Windang to Stanwell Park SYDNEY SOUTH
Gary Brown gbrown1@iprimus.com.au
Working our way up from Warilla Beach to the north end of Stanwell Park Beach, there are literally hundreds of places that you can successfully chuck a line in for a fish. So with this beginner’s guide to fishing this stretch of coastline, the 15 spots I have put together are really only going to scratch the surface and you will need to do a lot of exploring yourself. Despite its large and densely populated towns, I have found that even during the weekend I can sometimes get a spot to myself for a few hours, but most of the time weekends mean there will be someone else fishing beside you. When fishing down this way, you will need to be aware of the places that you cannot fish, so I would suggest going online and check out where you can and can’t go: Roads and Maritime h t t p : / / w w w. r m s . n s w. gov.au/maritime/ Boating closures NSW Fisheries http:// w w w. d p i . n s w. g o v. a u / fisheries Fishing closures Port Kembla Port Authority http://www. portkembla.com.au/ Boating closures Located on the east coast of NSW, Port Kembla is one of 3 major ports in the state. Port Kembla was established in the late 1890s to facilitate the export of coal from the mines of the Illawarra region. Since that time, it has rapidly grown to accommodate both the expansion of traditional industries along with the development of new ones.
has serviced the needs of regional industries, predominantly coal (export) and steel (import of raw materials and steel products). In more recent years, the port has diversified its trade base to include general and bulk cargoes, containers and motor vehicle imports. It is also the principal grain export port for producers in south and south western NSW. 1. WARILLA BEACH Warilla Beach fishes extremely well when there has been a southerly blow
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I have been present when the luderick are on the chew and it has been shoulder-to-shoulder anglers. The same happens when the whiting are on. During the dark of the moon you could also try catching a few prawns. 3. LAKE ILLAWARRA Even though this is a very shallow lake, you can catch flathead, bream, whiting, flounder, tailor and blue swimmer crabs. In fact, I could do a whole article on fishing Lake Illawarra, but what I will do is list a number of
Wollongong City Beach
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Stanwell Park Beach in the foreground, and the Sea Cliff Bridge and Coalcliff at the top of the photo.
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TACKLE SHOPS 5 Port Kembla
Leisure Coast Bait and Tackle 297 Rothery Road Corrimal Phone: (02) 42842734 Facebook page: https://www.facebook. com/LeisureCoastBaitandTackle Fergo’s Tackle World Wollongong 4/135 Princes Highway Fairy Meadow Phone: (02) 4225 7233 Website: http://www.tackleworld. com.au/nsw/wollongong.html
4 Perkins Beach
Lake Illawarra 3
Deans Tackle and Outdoors 312 Windang Road Windang Phone: (02) 4295 1615 Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ pages/Deans-Tackle-Outdoors/128694183841595
Windang Island
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Windang Island
ACCOMMODATION
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Windang Beach Tourist Park http://visitshellharbour.com.au/accom_result1/ windang-beach-tourist-park/?UseSession=True
Warilla Beach
Shelllhour
Scale 2.5 KM
Try fishing the back of Towradgi Ocean Pool for a couple of hours either side of the high tide. The diverse commodity base of the port today reflects the growth of the region and its capability to service the growing south west Sydney market. Historically, the port
2 hooks. Bream, whiting, tailor, salmon, flathead, mulloway, sharks and rays can be caught here. If you find a bit of a rip forming up here, cast your rig into it and let the current take it out to the deeper water for you. Don’t forget to take a few metal slugs for that distance cast when you need to get out the back of the breakers. 2. LAKE ILLAWARRA CHANNEL The luderick run in this channel during the cooler months of the year, and during the warmer months
for a couple of days and the water is running out the Lake Illawarra Channel. Try using a ball sinker down onto a swivel with a leader of about 1m long, or a paternoster rig with
Wollongong Harbour has a number of safe places to fish, and if you don’t catch anything you could always buy some at the brilliant fish and chip shop nearby. you will find whiting and bream feeding along this stretch. There has been a number of fishing and walking platforms installed here for people to fish off.
places you can go to and fish from the shore. They are as follows: Hooker Park, Lacey Park, Purry Burry Point, Wegit Point, Boat Harbour, Hooka
Killalea State Park http://visitshellharbour.com.au/accom_result1/ killalea-state-park/?UseSession=True Shellharbour Beachside Tourist Park http://visitshellharbour.com.au/ accom_result1/shellharbour-beachsidetourist-park/?UseSession=True Park, Kanahooka Point and Mogurah Point, just to name a few. Try using Where Is to find out where these spots are. 4. PERKINS BEACH This beach is situated on the northern side of the Lake Illawarra entrance, and it fishes the same as Warilla Beach. The main difference is that the southern end is a bit protected from Windang Island when the weather is coming from the south. 5. PORT KEMBLA BREAKWALL There are a number of fishing restrictions in place here, and the southern breakwall can be closed at times. This is usually when they are repairing it, as it does get a hammering from the
sea. When fishing the outside of the southern breakwall, you will need to watch your step and find a flat area to fish from. You will also need to take a rod of somewhere between 3-3.6m. This is not a place to take the kids. The inside of the southern wall is a place you could take the kids to for a fish, but care still needs to be taken. Bream, luderick and squid can be targeted here. The boat ramp is a good place to fish at night. Just a short walk further out from the southern breakwall is Battery Point. This is a good spot to target bream and drummer during the top of the tide. You will need to use a ball sinker down onto the bait, as it is very snaggy here.