Best Sydney Harbour Fishing Spots: 21 Top Lure Fishing Locations

Sydney Harbour offers outstanding lure fishing opportunities, despite dense urban populations and heavy fishing pressure. It’s one of the worlds most iconic and picturesque waterways, with largely urban landscapes but a healthy smattering of national parks in the mix.

There are distinct fishing zones within The Harbour, each offering a slightly different experience, although many of the fish species are common to all:

• Sydney Harbour itself is also known as Port Jackson and is characterized by its iconic landmarks, bustling cityscape, and diverse marine life.
• Middle Harbour is a scenic and less congested section of Sydney Harbour, providing a quieter fishing experience compared to Port Jackson.
• The Parramatta River is a significant waterway flowing into Sydney Harbour, known for its estuarine environment and diverse fishing opportunities.

Sydney Harbour is rich in estuarine species like bream, dusky flathead, mulloway, silver trevally, and whiting. Anglers can also pursue pelagic sportfish such as kingfish, bonito, Australian salmon, and tailor, particularly during the warmer months. The harbor’s extensive foreshores provide accessible fishing spots, complemented by convenient boating facilities for those seeking a maritime adventure.

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Well-known Year-round Sydney Harbour (Port Jackson) Fishing Spots

Quarantine Beach:

Quarantine Beach near Manly provides excellent lure fishing opportunities both from the shore and boat/kayak. Target a variety of species, including bream, flathead, and silver trevally, particularly near rocky areas. Optimal times are dawn or dusk.

Clifton Gardens:

Clifton Gardens is a popular spot for families, but it also offers great fishing opportunities. It has a pier and rock walls where you can target species like bream, snapper, and flathead. Early morning or late afternoon is the best time to fish here. 

Sow and Pigs Reef:

Sow and Pigs Reef near Watsons Bay is a top location for lure fishing, especially targeting kingfish. Focus on the reef edges and drop-offs, especially around changing tides. Experimenting with different lures can yield effective results and best times often coincide with changing tides and the warmer months.

Goat Island:

From land, target the rocky areas and structures around the island with versatile lures like soft plastics, surface poppers, or diving hard baits. Species such as bream, flathead, and trevally are commonly found. For boat anglers, navigating the waters surrounding Goat Island can also yield encounters with kingfish and tailor.

Bradleys Head:

Positioned at the entrance of Sydney Harbour, Bradleys Head offers prime lure fishing opportunities. Target bream, flathead, mulloway, kingfish and tailor around the rocky points and submerged structures. Optimal times for successful lure fishing at Bradley’s Head include early mornings or late afternoons, especially during a rising tide.

Rose Bay Wharf:

Lure fishing around Rose Bay Wharf can be productive, targeting species like bream, flathead, and tailor. Work soft plastics or small hard-bodied lures along the structure, including the wharf pylons and nearby rocky areas. Early morning or late afternoon sessions are often more successful. Land-based anglers can cast from the shore near the wharf, while those with access to a boat or kayak can explore the surrounding waters for varied fishing opportunities. Consider adjusting lure colours and sizes based on the prevalent baitfish and prevailing conditions.

Camp Cove:

Camp Cove is a great place to target species such as bream, flathead, and silver trevally along the rocky edges with sandy patches. This picturesque location provides both land-based and boat fishing options. As for many Sydney Harbour Fishing spots dawn or dusk sessions are the most productive. A range of small and medium sized paddletail or curltail soft plastics, soft prawns or small will usually get results. This is also a fantastic place to chase a few squid

Balls Head Reserve:

Offering stunning views of the harbor, Balls Head Reserve is not only a picturesque location but also a hidden gem for fishing enthusiasts. The rocky points and jetties provide opportunities to catch bream, tailor, and even the occasional kingfish. As the sun sets, enjoy a tranquil fishing session with the iconic Sydney skyline as your backdrop.

Best Middle Harbour (North Arm) Fishing Spots

Spit Bridge And The Spit:

Lure enthusiasts at The Spit and Spit Bridge can zero in on bream, flathead, tailor, salmon and the occasional kingfish or jewfish. Target the bridge pylons and adjacent rocks with soft plastics, metal lures, jigs or hard-bodied lures. Poppers and stickbaits can also be effective if surface action is observed. There is plenty of access for shore-based anglers as well as those afloat in boats and kayaks.  boaters and kayakers have the freedom to explore broader waters. 

Sailors Bay:

Lure fishers at Sailors Bay can anticipate kingfish and tailor opportunities around the upstream point and entrance. The pylons and shoreline are great for quality bream on small soft plastics, small hardbodies and even surface stickbaits at times.

Flat Rock Beach:

This rocky outcrop offers anglers access to deeper waters, particularly favoured during the warmer months. Anglers frequently target mulloway and snapper from this location, both shore-based and from a boat or kayak. Quality flathead are also taken here, especially on the runout tides.

