Tailor
Excellent
The main run. Fish the gutters and headlands into the evening; ganged pilchards, metals, and a wire-free trace only if you accept the bite-offs.
Brunswick Heads Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Brunswick River mouth: the breakwalls, the river’s bream and flathead, and the beaches north of Byron, with a tide people search for.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Next tide
High 6:30 pm model
Air / High
18 °C / 22 °C
Wind
NE 12 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Brunswick Heads has cool water and fish holding a little deeper and slower. Today brings a mixed sky, wind NE around 11 km/h, steady pressure near 1031 hPa and a high of 22 °C. Tides: high 6:22 am and 6:30 pm, low 12:15 pm: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. Water sits around 18 °C for the season (estimated). With the full moon, the solunar majors run 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM: the windows to build the day around.
Bream
Fair
Slow the retrieve right down: blades and lightly weighted plastics along the deeper rock walls and drop-offs, or unweighted bait drifted into the snags.
Flathead
Fair
Fish the deeper channels and the last of the run-out; slower hops with a heavier jighead, and a bait on the bottom as back-up.
Mulloway
Fair
The estuary fish move to the deeper reaches. Long, quiet sessions on the bottom with fresh bait across the top of the tide.
Tie on: Blade or vibe, slow hops · Lightly weighted plastic · Whole pilchard or squid on the bottom · Suspending hardbody. Prime windows: 10:25 AM-12:25 PM, 10:25 PM-12:25 AM, 4:55 AM-5:55 AM. Similar at 21 °C with likely rain: fish ahead of the front. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.
Before you go
New South Wales requires a fishing licence for most fishing, from A$7.00. New South Wales fishing licence: cost, rules and where to buy →
Chasing bream here? Check the size and bag limits with DPIRD NSW before you keep anything; the Bream page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Brunswick Heads today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:32), sunset (17:43), the moon and today's score, with the modelled tide changes in the panel below. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM; minor 4:55 AM-5:55 AM. Full Moon, 99% lit.
Water and weather
A modelled tide curve for these coordinates and the forecast for the day.
Tides (modelled)
Modelled sea level curve from Open-Meteo Marine for these coordinates, datum mean sea level. Fish the moving water either side of each change.
A model, not the official prediction: times can drift by tens of minutes inside bays and estuaries. Check the Bureau of Meteorology tide predictions for the exact times before you rely on them.
Fri
HIGH6:22 am0.67 m
LOW12:15 pm-0.44 m
HIGH6:30 pm0.93 m
Sat
LOW12:53 am-0.57 m
HIGH6:55 am0.75 m
LOW12:55 pm-0.53 m
HIGH7:07 pm0.91 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp18 °C
High / Low22 °C / 16 °C
WindNE 12 km/h, gusts 23 km/h
Pressure1030.7 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain31% cloud, 86%
Sunrise / Sunset05:32 / 17:43
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~18 °C est.
Why the tide matters here: tides and fishing in Australia.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Brunswick Heads
The best day on Brunswick Heads this week looks like Thursday 1 Oct, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today. Every day is scored by the same engine as the report above: pressure trend first, then wind, sky and season. Pick a species and the plan for that day changes with it.
Best day this week: Thursday, 1 Oct — good at 4/5, steady pressure, neither help nor hindrance.
Today, 25 Sept — Fair
A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
- Solunar majors
- 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM
- Minor period
- 4:55 AM-5:55 AM
- Sun
- 05:32 to 17:43
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 14 km/h
- Rain chance
- 86%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Brunswick Heads: seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
Bream
Year-round; summer and autumn in the estuaries, winter at the mouths
Yellowfin bream on the east coast, black bream in the southern estuaries. Structure fish: rock walls, jetty piles, oyster racks, snags and pontoons. Slow the retrieve right down: blades and lightly weighted plastics along the deeper rock walls and drop-offs, or unweighted bait drifted into the snags.
Flathead
Best: November to April
Dusky flathead in the eastern estuaries, sand flathead in the southern bays. An ambush predator lying on sand and mud edges waiting for whatever the tide brings. Fish the deeper channels and the last of the run-out; slower hops with a heavier jighead, and a bait on the bottom as back-up.
