Australian bass
Fair
Dam fish school deep; vertical jig plastics and blades over them. Rivers slow, and closed in NSW from June.
Macleay River at Kempsey Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Macleay at Kempsey: bass in the fresh reaches, bream and jew in the tidal ones, on the mid north coast with the Bureau’s gauge at the town.
2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Water temp
~16 °C est.
Air / High
16 °C / 26 °C
Wind
N 10 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 206022, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Macleay River at Kempsey rewards patience today, with cool water and short feeding windows. Today brings clear skies, wind N around 11 km/h, rising pressure near 1030 hPa and a high of 26 °C. Water sits around 16 °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.
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 26 °C. 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 australian bass here? Check the size and bag limits with DPIRD NSW before you keep anything; the Australian bass page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Macleay River at Kempsey today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:34), sunset (17:46), the moon and today's score. 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
Live readings from Bureau of Meteorology station 206022 (MACLEAY R @ KEMPSEY).
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 temp16 °C
High / Low26 °C / 14 °C
WindN 10 km/h, gusts 18 km/h
Pressure1030.2 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset05:34 / 17:46
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~16 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Macleay River at Kempsey
The best day on Macleay River at Kempsey this week looks like Thursday 1 Oct, at 4 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: Thursday, 1 Oct — good at 4/5, steady pressure, neither help nor hindrance.
Today, 25 Sept — Tough
Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
- Solunar majors
- 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM
- Minor period
- 4:55 AM-5:55 AM
- Sun
- 05:34 to 17:46
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Overcast, 18 km/h
- Rain chance
- 0%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Macleay River at Kempsey: seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
Australian bass
September to April in the rivers; closed June to August in NSW rivers
Open now Closes 1 May 2027. Closed 1 May to 31 August in all rivers except rivers above impoundments; dams are not closed. Rule as read from DPIRD NSW on 2026-09-23.
The native sportfish of the east-coast rivers and the stocked dams. Surface lures in summer, deep in winter, and a river closed season for spawning. Dam fish school deep; vertical jig plastics and blades over them. Rivers slow, and closed in NSW from June.
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.
When to come: the Macleay River at Kempsey 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
Australian bass
Bream
SlowPeak
Water temperature through the year
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 16 °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 Macleay River at Kempsey 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. Australian bass led the card at fair. High of 23 °C, wind to 18 km/h.
Wed, Sep 23
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Australian bass led the card at fair. High of 24 °C, wind to 18 km/h.
Tue, Sep 22
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Australian bass led the card at good. High of 21 °C, wind to 11 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, from A$7 for three days, applies; our New South Wales licence page has the fees.
About this water
Macleay River at Kempsey is a river in New South Wales, Australia, covered from the New South Wales reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Macleay River at Kempsey: the full guide
The reach
The Macleay at Kempsey is the mid north coast river at the town, tidal below the town and fresh above it, running from the gorges of the New England escarpment through the valley’s dairy flats to South West Rocks and the sea, with the town bridges, river parks and the Kempsey reach in the middle. It is bass water upstream and bream water downstream, and the Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at Kempsey supplies the river level and the 30-day chart on this page.
Species and seasons
Australian bass fish the fresh reaches above the town and the snags of the tidal limit from spring to autumn, closed in the river from 1 May to 31 August under the New South Wales rule computed on the species card; bream fish the walls and the snags of the tidal reaches through the year; mulloway are the night fish of the deep bends toward the mouth; flathead lie on the sand of the lower river in summer; and estuary perch hold at the tidal limit. Carp are in the fresh reaches under the DPIRD rules.
Where to fish it
The river parks and the bridges give bank access at the town, the ramps put a boat onto the tidal river downstream toward Frederickton and the fresh reaches upstream toward Bellbrook, and the gorges above Bellbrook are the wild bass water reached by canoe. South West Rocks at the mouth has its own coast.
Reading the report
The chart shows the tide’s swing at the town and the freshes that come down from the escarpment after rain, which colour the river for days and push the fish to the mouth; the tide panel is a modelled curve for these coordinates, labelled as a model. The water temperature estimate, labelled as one, gives the bass band from October to April; pressure and sky fill the score.
Licence, access and rules
The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, from A$7 for three days, applies; our New South Wales licence page has the fees. The parks, the bridges and the ramps are public; DPIRD’s limits and the bass river closure are in the sources.
Common questions
What can I catch in the Macleay at Kempsey?
Bass in the fresh reaches from spring to autumn, bream in the tidal reaches through the year, mulloway at night, flathead in summer.
Do I need a licence at Kempsey?
Yes: the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, from A$7 for three days.
Is fishing good at Macleay River at Kempsey 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.