Bantry Bay:

The southern point and southern shore, as well as the mouth of Bantry Bay, are known for producing yellowtail kingfish. The south-eastern shoreline is excellent for luring bream, and the drop-off on the flat towards the end provides the best ground for big flatties caught on lures. This area is also well worth trying for a  squid or two.

Killarney Point:

One of the great Sydney fishing spots with access to deeper water, Killarney Point fishes well on most tides. Mulloway and snapper are the trophy catches here, but the bream, flathead and tailor populations can be very accommodating too.

Roseville Bridge:

Roseville Bridge is an easy access with nice parklands, making it a great place to take the family fishing. The bridge pylons are a great place to sling some paddletail soft plastics for jewfish and flathead, or a small curltail grub or hardbody for quality bream.

Moores Creek:

The stretch from the Roseville Bridge to Moore Creek is a great place to target bream and flathead from the shore or kayak. The area can also be navigated by boat, but watch out for shoals and sandflats. Also watch for deeper holes that hold some prime jewfish.

Parramatta River Fishing Spots

Ryde Rail Bridge:

The Ryde Rail Bridge offer land and boat-based lure fishing for bream, flathead, whiting and, occasional jewfish. Soft plastics, blades, hard bodies and even surface lures (during the warmer months) are worth throwing. Working rocky shorelines and nbridge pylons is effective. 

Iron Cove:

Fishing around Iron Cove offers anglers a chance to target bream, flathead, tailor, trevally and even the occasional jewfish. There’s ample opportunity both for land-based and boat/kayak fishing.  Soft plastics, blades, soft vibes, small hardbodies and occasionally surface lures will work. Rocky shorelines and bridge pylons offer plenty of structure to cast to. 

Parramatta Wharf:

Lure fishing enthusiasts will find Parramatta Wharf in New South Wales a great spot to chase bream, flathead, quality whiting and ocassionally other species too. Employing various soft plastics or small hard-bodied lures during dawn and dusk can yield decent results. 

Clarkes Point:

Clarkes Point is a well-known Sydney fishing hotspot for those chasing land-based bream, whiting, snapper, mulloway, and dusky flathead. Occasional kingfish , tailor and Australian salmon are also on the cards. Optimal fishing times vary, with the eastern side more productive on the run-out tide and the southern face during the run-in tide. In terms of lures, poppers work for kingfish and soft plastics, blades and hardbodies are the favourites for bream, flathead, and mulloway.

Five Dock Bay:

This is a very shallow bay along the foreshores and is best fished with small soft plastics for bream, flathead and whiting. For those with a boat (or capable of making long casts) there are plenty of boats on swing moorings to attract and hold fish. The intricate network of mangroves and rocky outcrops also provides the perfect habitat for bream that can be targeted with soft plastics and hard-bodied lures. The sandy shallows are known to harbour flathead, which fall victim to blades and plastics, whilst tailor and squid also frequent the area.

Bayview Park Wharf:

This spot offers a diversity of fish species for the lure fishing enthusiast. Bream are the most commonly targeted and will take well presented soft plastics or hard bodies, especially around the wharf pylons and boat hulls. Rocky structures and mangroves also fish well for this species. Flathead, tailor, whiting, flounder and the odd jewfish also inhale a lure at Bayview Park from time to time.

Sydney Harbour Fishing By Season

Spring

As the water temperature rises, the lure fishing in Sydney Harbour heats too. Many of the bread-and-butter species like bream, whiting, flathead, and Australian salmon become more prevalent and active in spring. Using a combination of surface lures, shallow-diving minnows, and soft plastics can yield great results. Shallow flats, rocky shorelines sandy areas, and weed beds are great places to fish in spring. Later in the season the kingfish, bonito and jewfish start to become more consistent as they shake off the cold and get active.

Summer

Fishing spots around Sydney Harbour and the surrounding area really start to fire in the summer months. Topwater action can become crazy with Australian salmon, kingfish, tailor, and a range of other pelagic species. The demersals get in on the act too, with mulloway and flathead among the popular targets in summer. Surface poppers, metal slugs, and soft plastics are effective lure choices. Focus on areas with structure, such as rock walls, jetties, and drop-offs, where predatory fish gather in search of prey. Early mornings and late afternoons are ideal for topwater action, while deeper water can be explored during the hotter parts of the day.

Autumn

For many Sydneysiders, Autumn is a favourite time to hit the harbour looking for bream, whiting, flathead, and trevally. Working shallow areas, sand flats, shorelines and weedbeds with small plastics, metals slugs, hard bodies or stickbaits can be extremely productive. As with Botany Bay, Sydney squid are a year-round options, but they definitely become larger and more prolific during Autumn.

Winter

Winter fishing in Sydney Harbour means you get to enjoy reduced boating traffic and a change of target species. Snapper become very willing around the reefs and drop-offs. Flathead continue to be abundant, and drift casting with soft plastics is a great option. Squid, bream and trevally continue to fish very well during winter.

ALF Episodes About Fishing In And Around Sydney Harbour