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.
Clarence River Fishing Report
Updated Sat, 26 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The biggest river on the east coast south of the tropics: from Grafton down to Yamba and Iluka, bream, flathead, jew, jack and bass across a hundred kilometres of tide.
2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Water temp
~18 °C est.
Air / High
26 °C / 26 °C
Wind
NNW 8 km/h
Sources: Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Clarence River rewards patience today, with cool water and short feeding windows. Today brings clear skies, wind NNW around 8 km/h, rising pressure near 1026 hPa and a high of 26 °C. Water sits around 18 °C for the season (estimated). With the full moon, the solunar majors run 11:16 PM-1:16 AM and 11:16 AM-1:16 PM: 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: 11:16 PM-1:16 AM, 11:16 AM-1:16 PM, 5:46 AM-6:46 AM. Similar at 26 °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 Clarence River today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:34), sunset (17:47), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 11:16 PM-1:16 AM and 11:16 AM-1:16 PM; minor 5:46 AM-6:46 AM. Full Moon, 100% lit.
Water and weather
Conditions here are modelled from weather, season and the nearest stations.
No live gauge on this water
Water readings appear when a Bureau of Meteorology station covers it. Until then the seasonal curve below is the estimate.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp26 °C
High / Low26 °C / 11 °C
WindNNW 8 km/h, gusts 23 km/h
Pressure1026.2 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain2% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset05:34 / 17:47
MoonFull Moon, 100%
Water temp (seasonal)~18 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Clarence River
The best day on Clarence River this week looks like Sunday 27 Sept, at 3 out of 5, against 2 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: Sunday, 27 Sept — fair at 3/5, steady pressure, neither help nor hindrance.
Today, 26 Sept — Tough
Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
- Solunar majors
- 11:16 PM-1:16 AM and 11:16 AM-1:16 PM
- Minor period
- 5:46 AM-6:46 AM
- Sun
- 05:34 to 17:47
- Moon
- Full Moon, 100% lit
- Sky and wind
- Overcast, 10 km/h
- Rain chance
- 0%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Clarence River: 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 Clarence River 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 Clarence River today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataFri, Sep 25
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Tailor led the card at excellent. High of 24 °C, wind to 10 km/h.
Thu, 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 24 °C, wind to 10 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 6 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 on the river, from A$7 for three days; our New South Wales licence page has the fees.
About this water
Clarence River is a river in New South Wales, Australia, covered from the New South Wales reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Clarence River: the full guide
The river
The Clarence River drains the Northern Tablelands and the Border Ranges and runs through Grafton, Maclean and the delta islands to the sea between Yamba and Iluka, tidal for a hundred kilometres up past Grafton, a river of rock walls, oyster leases, sand flats, deep bends and islands near the coast and of snags, cane fields and long reaches upstream. Yamba, at the mouth, has its own page for the breakwalls and the beaches; this one is scored for the river and reads its reaches first. It is the largest coastal river in New South Wales and it floods, which decides its fishing more than anything else.
Species and seasons
Bream fish the walls, the leases and the snags all year with the winter run to the mouth; flathead lie on the flats and the drop-offs of the lower river and the delta from spring to autumn; whiting work the flats in summer; and mangrove jack push into the snags of the middle river through the warm months. Mulloway are the night fish of the walls, the deep bends and the mouth, best after rain; luderick fish the walls in winter; bass hold in the fresh reaches above Grafton and the tributaries with the NSW river closed season for bass to check; and the river’s prawns run on the dark nights of summer under the DPIRD rules.
Reading this report for the river
The river runs on the tide far upstream and the tide panel, a modelled curve for these coordinates labelled as a model, is for the direction of the run, strong at the mouth and slight at Grafton; the Bureau of Meteorology has the coastal times. Rain matters more than anything, because a fresh colours the river for days and a flood changes it for weeks and pushes the fish to the mouth. The wind matters on the open reaches near the coast. Pressure and sky build the score and the planner shows the day.
Licence, access and rules
The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee applies on the river, from A$7 for three days; our New South Wales licence page has the fees. The river parks at Grafton, Maclean and the delta towns, the reserves and the breakwalls are public, with ramps at Yamba, Iluka, Maclean, Harwood, Ulmarra and Grafton; the DPIRD limits, the bass closed season and the prawning rules are on the pages in the sources.
Common questions
What can I catch in the Clarence River?
Bream and flathead, whiting in summer, mangrove jack in the warm months, luderick on the walls in winter, mulloway at night, bass in the fresh reaches and prawns on the dark summer nights.
Do I need a fishing licence on the Clarence River?
Yes. The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee applies, from A$7 for three days.
Is fishing good at Clarence River 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
- 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.