Clovelly, Coogee and Maroubra shore fishing
Beach update, 23 October 2026: Council closed Coogee and Maroubra beaches as a precaution on 22 October after a whale carcass washed onto rocks at Lurline Bay. Its lifeguard reports subsequently listed Coogee open at 7.25 am and Maroubra open at 9.24 am on 23 October. Strong currents and rips remain a concern. Avoid the Lurline Bay incident area while Council’s advice applies, check the latest beach status before travelling and follow local directions.
The coast behind Waverley Cemetery is a succession of short washes, holes and ledges. Shark Point adds open-water spinning. Gordons Bay has sand inside and rougher water outside, while Mistral Point puts deep water beside a particularly troublesome bottom. When open, Maroubra finishes the stretch with a proper beach-gutter session.
Those differences matter more than a long species list. Choose a float drift for luderick, a close bait for drummer, a clean sand edge for bream or whiting, or water in which a pilchard or lure can be worked for travelling fish.
| Water to choose | Main job | Useful distinction |
|---|---|---|
| Beery, Quaker and Carrs | Luderick in the wash | A controlled weed drift, with a suspended pilchard as a winter alternative. |
| Haler and Shark Point's cliff gutter | Drummer beside cover | Stronger tackle and a compact bait close in. |
| Shark Point's outside water | Bonito, salmon, tailor or kingfish | A moving lure or controlled live bait, separate from bottom fishing. |
| Gordons Bay's inner sand | Bream, whiting or flathead | A light bait or plastic on clean bottom. |
| Coogee Beach | Whiting or bream when the beach is open | Light worm bait in the current gutter; see the dated beach notice above. |
| Maroubra gutters | Whiting and bream when the beach is open | Read the changing gutter; see the dated beach notice above. |
Choose one outfit for the session
For the cemetery's luderick washes, a long, soft rod with a 3000-size spinning reel, about 3kg line and leader, a size 8 sneck hook and a balanced float gives you a workable starting setup. Add only the shot needed to leave the tip showing. Change fishing depth before changing the whole rig; a snag on every drift usually needs a shallower bait or a different lane.
For deliberate drummer fishing at Haler or the close Shark Point gutter, step up. An 11-foot rod rated around 7–15kg, a 4000-size reel and about 10kg mono is one coherent rock outfit. Use a compact strong hook matched to the bait and little lead. The longer rod helps with line control, while the extra line strength gives you a chance to turn a fish away from cover.
On Coogee or Maroubra sand, start lighter: a 7-foot spinning outfit with 3kg line, a small running ball sinker and a size 8 or 10 long-shank hook for beachworm. Use a longer beach rod when the gutter or line clearance requires it. For Shark Point spinning, the salmon guide's 8-foot, 3000-reel outfit with 6kg braid and 10kg leader suits the smaller travelling fish; a kingfish live bait is a different tackle job.
Behind Waverley Cemetery
Suicide Point
The first outcrop south of Bronte is called Suicide Point in the older fishing accounts. Its fishing water is a mixture of sand and reef, with tailor and salmon outside and bream, drummer, trevally and small snapper around the structure. The sand patches are what distinguish it from an uninterrupted weed-covered shelf.
Treat it as a historical fishing-water description, not a recommended approach. The old account depends on wading and high-cliff alternatives that are not an acceptable route plan here. A beach session at Bronte is the practical alternative when a lawful, dry fishing position is unavailable.
Two-up Cave
The small bight immediately north of Beery has a central hole and wash beside it. Separate those targets. A compact pilchard bait in the hole is the bream-and-small-snapper presentation. Drummer work close to the rough cover, where a lawful crab or cunje bait needs stronger tackle and very little unnecessary lead.
For luderick, use cabbage and a modest berley trail through the wash. A float that passes beside the hole without dragging the bait over its bottom is doing a different job from the pilchard rig.
Beery
Beery is the long low shelf south of Two-up Cave. Luderick and drummer give the washes their main purpose. Work the usable lane close to the reef rather than casting past it. Bream feature too, although the historical accounts often found small fish.
Winter adds a different option: trevally and tailor on a slowly retrieved pilchard or a pilchard held beneath a bobby cork. Suspending the bait keeps it available above the rough bottom. It also lets you change from a close weed drift to a wider fish-bait presentation without repeatedly losing a bottom rig.
Quaker
Quaker is the first small point south of Beery. Cabbage or string weed under a float, with berley following the same lane, is the luderick method. Drummer may take the weed too; fishing specifically for them with lawful crab or cunje calls for stronger tackle.
The deeper drop-off offers a separate bream presentation. Use little lead with a compact bait beside the edge. Pilchard pieces fished near the bottom also account for bream and trevally, with tailor taking the more mobile bait.
Carrs
Carrs is the next finger of rock south of Quaker. The paired locations share a weed-fishing history, but give an angler different edges from which to control the drift. Pick the one that lets the float and berley travel together through usable water.
Keep a pilchard bait above the worst bottom if changing to trevally or tailor. A drummer bait belongs near the cover; a luderick float should carry the weed along it. There is no advantage in making the same heavy bottom rig do all three jobs.