Mulloway
Best: summer and autumn, especially after rain
Jewfish. The big silver prize of the estuaries, breakwalls and surf beaches: nocturnal, tide-driven and unforgiving of noise. The estuary fish move to the deeper reaches. Long, quiet sessions on the bottom with fresh bait across the top of the tide.
Tailor
Autumn and winter on the east coast; August to September on Fraser Island
The surf and rock fish of the east coast, running north in autumn and winter. Fast, toothy and best at dawn, dusk and into the dark. The main run. Fish the gutters and headlands into the evening; ganged pilchards, metals, and a wire-free trace only if you accept the bite-offs.
When to come: the Brunswick Heads calendar
Activity by species and month for the southern year, and how the water warms and cools. Tap any cell.
Species activity by month
1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted. January is midsummer here.
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Bream
Flathead
Mulloway
Tailor
SlowPeak
Water temperature through the year
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 18 °C (estimated, not a reading).
Angler reports
Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. Nothing here is copied from a shop or a charter. The water log below tracks each day automatically.
No angler reports yetBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Brunswick Heads today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataThu, Sep 24
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Tailor led the card at excellent. High of 22 °C, wind to 18 km/h.
Wed, Sep 23
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Tailor led the card at excellent. High of 23 °C, wind to 16 km/h.
Tue, Sep 22
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Tailor led the card at excellent. High of 23 °C, wind to 23 km/h.
Before you go
Licence
NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, from A$7.00, the same for residents and visitors. Details and where to buy →
Regulations
Size and bag limits, closed seasons and marine park zones are set by DPIRD NSW and change: confirm the current rules on the agency page linked from the New South Wales licence page before you keep anything.
Access
The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee applies at Brunswick Heads from A$7 for three days; the New South Wales licence page has the fees.
About this water
Brunswick Heads is a coastal town in New South Wales, Australia, covered from the New South Wales reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Brunswick Heads: the full guide
Brunswick Heads and the river
Brunswick Heads is the old fishing village at the mouth of the Brunswick River north of Byron Bay, with the breakwalls, the harbour and the trawlers, the river bridges and the caravan parks, and the beaches running north to New Brighton and south to the cape. It is a river-and-walls village inside the Cape Byron Marine Park, and most searches for it are for the tide; the panel on this page shows a modelled curve for the coordinates of Brunswick Heads, labelled as a model, with the Bureau of Meteorology’s prediction linked. Byron Bay has its own page.
Species and seasons
Bream fish the walls, the bridges and the river snags all year with the winter run to the mouth; flathead lie on the river sand from spring to autumn; whiting work the river flats and the beach in summer; mulloway are the night fish of the walls; tailor run the beaches and the walls in the cooler months; mangrove jack push into the river snags through the warm months; and luderick fish the walls in winter. The marine park’s sanctuary zones in the river are the map to read.
Where to fish it
The Brunswick’s two breakwalls are the town’s marks for bream, luderick and the night jew, with the Main Beach gutters north of the wall for tailor and whiting and the river’s flats behind the village toward the Simpson Creek junction for flathead. The ramp at the riverside park is a few minutes from the bar, and the footbridge over Simpsons Creek is a family spot on the run-in.
Reading this report here
The wind row and the swell decide the walls and the beaches, a westerly opening the coast and a south-easterly closing it; the modelled tide curve gives the direction in the river and at the walls, with the Bureau for the minute. Pressure and sky build the score at Brunswick Heads and the planner shows the day.
Licence, access and rules
The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee applies at Brunswick Heads from A$7 for three days; the New South Wales licence page has the fees. The walls, the bridges and the beaches are public, with a ramp at the harbour; the Cape Byron Marine Park zoning, with sanctuary zones in the Brunswick, and the DPIRD limits are in the sources.
Common questions
Can I fish the Brunswick River?
Yes, outside the Cape Byron Marine Park sanctuary zones, which the zoning map in the sources shows; the walls, the bridges and the snags are the spots.
Do I need a licence at Brunswick Heads?
Yes: the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, from A$7 for three days.
Is fishing good at Brunswick Heads right now?
Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Nearby waters
Where this page's numbers come from
- Tide curve (modelled)
- Open-Meteo Marine, sea level height including tides
- Open-Meteo forecast model
- https://open-meteo.com/
- Moon and solunar windows
- Calculated on this site
- The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on How our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.