 10 a day. (official source)
- Snapper must be 30 cm or more. You can keep 10 a day. (official source)
- Mulloway must be 70 cm or more. You can keep 1 a day. (official source)
- Dusky flathead must be between 36 cm and 70 cm. You can keep 5 a day. (official source)
- Bream must be 25 cm and tarwhine 20 cm or more, with a combined limit of 10 a day. (official source)
Rules checked against NSW DPIRD on 21 Oct 2026.
Fishing spots in this region
- Bondi, NSW
- Botany Bay & Georges River, NSW
- Cronulla & Port Hacking, NSW
- Hawkesbury River, NSW
- Manly, NSW
- Narrabeen, NSW
- Palm Beach & Pittwater, NSW
- Sydney Harbour, NSW
Emergency: 000. On the water: VHF Channel 16.
