Emergency service workers found the "avid fisherman's" body in Bewong Creek in the Shoalhaven just after 8am, after he failed to return from a fishing trip on Tuesday afternoon.

Chief Inspector Steven Johnson, from the Shoalhaven Local Area Command, said the man appeared to have fallen out of his boat. He was not wearing a lifejacket.

His death comes after 18 other people died from drowning or suspected drowning in NSW since December 18.

"He died in tragic circumstances doing what he loved, fishing, and our thoughts also go out to all the families who tragically have had a loved one lost over the last couple of weeks while being on our waterways," Chief Inspector Johnson said.

Police and State Emergency Service volunteers began searching the creek about 10pm on Tuesday after the man's family raised the alarm, but the search was suspended about 1.20am on Wednesday.

The search resumed at 8am, and the man's body was found in the creek a short time later. 

The man's death comes after 18 other people died from drowning or suspected drowning in NSW since December 18, including four in the Illawarra and Shoalhaven.

On Christmas Day, a 29-year-old Nepalese national, drowned at Wattamolla Lagoon - a popular swimming spot in the Royal National Park.

On Boxing Day , the body of a 27-year-old man who disappeared while swimming with a friend was recovered from waters in the Kangaroo River at the Bendeela campground, west of Nowra.

On the same day, a 56-year-old man from Kensington was pulled unconscious and "unresponsive" from the surf at Kioloa.

Paramedics rushed to the South Coast beach, but the man could not be revived.