Haler, also called Tumbledown
Between Carrs and Red Reef, Haler is chiefly a drummer proposition. Bread, lawful crab and cunje baits, supported by berley, feature in its history. Keep that stronger presentation close to the fish's cover.
An apple corer makes neat bread baits and keeps their size consistent. Leave enough hook point clear to take hold.
Small bream were taken with lightly weighted pilchard or animal baits in the wash. Winter tailor give a reason to have a suspended fish bait available, but the distinctive reason to choose Haler is its close drummer water.
Red Reef, also called The Carpet
The low outer shelf approaching Shark Point has a broader history: spinning, live bait and bottom fishing, particularly at first and last light. The choice depends on whether there are feeding fish outside or a workable bait lane close to the reef.
This is a poor place to wait for a rising sea to improve the fishing. Water can spread quickly across the low rock. The old high-cliff alternative does not make the shelf an all-weather destination.
Shark Point
Shark Point: the outer casting water
Shark Point, also called Snapper Point, is immediately north of Clovelly Bay. Its open-water job is quite different from the cemetery washes. High-speed spinning and live yellowtail feature in accounts of bonito, small tuna, frigate mackerel and kingfish. Winter tailor and salmon provide another reason to carry a lure outfit.
Watch bait and water before choosing a lure. Warm water brings the possibility of small tuna; it does not guarantee they are feeding within casting range. At dawn or dusk, fresh small squid is a separate snapper bait. Plan the retrieve and landing before committing to either method. Water can collect behind the lower rock and flush back across it towards the sea.
Shark Point: the northern hole and cliff gutter
The northern hole and wash are bream-and-trevally water, using pilchard pieces and a modest berley trail. A long gutter along the cliff base changes the job to close drummer fishing with lawful crab or cunje. Weed-float luderick fishing there can bring a drummer onto the lighter rig.
The square-shaped gulf farther north adds rough-water cover. A wider pilchard drift was used for winter tailor, while the close wash suits reef fish. Keep the bream bait near the hole and the tailor bait moving beyond it. Casting farther is useful only if it changes the water being fished.
Clovelly and Gordons Bay
Clovelly entrance wash
The wash behind the entrance boulders has a luderick history, particularly around dawn or dusk and when high water coincides with sunset. Cabbage and berley give the float a useful lane to follow. Bream are a separate bait-fishing target, with worms, nippers and compact fish baits among the local choices.
This concerns the outer entrance water. The enclosed bay and swimming pool are busy swimming and snorkelling facilities. Do not cast across bathers or assume that the absence of a lifeguard permits fishing from a swimming platform. The bay's reserve status allows line fishing subject to other rules; it does not remove local signs or other users.
The square rock south of Clovelly
Between the entrance and Gordons Bay, the square rock is described as shallow, rough-bottomed water. It is a drummer job at dawn or dusk near high water, with peeled bait prawns, nippers and lawful crab or cunje among the baits. Keep the bait close enough to control and use little lead; an anchored bait among the cracks is readily lost.
Winter dawn spinning for tailor is the wider-water alternative. A southerly wash can feed this water, but leave if the sea crosses the fishing position. Use bait prawns, not prawns sold for people to eat.
Gordons Bay: the northern shore
The shore below the Clovelly car park faces into Gordons Bay, also known as Thompsons Bay. Near the top of the tide, a pilchard or garfish drift beyond the close rock is the tailor presentation. A lure works the same moving-fish opportunity when it can be retrieved cleanly.
Drummer are a closer job on lawful crab or cunje bait. The older account also describes a bombora as a casting reference and notes small bream. Do not turn that into one bottom rig for the entire shore: fish the close cover deliberately, or keep a fish bait suspended in the wider water.
Slatey: sand inside Gordons Bay
Slatey is the southern shore. Towards the beach, the sand gives you flathead, bream and whiting water with worms, nippers or a manageable pilchard bait. Let the bait work on clean bottom rather than burying it in the rock edge.
Farther out, sloping rock and the wash change the presentation. Fish strips and pilchards were used beyond the close cover for bream, tailor and snapper, with occasional larger species in the historical reports. Luderick and drummer belong nearer the wash. The inner sand, outer fish-bait water and close weed drift are three distinct jobs within the Slatey sector.
North Coogee Point
On the outer southern side of Gordons Bay, North Coogee Point has a long-cast snapper history using squid or tuna early in the rising tide. Occasional mulloway and teraglin appear in those accounts, but the useful lesson is the distance between the close reef and the intended bottom-bait water.
Close to the rocks, worms or nippers suit bream, while lawful crab or cunje is a stronger drummer offering. Winter dawn pilchard fishing adds tailor, salmon and trevally. Around the Gordons-facing side, high-water crab baits were used for bream and drummer. The low outer position is exposed even in relatively small seas.
Coogee and the southern bays
Coogee Beach
When the beach is open, Coogee often has quieter water and a comparatively quick drop from the sand. Whiting and bream are the sensible starting targets; tailor are possible when feeding fish move through. Look for the gutter produced by recent wind and sea rather than assuming last trip's sand shape remains.
