Sydney Harbour south-shore fishing: Camp Cove, Bottle and Glass, Rose Bay and Double Bay
The southern Harbour shore offers three useful kinds of fishing: whiting along a beach drop-off, luderick and bream beside rock, and small live baits from a public wharf. Camp Cove, Bottle and Glass, Rose Bay and Double Bay each give that choice a different shape.
A light outfit is a good start, but rig it for the job. The fine worm bait you want at Camp Cove is not the same presentation as cabbage drifting beside Bottle and Glass. Carry a landing net, a few hook and sinker sizes, and enough room in the plan to follow what the tide is doing.
Choose the water for your session
| Area | Targets | Starting method and difference |
|---|---|---|
| Camp Cove | Whiting, bream and luderick | Worm bait on the near sand edge; weed at the rock corners. |
| Bottle and Glass | Bream, luderick and drummer | Light fish bait or a weed float beside the rock, with a stronger drummer option. |
| Rose Bay | Flathead and baitfish | A small plastic over reachable sand; tiny bait at a permitted public wharf. |
| Double Bay, Watsons Bay | Yellowtail and other small baitfish | Small hooks, a sparse berley trail and prepared aeration, clear of ferry movements. |
Camp Cove: watch the sand edge
Camp Cove's summer whiting are the reason to fish the beach carefully. The sand drops away relatively quickly, and fish can patrol that change in depth quite close to shore. Before making a long cast, look at the near water. On a clear, unruffled morning, polaroids can help you pick out the flash of a fish turning over the sand.
A quiet midweek start gives you more room than the middle of a busy swimming day. Move slowly and make a gentle cast. The point of a light sinker is to let the bait move naturally, but it also avoids a large splash over fish you have just spotted. In suitable water, an unweighted bloodworm is worth trying.
Use a small long-shank hook and a narrow, fresh worm bait. Keep the point exposed. A light rod and fine line let you present it neatly without a large amount of lead. The old Camp Cove accounts went as light as 1kg line; the practical lesson is the unobtrusive presentation, not that every angler must use that exact line class.
Fish the visible sand edge rather than aiming for a marker out of habit. If wind ripples the surface or the water is discoloured, the sight-fishing advantage disappears. Then work the reachable drop-off with careful casts and bottom contact. Change the angle before deciding that the beach is empty.
Camp Cove is also a busy swimming and diving beach. Leave those activities clear and pack up or move when there is no room for a safe cast. The public beach is a short walk from Watsons Bay; use the established beach approaches.
Camp Cove rock corners
The rock at either end gives the cove another purpose. Luderick are the daylight target along those edges, while bream are recorded after dark. Keep the weed bait close enough to follow the submerged rock, at a depth where it drifts without continually snagging.
For bream, use a compact fresh bait and only enough lead to get it down beside the edge. A bait cast straight out onto sand is a different presentation from one allowed to sink close to the rock. Choose which water you mean to fish before feeding any berley into it.
Keep to open ground with a straightforward return. The beach corners do not provide a continuous route to the low ocean ledges around South Head.
Watsons Bay: use the public wharf rules
Watsons Bay's public ferry wharf is listed in Fisheries' Harbour shore-fishing guide. It is a working landing: current signs and the ferry's movements determine when and where a line can be put in.
A small-hook bait session is easier to manage here than several long-cast outfits. When baitfish are visible, try a tiny bait on a fine hook, with a small amount of berley to keep them within reach. Lower the bait under control rather than casting a string of hooks through people and railings. Have the bucket and aeration ready before keeping any live bait.
Ferries and passengers have priority. Bring every line in before the ferry approaches, and leave the landing and walkway unobstructed. The current public-wharf rules allow fishing at most commuter wharves subject to signs; they do not turn nearby club jetties into public platforms.
Bottle and Glass: a rock-edge session
Bottle and Glass is the projecting rock point in Nielsen Park. It puts rock and a more defined edge in front of you, instead of Camp Cove's open sand. Bream are the main bait-fishing starting point, with luderick, drummer and the occasional small snapper adding variety.
For bream, use a small fresh bait and keep the sinker light enough for it to settle naturally beside the rock. Bait prawns, nippers and pilchard pieces are established choices. The traditional approach used fine line around 2kg, but choose a trace that will cope with the rubbing surfaces in the position you can fish. A large sinker dragged across the rough bottom is usually buying more snags than bites.
The rising tide gives the luderick angler a more specific plan. Balance a weed float and let the bait travel along the rock edge. Low afternoon sun can make the float hard to see here. Change your viewing angle or float-tip visibility before assuming every missed movement is a missed bite.
