A big coastal lake with a channel to the sea fishes like an estuary: fish follow the movement of water and bait. The channel concentrates that movement. In the wider lake, the places to look are the shoreline edges, anything hard on the bottom and the artificial reefs the guide describes.

Black bream, sea mullet, diamondscale and goldspot mullet and bull shark are among the fish recorded in the lake, along with a long list of small estuary species such as glassfish, gobies and diamondfish. That small baitfish life is the reason a plain baitfish or shrimp pattern is a good starting fly. NSW DPIRD’s guide adds flathead, whiting, luderick, snapper, tarwhine and silver trevally to the list of fish anglers target here, and says tropical visitors such as giant herring, cobia and dolphinfish turn up occasionally.

Prawns and crabs matter too. The guide says the lake offers good prawning and crabbing in the warmer months. If you see people with scoop nets over the sand flats, you know what the flats are holding, and a small prawn or crab fly is a fair bet there.

The one season the guide is specific about is the cooler months, when Australian salmon come into Swansea Channel. Warmer months are the prawn and crab season. For bream and flathead, our advice is to fish the tide and the light rather than the calendar: early and late, on a moving tide, when fish are working the edges.

For salmon in the channel, a fast-sinking line, a small baitfish fly and a quick strip get you down and keep the fly moving in the current. For bream, slow down. Cast tight to cover, let the fly sink, and move it in short, quiet pulls. Bream often take a fly on the drop, so watch the line as it falls. For flathead, fish a weighted fly slowly along the bottom where sand meets weed or a drop-off.

The access card lists the public boat ramps around the lake; use it to pick a launch close to the water you want to fish. As on any estuary entrance, expect tidal flow and boat traffic: wear a lifejacket in a boat, check the tide before you launch, and keep clear of the main channel when other boats are moving through. On foot, choose a spot you can leave safely as the tide changes.

No water-specific rule was found for Lake Macquarie. This is a saltwater fishery, so the NSW recreational fishing rules apply: check the current NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development recreational fishing guide for bag and size limits and any closed areas before you fish, and carry the current NSW recreational fishing licence if you need one. If you plan to net or trap, check the current guide for the gear rules as well.