A light running rig and worm bait gives the small sand fish an uncomplicated offering. Keep clear of swimming activity. The beach's occasional snapper history is not a reason to carry the heavy headland rig for every visit.
The Coogee baths shore
The rock water outside the southern baths has a luderick-and-drummer history at first and last light, with bream, tailor and small snapper in the night accounts. Pilchards, peeled bait prawns and lawful crab bait were the principal animal baits.
Wylie's Baths was formerly called Sunstrip Pool, which helps identify the older southern-pool landmark. Use the baths for orientation, not as fishing platforms. The fishing distinction is between weed worked through the outer wash and a small animal bait presented beside the covered rock.
Kings Reef at Trenerry Reserve
The point at Trenerry Reserve has a reef that extends well beyond the shore. That is the main tackle problem: a longer cast does not necessarily reach sand. The inner and southern water has bream, drummer and tailor history, while the low reef itself is covered at high tide.
A suspended fish bait keeps a tailor presentation off the rough ground. For bream and drummer, work a manageable pocket near cover with only enough weight for control. Do not walk out onto the low reef or rely on a high-cliff landing procedure to make this a viable session.
Honeycomb Rocks
The small-pool shore near Palmer Street, north of Lurline Bay, is known as Honeycomb Rocks. Luderick are the main close-wash target. Keep a cabbage bait travelling beside the rock with the berley rather than trying to pin it against every lift of water.
Bream and snapper were targeted with lawful crab bait at dawn, dusk and night. The historical account found a bright moon less productive for that bottom fishing. That is a local pattern to test, not a reason to overlook the actual water in front of you.
Lurline Bay
Keep clear of the whale-carcass incident area while Council's advice applies.
The small bay's gutters and broken cover give luderick, drummer and bream their feeding water. Work a weed drift for luderick or a compact bait beside the cover for bream and drummer. Tailor and snapper belong to the water beyond the immediate wash.
Choose the pocket the bait can fish without repeatedly lodging beneath the rock. A wide cast is a different presentation, not an improvement to every close-water session. The bay's old exceptional mulloway reports do not establish a dependable current mulloway plan.
Mistral Point, Mahon and Maroubra
Mistral Point
Mistral puts deeper water beside a very rough bottom. Its snapper history includes squid, lawful crab bait and an unweighted garfish on ganged hooks fished surprisingly close to the rock. The lesson is to control a bait in the useful water, not add lead until it is firmly stuck.
Summer dawn spinning gives an alternative when pelagic fish are present. Tailor and salmon also feature, while drummer remain a close-cover target. Watch what a bait or lure must cross on its return before committing it to a deep pocket.
Mahon: fish the water beside the pool
The deeper water on either side of Mahon Pool is the luderick-and-drummer water. Cabbage serves the blackfish float; lawful brought-in crab bait is a separate drummer offering. Winter pilchards add tailor and bream.
The low ledges directly in front of the pool are specifically rejected in the historical account. Do not treat them as the next step out from a sheltered swim. Council's Mahon Pool information identifies Marine Parade parking and public facilities and prohibits removing flora and fauna at the site.
The Stakes and Flatly
The Stakes profile separates close wash from outside sand. Cabbage fished in the corner and along the neighbouring edge is the luderick-and-drummer presentation. A worm bait cast towards beach sand changes the target to bream and whiting. Farther outside, snapper, trevally, bream and tailor appear in the account; summer lures were used for passing pelagics.
Flatly is the associated low blackfish ledge. Its close weed water is distinct from the beach-sand cast; do not move onto a flooded ledge to reach it.
Maroubra Beach
When the beach is open, Maroubra's gutters give you a different session from Mistral's rough bottom. Beachworms and bloodworms are the local starting baits for whiting and bream. Inspect the sand near the stormwater-drain sector and elsewhere along the beach, then fish the gutter that is actually working. No drain or sandbar is a permanent fish-holding mark.
For summer mulloway, the older accounts single out a deep gutter and live mullet or tailor. That needs a separate outfit, lawful bait and time to fish the tide. It does not belong on the light whiting rig. A metal kept ready for passing salmon or tailor adds a more mobile option when a school comes within range.
Local rules, current access and the rock-fishing note
The Bronte–Coogee Aquatic Reserve extends from southern Bronte to the rock baths at Coogee. Line fishing is permitted, but collecting cunjevoi, crabs, worms and most other invertebrates is prohibited. Its specific exceptions include blacklip abalone and rock lobster; sea lettuce and bait weed are the marine-vegetation exceptions. Bring lawful bait for the methods above. Do not target eastern blue groper, including red and brown stages, under the current NSW protection.
Use the public beach approaches and signed parking areas at Clovelly and Maroubra. A coastal walkway does not establish access to every ledge below it. Wear the required approved lifejacket when rock fishing in Randwick, including when assisting another angler. Wear suitable footwear, fish with a mate, watch the sets and leave before water takes away the dry working area or return route.
The blackfish guide covers the float setup, and the Australian salmon guide covers lure and bait-size decisions. Continue north with Bondi to Bronte, or south with Malabar, Little Bay and Cape Banks.