Whether you are visiting for a family holiday or consider yourself a serious travelling or local angler, you will find something to catch at Port Stephens, no matter what time of year it is. Nick Brown explains.

Best known for its exceptional offshore game fishing, Port Stephens is a lot more than a one trick pony. Rock and beach, estuary and inshore options are all in abundance. Let’s look at what’s on offer here.
Rocks Ahoy
These days I find myself drawn to the rocks more frequently. Whether it’s chasing squid in many of the bays and headlands on calm winter days or grabbing a few metals and poppers and spinning off the local headlands for tailor and salmon early in the morning or late afternoon, I just can’t get enough of fishing from the stones.
Luderick can also becaught in the area, and there are plenty of options to pothole for drummer, groper and bream, especially around Fingal Bay, Boat Harbour and Fishermans Bay. Snapper are another option from these locations, as well as Rocky Point and Sunny Corner among others. I recommend checking out Google Earth for more likely looking areas.
Spinning the stones during summer sees catches of pelagic species such as bonito, mack tuna, tailor and rat kings.
The famous Tomaree Head is a well-known LBG spot and anglers fishing with live bait during late summer and autumn encounter good runs of longtail tuna, mack tuna and the occasional cobia. Sharks can be a problem though.
Big hoodlum kingfish, snapper and even yellowfin tuna and black marlin have been hooked from the rocks here, so anything can happen from season to season.

Big bream can be caught from many of beaches around Port Stephens including Birubi, One Mile, Samurai and Fingal Bay.

Beach Days
You can take your 4WD onto the beach at Samurai (north of One Mile) and Birubi(north end of Stockton Beach). You will need to get a permit to access Birubi though and these can be bought from the local service station at Anna Bay. Permits cost $10 for 3 days or $30 annually.
All the usual suspects such as bream, whiting, mulloway, salmon and tailor can be caught off the beach depending on the time of year with pipis and beach worms both collectible.
Fingal Beach is also a top spot for a cast or two and, just quietly, it is one of the best land based mulloway locations in the area. Try fresh slab baits, squid or a livebait.
Estuary Options
The estuaries of Port Stephens are enormous. Fed by the Karuah and Myall River systems, along with numerous tributaries, the Port’s waterways are approximately two and a half times the size of Sydney Harbour.
With so much water, the estuary fishing opportunities are many and varied. Port Stephens is a big oyster growing region so there are plenty of spots for the lure caster to fish the racks in search of quality bream. Similarly, many of the creek and tributary entrances make for ideal locations to throw plastics and hardbodies for lizards. Working the flats with poppers or stickbaits can be highly productive on sand whiting during the warmer months too.
Squid can be caught inside the port and prefer clear, calm conditions. The moorings around Shoal Bay and the surrounding seagrass flats are good locations to try, especially early in the mornings and late in the afternoons when there is less boat traffic. Similarly on the northern side of Port Stephens, Jimmy’s Beach boasts plenty of seagrass beds that hold squid, as does Barnes Rock. Keep in mind there is a small sanctuary zone in this vicinity that you will need to be aware of.

This is what Port Stephens is famous for. The author hooked up to a striped marlin at the Carpark grounds.

The Myall River meanders through Tea Gardens and beyond and can produce good lure and bait fishing for flathead, bream and whiting. The far upstream brackish waters of the Myall are also home to small pockets of bass.
Jewfish reside in the port’s deep holes and around the bridges with Middle Island near Soldiers Point. The old and new highway bridges at Karuah and the wreck at Salamander Bay are also some of the more reliable locations. Try large plastics or livebaits such as mullet, herring, yellowtail or squid.
Drifting the western sections of the port sees good catches of trumpeter whiting, while dropping a few witches hats particularly around Pindimar, Soldiers Point, Salamander and Corlette areas can secure a good feed of blue swimmer crabs. The odd mud crab can also be caught, especially in the upstream reaches of the Karuah River. On top of that, yabbies can be pumped from the flats at Taylor Beach and Salamander Bay (watch for the sanctuary zone).
Surface feeding fish will occasionally move into the port with autumn attracting flighty schools of both longtail and mack tuna. Throwing metals, poppers or flies can secure a hook up but you will need to be quick as they move with gusto.

