Fishing Forster-Tuncurry & Wallis Lake
General fishing in Forster-Tuncurry & Wallis Lake is centered around the vast seagrass beds, sand flats, and extensive oyster leases of the lake. These rich feeding grounds undergo significant seasonal changes, bringing immense schools of sand whiting and flathead close to the channels during summer. Anglers can maximize their success by targeting the edges of the leases on an incoming tide.
Land-based anglers are incredibly well catered for with the famous breakwalls that divide the twin towns. Wading the shallow weed flats and sandbars of Wallis Lake is an absolute haven for those casting light surface poppers for whiting. Bridge pylons and rock pools provide easily accessible, family-friendly locations to soak fresh baits.
Offshore and boat fishing out of Forster is highly regarded, with a relatively safe bar crossing providing access to deep-water reefs. The continental shelf is within striking distance, making this a renowned hotspot for game fishers chasing marlin and tuna. Closer to shore, the reefs yield phenomenal snapper and pearl perch throughout the cooler months.
Top 10 Species
Landbased
- The Forster Breakwall: The Forster Breakwall is a land-based mecca for targeting tailor, bream, flathead, and the occasional jewfish. The most productive fishing occurs at dawn or dusk during a changing tide when baitfish are pushed against the rocks. Medium spin tackle paired with lightly weighted pilchards or soft plastics will ensure you can extract fish from the boulders.
- The Paddocks: The Paddocks features extensive shallow seagrass flats near the bridge that are highly regarded for holding quality dusky flathead. Wading these flats during a run-out tide allows anglers to cover ground by casting lightly weighted soft plastics. A medium-light spin outfit paired with a ten-pound leader is perfect for trolling or casting over the weed beds.
- Tuncurry Rockpool: Tuncurry Rockpool offers a safe and family-friendly environment for kids to fish while the adults target larger species nearby. Fish the incoming tide with live yabbies or fresh prawns to catch a reliable mixed bag of whiting and bream. A light estuary combo and a small sinker will ensure your bait looks as natural as possible in the clear water.
- Nine Mile Beach: Nine Mile Beach provides endless kilometres of sandy gutters perfect for catching Australian salmon and tailor. Fish the rising tide with an offshore wind using a paternoster rig baited with fresh pilchards or beach worms. A standard twelve-foot beach rod is required to cast past the shore break and keep your line above the crashing waves.
- The Forster-Tuncurry Bridge: The Forster-Tuncurry Bridge pylons create deep eddies that hold impressive numbers of school jewfish and passing kingfish. Hopping heavily weighted soft plastics along the bottom during the slack tide will trigger aggressive reaction bites. Braided line of at least twenty pounds is required to stop fish from wrapping you around the submerged concrete pillars.
Offshore
- The Forster FAD: The Forster FAD is deployed over the warmer months to aggregate massive schools of acrobatic dolphinfish. Trolling small skirted lures past the buoy at first light is the most effective way to locate the active fish. Once the school is raised, casting unweighted bait cubes on medium spin gear will provide endless entertainment.
- Latitude Rock: Latitude Rock sits just south of Forster and provides exceptional bottom fishing for large winter snapper and pearl perch. Anchoring up and establishing a steady berley trail on a run-out tide will draw the fish up from the reef. Float lightly weighted squid strips down the trail using a baitrunner reel for the most natural bait presentation.
- The Pinnacle: The Pinnacle is a deep-water mark that is highly renowned for holding aggressive yellowtail kingfish and samson fish. Dropping live slimy mackerel or heavy metal jigs into the strike zone during a slack tide is incredibly effective. Anglers must use locked drags and heavy braided lines to stop the kingfish from instantly busting off on the jagged reef.
- Cape Hawke Reef: Cape Hawke Reef offers spectacular shallow water reef fishing for tailor, snapper, and the occasional cobia. Drifting slowly over the broken structure while vertically dropping soft plastics will entice strikes from resident predators. A sensitive graphite rod paired with braided line will ensure you can feel every subtle bite in the deep water.
- The Continental Shelf Drop-off: The Continental Shelf drop-off requires a longer run but offers world-class sportfishing for striped and black marlin. Trolling a spread of large pushers in the deep blue water during a northerly breeze will eventually raise a billfish. Game fishing gear in the twenty-four to thirty-seven kilogram class is standard equipment for this ultimate offshore arena.
Hot Spots
- Coomba Park Shallows: These quiet and undisturbed weed beds are an absolute haven for large dusky flathead on an outgoing tide.
- Green Point Drop-off: Drifting along this steep sandy ledge with live yabbies is a highly reliable method for catching whiting.
- Forster Keys Canals: The residential pontoons offer fantastic structure for casting small soft plastics to target yellowfin bream.
- Wallamba River Junction: This deep-water confluence is a renowned holding ground for large school mulloway during the winter months.
- Smiths Lake Sandbar: Wading the shallow sandbars on a rising tide yields impressive catches of sand whiting on light tackle.
Local Bait Tips
- Prawns: Prawns are highly sought after in Wallis Lake and can be scooped from the shallow sandy bottoms during a dark moon. You must use a registered dip net and carry a waterproof torch to spot their glowing red eyes in the shallows.
- Saltwater Nippers: Saltwater nippers can be easily collected by pumping nippers using a hand-operated suction pump on intertidal flats near the Tuncurry bridge during the bottom of the low tide. The legal bag limit is one hundred nippers and all undersized bycatch must be carefully returned to the water.
