Bream
Good
Prime bream weather. Cast small vibes, crankbaits and 2 to 3 inch plastics at every piece of structure on the rising tide.
Brunswick Heads Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Brunswick River mouth inside the Cape Byron Marine Park: breakwalls, river flats and beaches north of Byron, with bream, flathead, mulloway and tailor.
2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Next tide
Low 2:34 pm model
Air / High
17 °C / 22 °C
Wind
E 4 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Brunswick Heads sits in the warm band: moving baits, moving tides and fish on the edges. Today brings clear skies, wind E around 5 km/h, rising pressure near 1019 hPa and a high of 22 °C. Tides: high 8:10 am and 8:16 pm, low 1:34 am and 2:34 pm: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. Water sits around 22 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 11:43 PM-1:43 AM and 11:19 AM-1:19 PM: the windows to build the day around.
Flathead
Good
The best of it. Drift the sand and weed edges, bounce plastics or a strip of bait along the bottom, and cover ground until you find the school.
Mulloway
Fair
Fish the deep holes and the rock walls through a tide change after dark; live mullet, yellowtail or a large soft plastic worked slowly.
Tailor
Fair
Rock ledges and beach gutters on the rising tide; metals cast and retrieved fast, or a whole pilchard drifted through the wash.
Tie on: Soft plastic on a 1/4 oz jighead · Small hardbody, shallow diver · Squid jig, size 3.0 · Fresh pipi or worm on a small hook. Prime windows: 11:43 PM-1:43 AM, 11:19 AM-1:19 PM, 4:51 AM-5:51 AM. Similar at 24 °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 (05:47), sunset (19:11), 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 11:43 PM-1:43 AM and 11:19 AM-1:19 PM; minor 4:51 AM-5:51 AM. New Moon, 0% 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.
Mon
LOW1:34 am-0.36 m
HIGH8:10 am1.17 m
LOW2:34 pm-0.21 m
HIGH8:16 pm0.70 m
Tue
LOW2:05 am-0.36 m
HIGH8:48 am1.14 m
LOW3:14 pm-0.25 m
HIGH8:50 pm0.58 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp17 °C
High / Low22 °C / 13 °C
WindE 4 km/h, gusts 14 km/h
Pressure1019.1 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain16% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset05:47 / 19:11
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~22 °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 Tuesday 10 Nov, at 4 out of 5, against 2 today.
Best day this week: Tuesday, 10 Nov — good at 4/5, rising pressure behind a front, typically the slowest.
Today, 9 Nov — Tough
Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
- Solunar majors
- 11:43 PM-1:43 AM and 11:19 AM-1:19 PM
- Minor period
- 4:51 AM-5:51 AM
- Sun
- 05:47 to 19:11
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Overcast, 21 km/h
- Rain chance
- 0%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
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. Prime bream weather. Cast small vibes, crankbaits and 2 to 3 inch plastics at every piece of structure on the rising tide.
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. The best of it. Drift the sand and weed edges, bounce plastics or a strip of bait along the bottom, and cover ground until you find the school.
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. Fish the deep holes and the rock walls through a tide change after dark; live mullet, yellowtail or a large soft plastic worked slowly.
Tailor
Autumn and winter on the east coast; the run reaches K'gari (Fraser Island) in late winter, where the east beach from Waddy Point to Indian Head is closed to all fin fish from 1 August to 29 September
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. Rock ledges and beach gutters on the rising tide; metals cast and retrieved fast, or a whole pilchard drifted through the wash.
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 22 °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 dataSun, Nov 8
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Bream led the card at good. High of 23 °C, wind to 29 km/h.
Sat, Nov 7
5/5 Excellent. Go now. Everything lines up: pressure, wind and light are in your favor. Bream led the card at excellent. High of 28 °C, wind to 23 km/h.
Fri, Nov 6
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Bream led the card at excellent. High of 23 °C, wind to 19 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 on this site has the other options.
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 village at the mouth of the Brunswick River north of Byron Bay, with breakwalls at the entrance, a small harbour, bridges over the river and beaches running north and south. The Cape Byron Marine Park begins at the Brunswick River’s northern training wall and includes the tidal waters of the river and its tributaries, so the whole estuary falls under marine park zoning. The tide panel is a modelled curve for these coordinates, labelled as a model. Byron Bay has its own page.
Species and seasons
Bream are a year-round fish of the walls, bridges and river snags; flathead hold on the sand from spring to autumn; mulloway hunt the walls at night; and tailor move along the beaches and walls in the cooler months. Whiting feed on the flats in summer, luderick come to the walls in winter, and mangrove jack can be found in snaggy water through the warmer months.
Where to fish it
The breakwalls and the river bridges are the classic land-based marks, and the flats and channels upstream hold flathead and whiting on a moving tide. Before fishing anywhere in the river, check the marine park zoning: sanctuary zones protect all species, and habitat protection zones allow recreational fishing but protect sharks, rays and other listed species. The FishSmart NSW app shows your position against the zones.
Reading this report here
A westerly usually flattens the coast here, while a south-easterly builds the swell on the walls and beaches. The modelled tide curve shows when the river is flooding or ebbing at the walls, and the Bureau of Meteorology predictions give exact times. The pressure and cloud rows help decide whether it is a morning or evening session.
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 on this site has the other options. Cape Byron Marine Park’s zoning map and user guide, published by DPIRD, are the documents to read before you fish, and the state’s bag and size limits apply everywhere in the park.
Common questions
Can I fish the Brunswick River?
Yes, outside the sanctuary zones of the Cape Byron Marine Park, which covers the river’s tidal waters; the zoning map and the FishSmart app show the boundaries.
Do I need a licence at Brunswick Heads?
Yes, the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, from A$7 for three days, applies inside the marine park as elsewhere.
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: Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
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
- Pages checked
- 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.