Drummer call for a separate, stronger presentation and a controlled berley trail near the rock. Feed enough to bring fish into the reachable wash, then keep the bait travelling with it. The float and fine trace intended for luderick should not be expected to stop every drummer that joins the trail.
Plan a daylight session. NPWS lists Bottle and Glass opening hours as 6am to sunset, so early morning and late afternoon are the useful windows within those hours. Ocean swell can reach this point inside the Heads. If it is washing the fishing footing, the bay beach is the better plan.
Rose Bay: bait at the wharf, flathead along the sand
Rose Bay separates naturally into wharf fishing and sand-edge fishing. The ramp-side wharf locality has a history of yellowtail, with slimy mackerel and garfish when they are around. The modern public ferry wharf is also included in Fisheries' shore list. Use the signed public facility and keep the boat ramp and ferry approach clear.
Start small for yellowtail. A little bait on a small hook, lowered into a light berley trail, is often all that is needed. If the fish inspect it and turn away, reduce bait and hook size before changing everything else. Garfish feed nearer the surface, so watch the upper water rather than concentrating every offering near the bottom.
The sand gives a different option. I have recommended 4-inch plastics along Rose Bay's sand drop-offs when anglers need a sheltered flathead alternative. From shore, the useful part is the slope within casting distance. Let the lure reach it, lift, then pause long enough for it to settle again. A continuous fast retrieve spends too much of the cast above the bottom. The flathead guide explains straight rigging, jighead choice and pauses; its kayak and boat examples need to be kept separate from this bank-fishing position.
Cover a fan of angles before walking on. Fish the open beach and foreshore clear of sailing, launching and moored boats. A sand edge you can work repeatedly is worth more than a distant patch on the other side of a mooring field.
Double Bay: several sizes of live bait
The public wharf beside the 18 Footers Sailing Club is another place to think about bait size. Yellowtail, hardyheads, small mullet and seasonal garfish are the distinctive mix recorded here. Hardyheads were singled out as useful live bait for bream, so this is not just a matter of finding the biggest yellowtail available.
Use small hooks and small offerings, then watch which fish respond. A little berley near the edge can hold baitfish within reach without spreading them across the bay. Keep any bait you retain in well-aerated water and take only what the session needs. A bucket of stressed fish is not improved by adding more.
There are also days when the activity is farther out. The Double Bay photograph above records birds working over the water in July 2022. Watch for a school coming within clear casting range, but do not cast through moored boats to reach it. Keep a hooked fish clear of mooring ropes and have the net ready.
Double Bay ferry wharf is on the Fisheries list, with the same requirement to obey signs and clear lines for ferries and passengers. The adjoining sailing-club facilities are separate.
Put the outfit together
For the beach bait and four-inch plastics, take a light spin outfit, a selection of small hooks, light sinkers and jigheads that reach the near edge. Keep the worm bait fine at Camp Cove.
For the rock-edge luderick sessions, use a float that can be balanced with little showing above the water, a fine trace and a small weed hook. Bring matching weed for bait and berley from a lawful source. Adjust depth to the edge you can fish; do not borrow a deep boat setting from a channel marker. A longer rod helps keep the line off near rocks, and a net with enough reach avoids lifting fish by a fine trace. The blackfish guide covers the full setup.
For yellowtail, a tiny bait and small hook on light line are the starting point. Use a short bait jig only where it can be controlled safely around people. The live-bait guide explains catching and keeping them in good condition.
Rules that change the shore plan
Bring your bait. The Harbour's intertidal and shellfish closures rule out casual gathering of crabs, shellfish and cunjevoi along this shore. Do not target or retain eastern blue groper.
Fishing from the Royal Botanic Garden into the Harbour, including the Farm Cove wall, is prohibited under the Garden conditions. For the Domain, including Mrs Macquaries Point, use only places where the Trust permits fishing and follow the current visitor conditions. No particular Domain fishing area is designated by this guide.
Fishing is prohibited from Circular Quay commuter wharves 1–6. Other wharf bans also apply around the Harbour, including Manly commuter wharves 1–3, so check the current Transport list before changing destinations.
Read the Harbour dietary advice before keeping fish. East of the Harbour Bridge, the guidance depends on species and quantity; west of the bridge, release the catch rather than eating it.
On swell-exposed rocks, wear the required lifejacket, fish with someone and leave if water reaches your footing. Boat wake, wet sandstone and an awkward landing position matter inside the Harbour too. Keep a net ready and the public path clear.
For the opposite shore, use Mosman to Kirribilli. The Bondi to Bronte guide covers the open coast south of the Heads.