- Blue Swimmer Crabs: Blue swimmer crabs are prolific in the lake and can be targeted using standard hoop nets baited with fish frames. Ensure your traps comply with the maximum NSW dimensions and avoid setting gear in the restricted canal waters of Forster Keys.
Boat Ramps
- Point Road Boat Ramp, Tuncurry:
Point Road Boat Ramp: Located on Point Road in Tuncurry, this single-lane concrete ramp provides public and commercial access to Wallis Lake. It is highly popular, listing in the top 5% of ramps in NSW based on user numbers. Ramps in the area suffer from tidal flow, limited parking, and shoaling. Boarding is assisted by a wooden wharf and boarding jetty, and the site includes fish-cleaning tables, wash-down areas, and grass parking. The stretch of water downstream to the Tuncurry Channel is adversely affected by sand shoaling, which recently necessitated dredging works jointly funded by Transport for NSW and MidCoast Council.
- Little Street Boat Ramp, Forster:
Little Street Boat Ramp: Located on Little Street in Forster, this facility provides access to Wallis Lake. Originally upgraded under the Better Boating Programme in May 2008, it has historically been used for launching motorised and non-motorised craft. Because of high pedestrian risk, vehicular launching traffic, and limited parking, the ramp underwent a safety trial restricting access to motorised watercraft during December and January. The draft Boating Infrastructure Plan recommended converting it permanently to a non-motorised launch area for kayaks.
- Coomba Park Boat Ramp, Coomba Park:
Coomba Park Boat Ramp: Located in Coomba Park on Wallis Lake, this ramp is a long 85-kilometre return trip by car from Forster on a winding road in poor condition. Launching here requires a 15-kilometre return boat trip to reach popular channels, often navigating rough water, making it unsuitable for small boats or inexperienced boaters.
- John Debert Reserve Boat Ramp (Smiths Lake):
John Debert Reserve Boat Ramp (Smiths Lake): Positioned off Amaroo Drive within the John Debert Reserve in Smiths Lake, this regional launching facility consists of a single-lane concrete ramp managed by the MidCoast Council [4, 7, 8]. It has no staging pontoons, walkways, or boarding wharves, requiring direct shoreline vessel boarding [4, 7]. Navigational and launching operations are heavily constrained by the lake’s water level management; during mechanical breaches of the ICOLL sandbar, the ramp faces extreme outflow currents and rapid dewatering, posing a severe vessel stranding hazard [4, 9-11].
- Brambles Reserve Boat Ramp (Smiths Lake):
Brambles Reserve Boat Ramp (Smiths Lake): Located on the northern shore of Smiths Lake and accessed off Lot 7009 along The Lakes Way in Tarbuck Bay, this single-lane concrete ramp is managed by the MidCoast Council and designed for launching shallow-draft vessels and light watercraft [4, 8, 12, 13]. The facility has no staging pontoons, floating walkways, or boarding jetties, requiring users to secure and board their vessels directly from the natural foreshore [4, 12, 13]. Operations are heavily constrained by the lake’s water level management policies; mechanical breaching of the ICOLL sandbar to prevent minor flooding causes rapid drops in water levels, creating severe low-water shoaling conditions and an immediate boat stranding hazard that temporarily closes the ramp [4, 9-11, 13].
- Boat Beach Boat Ramp (Seal Rocks):
Boat Beach Boat Ramp (Seal Rocks): This unformed launching facility is located off Kinka Road within the unpatrolled Boat Beach Coastal Reserve, directly fronting north-facing Sugarloaf Bay in the Tasman Sea [1-3]. It lacks engineered concrete ramps and features a single-lane unpaved sand beach launching configuration that is strictly limited to 4WD vehicles [1, 2, 4, 5]. Vessel launch and retrieval are assisted by a physical steel winch cable running across the beach and adjacent road, primarily used to haul heavy, open commercial fishing craft [1, 5]. The site contains no staging pontoons, floating walkways, or boarding jetties, requiring direct beach-handling of vessels in the active surf zone [1, 3-5]. Navigating from here presents significant oceanic hazards, forcing boaters to launch directly through incoming surf and negotiate challenging coastal currents, shallow offshore reef systems (including the Statis and Staris Rock reefs), and exposed rock formations surrounding Sugarloaf Point [1, 3-6].
Bait and Tackle
- Great Lakes Tackle Forster: 41 Albert St, Forster NSW 2428 | Phone: (02) 6554 8707
- Barclay's Marine: 22-24 Lakes Way, Forster NSW 2428 | Phone: (02) 6554 5863
- BCF Forster: 29 Breese Parade, Forster NSW 2428 | Phone: (02) 6555 4911
- Forster BP Service Station: 80 MacIntosh St, Forster NSW 2428 | Phone: (02) 6554 6255
Basecamp & Accom
- Tiona Holiday Park: 4155 The Lakes Way, Tiona NSW 2428 | Phone: (02) 6554 0291
- BIG4 Great Lakes at Forster-Tuncurry: 1 Parks Line, Tuncurry NSW 2428 | Phone: (02) 6554 6827
- Lani's Holiday Island: 33 Boundary St, Forster NSW 2428 | Phone: (02) 6554 6273
- Secura Lifestyle Lakeside Forster: 1 Lakes Way, Forster NSW 2428 | Phone: (02) 6554 6688
Emergency & Safety
- Emergency: 000 | Marine Rescue Forster-Tuncurry: Breakwater Road, Forster NSW 2428 | Radio: VHF Channel 16 | Phone: (02) 6554 5458
