Imagery: Esri, Vantor, Earthstar Geographics

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Middle Harbour

Stillwater

6.08 km²

Water area

Access places

A deep, many-armed Sydney waterway that the NSW fishing guide rates for kingfish, mulloway and bream. Start with a small boat or kayak from a Maritime NSW ramp, work the bay edges with a baitfish fly, and go deeper once you know the water.

Middle Harbour is a Sydney waterway that the NSW fisheries department’s Go Fishing guide says has a well-deserved reputation for quality yellowtail kingfish, mulloway, bream and squid. That is the reason to bring a fly rod: big saltwater predators in sheltered water, inside a city.

The same guide describes it as river-like, relatively deep throughout, with many arms and bays. For planning, in our read it helps to think of two kinds of water. The bays are the shallower edges, where small bait gathers and where a fly is easiest to fish. The main channel is the deep water between them, where you need a sinking line to reach anything.

The easiest trip, and the one to start with, is a small boat or kayak launched from one of the Maritime NSW ramps the access card names, working the edges of a sheltered bay with a small baitfish fly. Glassfish, blue eyes and gobies have all been recorded here, and in our view whatever is hunting them will be on those edges. No water-specific rule was found, so check the current NSW fishing guide for your licence and the bag and size limits before you launch, not once a fish is in the net.

The second trip is the deep water, for the kingfish and mulloway the guide names. In our experience that means a heavier rod, a fast-sinking line and patience, and it is a trip for your second or third visit, once you know where the bays drop away.

The guide also says Middle and North Harbour occasionally produce tropical sportfish in summer, cobia and samson fish among them. Treat that as a bonus if it happens. Do not plan a trip around it.

Rig a seven or eight weight with an intermediate line, pack a box of sparse baitfish flies, and pick a sheltered bay close to the ramp for the first morning.

No live gauge

No gauge readings are available for this water.

Season

Access & parking

Driving directions

Water and habitat

The NSW guide describes Middle Harbour as river-like: relatively deep throughout, with many arms and bays opening off it. In our read that shape decides where fish sit. The bays hold the small bait, and their edges are where a predator can pin bait against the shallows. The deeper channel is where larger fish move between bays and where the bigger predators the guide names are likely to spend much of their time.

On a first trip, look for the places where a bay’s shallow edge falls into deeper water. That drop is the line to fish, because it gives a fish both the bait and an escape route.

Fish and forage

Most of the fish recorded here are small. Port Jackson glassfish, estuary glassfish, Pacific blue eyes and diamondfish are all on the list, along with largemouth gobies, Tamar gobies and Lidwill’s dwarfgobies. Sea mullet and smooth toadfish have been recorded too, and in our experience toadfish will pick at a slow fly. Australian bass and bull sharks also appear in the records.

For the fly box, that list is a menu of bait. Glassfish and blue eyes are small, slim and bright; mullet are stockier. A sparse white or olive-over-white fly around size 4 covers most of it, with a larger baitfish pattern for the deep water.

The NSW guide names yellowtail kingfish, mulloway, bream and squid as the fish the water is known for, and lists cobia, samson fish, amberjack, spangled emperor and Watson’s leaping bonito as occasional summer visitors from the tropics.

When to fish it

No fixed calendar governs the fishing here, so this is a guide’s read. Small baitfish have been recorded here, and in our view a calm morning matters more than the month. Go early, before wind and boat traffic put a chop on the bays.

The one seasonal note from the NSW guide is summer, when tropical visitors occasionally turn up. In our experience summer is also when a Sydney waterway is busiest with boats, so a spring or autumn weekday is a good bet for quieter water.

THE YEAR ON THIS WATER

Small baitfish along the edges

Food · Jan–Dec

Port Jackson glassfish, estuary glassfish, Pacific blue eyes, diamondfish and several gobies have all been recorded here. In our read there is small bait along the edges in any month, so a slim baitfish fly is never a wasted cast.

Sparse baitfish fly in the bays

Fly · Jan–Dec

A sparse white or olive-over-white baitfish fly, around size 4, cast in to the edges of the bays and stripped back. This is our suggestion for a first trip in any month.

Summer visitors from the tropics

Fish run · Dec–Feb

The NSW fishing guide says Middle and North Harbour occasionally produce tropical sportfish in summer, with cobia, samson fish and amberjack among them. The months shown are our read of “summer”, and “occasionally” is the guide’s word, so treat it as a bonus rather than a plan.

How to fish it

A seven or eight weight with an intermediate line suits the bays in our view, with a fast-sinking line on a spare spool for the deep water. Use a leader with a heavier bite section if you are targeting kingfish or mulloway.

In the bays, cast in toward the edge and strip back out over the drop, so the fly spends its retrieve where the shallow meets the deep. Short, uneven strips with pauses make a small fly look like bait in trouble. If nothing follows after a few dozen casts, move to the next bay.

In the deeper water, count the fly down before you strip, and change the count until you find fish. The saltwater depth control page covers getting a fly down, and the streamer fishing page covers the retrieves.

Access and safety

The access card names the Maritime NSW boat ramps. That tells you where the ramps are, not anything about parking or fees, so follow the signs at each ramp. Where you find a way to the water on foot, treat private land, jetties and fenced areas as closed unless a sign says otherwise.

As on any busy harbour, wear a lifejacket in a boat or kayak, stay visible to larger boats, and keep clear of channels where traffic moves fast. Bull sharks have been recorded here, so in our view it makes sense not to wade deep or swim a fish in at dusk.

All Times

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Directions

Regulations

No water-specific rule was found for Middle Harbour. Check the current NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development recreational fishing guide for the licence and the bag and size limits for each species before you fish.