Inshore and Offshore Runs
Autumn is a great time to fish around the islands and headlands at Port Stephens. The weather is generally more settled and the water remains warm. Longtail tuna, kings, dolphin fish, bonito, tailor, mack tuna and the odd cobia are some of the pelagics to be targeted, while trag, snapper, mulloway, nannygai, sand flathead and occasional pearl perch fill the bottom bashers’ iceboxes. There is a FAD deployed off Port Stephens, check NSW Fisheries website for GPS co-ordinates.
During winter the big focus is on the fantastic snapper fishery. The standard plastic and bait techniques can see great catches of reds locally. Snapper can be taken south of the heads around Fingal Bay (there is a sanctuary zone that you will need to be aware of) and the headlands and bombies all the way down to Fishermans Bay, Boat Harbour and Birubi. There are many southern reefs to try your luck; some names include Uralla, Boulder Bay and The Tank.
To the north you could spend weeks seriously fishing all the spots around the islands and grounds north up to Seal Rocks. Just a few of the local hotspots for snapper include places such as The Sisters, North Rock and Edith Breakers. There are myriad reefs and likely locations around Broughton Island. Have a chat with one of the local tackle stores or do some research online for GPS marks.
Port is famous for its marlin fishery. If the water temperature, currents, bait and stars align then the inshore small black marlin can fire up in close around the islands and reefs during summer. Locations such as the Inner and Outer V, Fingal Light, Uralla and Gibber reefs are just some of the well-known hotspots.
The striped marlin fishing wide off Port Stephens can be absolutely sensational in summer and autumn. Blacks and blues can also be caught in the mix, and most of the action occurs at a spot known locally as The Carpark. Dolphinfish, yellowfin tuna and the odd wahoo are an added bonus.
Recognised baitgrounds to catch slimy mackerel, yellowtail and garfish include the western side of Cabbage Tree Island and Tomaree Head.
Family Fishing Fun
Port is a top spot to holiday with the kids and other half, especially due to the wharves located at Shoal Bay, Little Beach (fishing is permitted off the western disabled jetty and eastern jetty, including a small section of beach in between. Either side features a sanctuary zone) and Salamander Shores. Squid, bream, flathead and trevally can all be caught, as well as bait species such as yellowtail, slimy mackerel and garfish.
Kids love bait collecting and yabbies can be pumped from the flats at Taylors Beach and Corlette.
You will find action aplenty at the breakwall at Nelson Bay with a variety of species and fishing styles on offer. The luderick fishing during winter is better and more consistent than just about anywhere; however, it can get busy.
Big bream can be caught on lightly weighted baits such as peeled green and cooked prawns, as well as small strip baits along the wall. The odd flathead is also taken. Kingfish can be caught on surface lures at times and it is a good spot of an evening to try for a mulloway on a livebait.
No matter what time of year you are visiting, there is always something to catch. And because there are so many different facing beaches, bays, islands and productive locations within Port Stephens itself, you can always find a location out of the wind or weather and still manage to wet a line.
It really is a special place that lives up to its reputation. If you haven’t already visited, put it on your ‘to do list’ now. The Port rocks!.

He has lived at Port Stephens since 1999. His first freelance article on beach fishing for whiting and dart was published in December 2000 for Modern Fishing.
Since then he has written articles for many other magazines including Fishing World, Go Fishing, Trailerboat Fisherman, Fish NSW, Saltwater Fishing, Fishing Tips and Techniques, Blade Kayak, Australian Travelling Angler and On the Road.
These days he mostly fish for bread and butter species from the rocks and beach, and kayak for bass. However he will fish for anything and everything when time allows!