The management challenges for recreational fisheries in Australia are diverse and complex, yet traditional management approaches are largely limited to a blunt toolkit of top-down output controls that are often criticised as reactive and can ultimately be met with friction and resistance. Behavioural change interventions offer a proactive, complimentary approach to traditional management tools that embraces the principle that fisheries management is fundamentally about managing people, not fish. Based on comprehensive interviews and a benchmark analysis, we bring together experiential knowledge and social science to explore opportunities and challenges for practitioners. We propose a practical toolkit for stakeholders looking to implement behaviour change as a novel management approach in recreational fisheries that represents a strategy grounded in behavioural science best practice and supported by stewardship and co-design values.