Best way to tell beach fishing conditions

[Volitan]

Hi. I usually want to know the surf conditions before I go beach fishing. These are usually Central Coast beaches.

I’ve seen a few web sites that purport to offer real-time information, but I don’t find them very reliable. 

What sites do other people use?

[Mr_clownface]

I use the Willy weather App,I find the wind strength and direction are really important.a strong crossword or directly at you can really make surf fishing difficult.

Also the swell,you want some swell but not too much.

I check weather for the location I'm intend to fish right up to the time I head off then check the beach for best fishing location, sometimes things can change very quickly so I often have a plan B location. 

[rickmarlin62]

Check the  surfcams  you can see the ocean live anywhere up n down the coast

[Volitan]

5 minutes ago, rickmarlin62 said:

Check the  surfcams  you can see the ocean live anywhere up n down the coast

Are you meaning the coastwatch sites?

[Koalaboi]

Hi,

I live close to the beach on the Central Coast at Toowoon Bay and can hear the surf from home so a quick visual check is easy. Just the same, I will look at surf forecasts when planning ahead. Realsurf: http://www.realsurf.com/ has a good forecast as does the BOM's MetEye:   http://www.bom.gov.au/australia/meteye/?loc=NSW_FA001

It's also important to know the area of coast you want to fish well to work out where to go. Where I live, shallow offshore reefs tend to soak up a bit of swell size before it hits the beaches whereas down at Copacobana, the same swell can be almost double the size as the beach fronts straight to deep water.

Swell direction is also important as some swells will miss certain parts of a beach which in different conditions, will be hammered by a swell from a different direction.

Get out there and build up your knowledge of where/when to fish in different swell, wind and tide conditions and you'll get onto the fish!

KB

 

 

Edited July 20, 2019 by Koalaboi
Typo correction

[61 crusher]

If you’re looking for a reasonably reliable wind forecast go to bom. Gov & look for marine wind they have daily forecast over a few days & in few hourly increments, it shows the NSW coast & if you tap the square it zooms in around Sydney & the C. Coast, it’s also great for boaters 

[rickmarlin62]

Yep coastwatch has surfcams all over the place  you can see live  bars n beaches

[Volitan]

Thanks Rick