Even though Sydney has some great beach fishing on offer, beach anglers tend to head north to places like The Entrance and Stockton.

I hope it isn’t because they think that the Sydney beaches don’t produce many fish. I have been chasing whiting down at Wanda Beach when it has been shoulder to shoulder at some of the gutters and earlier this year I was chasing bream at the south end of Stanwell Park Beach with about 20 other anglers but in both cases, the action was great.

Sydney has some great beach fishing so to help you sample it, here are my top 20 beaches.

Last year a massive school of salmon took up residence at Bondi Beach for six days. The sight will always be etched in my mind. I managed to fish it for two days. Other fish that can be caught there include sand whiting, bream, tailor, dusky and sand flathead. If you are after drummer and luderick from the beach you could try the southern end after there has been a blow.

Maroubra Beach would have to be one of the most productive and reliable on this stretch of coast. It produces sand whiting, salmon, tailor, bream, flathead, mulloway, sharks and luderick. The luderick will come on the chew when there have been a couple of days of big seas and they school up at the southern end of the beach.

Little Beach is behind the chapel of the old Prince Henry Hospital. It may be small but it can produce some very big catches of bream, tailor and luderick.

Boat Harbour Beach is along the 4WD-only track at Kurnell. It faces directly south and cops the weather at times but is sheltered in a Summer northerly for that very reason. And it fishes great just after a southerly blow. Bream, whiting, drummer, luderick, salmon, tailor, dart, mulloway and sharks are all there.

In the Cronulla area are Greenhills, Wanda, Elouera and North and South Cronulla, all of which fish well at different times. Greenhills and Wanda can be fished during a north- easterly blow, while the rest are better left alone. South and North Cronulla can be fished in a southerly. Salmon, tailor, bream, whiting, flathead mulloway and the odd shark can be caught on these beaches.

Wattamolla Beach would have to be one of my Summer whiting favourites and it can be successfully fished right through the day.

Garie and Era beaches are much alike but the weather and sea can also make them very different at times. They both have great deep gutters for most of the year that hold mulloway, salmon, tailor and bream. This month you will start to see schools of sand whiting.

Stanwell Park Beach is worth a shot for whiting, bream, tailor and mulloway this month. Best times are early morning, just before dusk, week days and when the skies are overcast – this is a very popular surfing beach.

On the northern side of the harbour, there are also some great beaches.

Palm Beach will get very crowded during the day so aim for the couple of hours after sunrise and two hours before sunset and after dark. Many a great gutter has formed between the pine trees at the southern end and the rock pool. Here you can catch bream, tailor, whiting and the odd flathead that has ventured out of the Hawkesbury River and it also fishes well after a southerly.

The northern end is good for mulloway after dark or on an overcast day.

The southern end of Avalon Beach fishes well on a run-up tide for bream, whiting and tailor with the odd school mulloway after dark.

Even though Turimetta Beach is exposed to the sea, its the rocky outcrops here that will attract bream, tailor and the odd salmon and mulloway.

When fishing Narrabeen or Collaroy beaches I carry just the basics: Rod, reel, small tackle tray, bait bucket and knife, all in an Alvey tailor bag. Travelling light gives me the opportunity to be able to move from gutter to gutter and chase the fish.

The entrance to Narrabeen Lakes is best during the first couple of hours on a run-out tide, especially at dawn or dusk or when the lakes have been bottled up for a while and then flood open. Salmon, tailor, bream, mulloway and sharks then feed around the entrance.

The deeper gutters along these beaches can hold tailor, salmon, bream, whiting and dart.

Fishermans Beach has fairly deep water close to shore so you don’t have to cast as far as at some other beaches. Tailor, bream, salmon, and mulloway frequent this beach just after a southerly blow. Try alongside the broken reef near the southern corner.

Curl Curl beach can be a top place for mulloway after dark or under heavy skies. Try slabs of tailor, mullet, luderick or salmon. The northern end is good for Summer whiting.

For whiting and dart I suggest pink nippers, beach, tube and blood worms, while bream will also eat mullet and tuna fillets, garfish and pilchards. Salmon and tailor like whole pilchards and garfish, while for mulloway and sharks you can use fillets of any legal-sized whiting, luderick, bream tailor, mullet or tuna. To learn more, enrol in my fishing classes by emailing me or call 0422 994 207.