The Beaches

And we have plenty of them. Most of the beaches are fishable, requiring full sink lines, stripping baskets and weighted flies. Clousers and baitfish patterns such as surf candies are popular. Fish the gutters and corners for flathead, whiting, bream, dart and the occasional kawahi (Aussie Salmon). Keep the leader short and let the fly sink to the bottom. Remember to watch your back cast - you don't want any unexpected catches!

Off The Rocks

Considered one of the most dangerous sports in Australia rock fishing requires great care. Ensure you are wearing rock boots or cleats before venturing onto the rocks to fish, and these days an inflatable life jacket is a sensible measure. Species available include drummer, blackfish and a range of rocky species as well as passing pelagics. Heavier rods are better in these situations as you usually need to apply a bit of extra pressure to haul these guys from their rocky havens. React too slow and you'll come up short with a busted leader. Once again, a stripping basket is essential, and a floating line with a sink tip (or a floating line with a length of sinking line on the end) and a shorter leader is the go. If you are berleying up with bread for drummer then a sinking bread flie on a strong size 1 or 1/0 hook is a good choice. If you are after blackfish then a sinking green weed fly on a size 2 or even 4 hook is worth a try. Kick a bit of the weed growing on the rocks into the water to act as a bit of berley.

 Lake and Estuary

We seem to be blessed with a wide range of coastal marine environments here and lakes and estuaries are no exception. Brisbane Water, Tuggerah Lakes and Lake Macquarie all provide great fishing opportunities for a wide range of species from flathead to bream to tailor and other pelagics. A boat is a useful tool here as they are all quite large but there are still land-based opportunities.

The Brisbane Water area can be accessed via numerous boat ramps and fishing from land is popular around Woy Woy and Ettalong. Rods of 5 to 7 weight are all you need, and both floating and sinking lines are useful depending on the tidal flow. Clousers and crazy charlies have proven themselves here in plain white and chartreuse and white, but other colours are also worth a go. Fish rocky structures and weed beds with a good pause between strips.

Tuggerah Lakes can be fished from land at The Entrance and other nooks and crannies around it's margins. A boat will give you better access to more areas. There are a lot of flats harbouring species like flathead, bream and whiting and teasing a fly over the gaps in the weed banks can often provide an aggressive take.

Lake Macquarie is a large lake and provides a lot of angling opportunities. At Swansea you can fish the channel for flathead or if you're lucky hook a passing kingfish. There are opportunities around Pulbah Island and fishing around the moored yachts that are scattered around the lake can provide some exciting bream fishing. Another option is to fish the hot water outlets from the power stations for more exotic species.

Also try out some of the lagoons around the Coast. They are home to bream, whiting and flathead and are a great opportunity to take the family for an afternoon out. Kayaks and float tubes can be very useful here. Try small clousers or crazy charlies that imitate the small prawns or baitfish that inhabit these waters.

Rivers and Creeks

While our streams don't match the size of others, they can provide some great angling. Many are home to bream and flathead in their lower reaches with visits from the odd pelagics like tailor, while their upper reaches are often home to bass. Small crazy charlies and clousers in more natural colours seem to be the go for the salty species while the bass like both surface and subsurface flies such as bass vampires and small gurglers.

The Central Coast Fly Rodders encourages catch and release to ensure our fish populations remain healthy and our sport can be enjoyed by future generations.

Local Fishing

The Central Coast is home to many species and numerous great fly fishing locations. Here is some information on those locations and how to fly fish them.