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.
Manning River Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The river of Taree: a double-mouthed estuary at Harrington and Old Bar, oyster leases, sand flats and deep bends, bream, flathead, jew and bass.
2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Water temp
~18 °C est.
Air / High
12 °C / 19 °C
Wind
NNW 1 km/h
Sources: Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Manning River rewards patience today, with cool water and short feeding windows. Today brings clear skies, wind NNW around 2 km/h, rising pressure near 1029 hPa and a high of 18 °C. 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. 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 Manning River today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:40), sunset (17:52), 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
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 temp12 °C
High / Low19 °C / 10 °C
WindNNW 1 km/h, gusts 5 km/h
Pressure1029.0 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain2% cloud, 27%
Sunrise / Sunset05:40 / 17:52
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~18 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Manning River
The best day on Manning River this week looks like Saturday 26 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: Saturday, 26 Sept — fair at 3/5, 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
- 05:40 to 17:52
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 11 km/h
- Rain chance
- 27%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Manning 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 Manning 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 Manning River 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 17 °C, wind to 8 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 18 °C, wind to 10 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 14 °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 applies on the river, from A$7 for three days; our New South Wales licence page has the fees.
About this water
Manning River is a river in New South Wales, Australia, covered from the New South Wales reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Manning River: the full guide
The river
The Manning River drains the Barrington Tops and runs through Wingham and Taree to the sea on the New South Wales mid north coast, the only river in the state with two mouths, at Harrington to the north and Old Bar to the south, with the delta islands between them and a tidal reach that runs up past Taree to Wingham. It is a river of breakwalls and sand flats at Harrington, oyster leases and deep bends through the delta, rock walls and bridges at Taree, and snags and gravel in the fresh above Wingham, fished from the walls, the reserves and the bridges and from boats along its length. The report on this page is scored for the river near Taree.
Species and seasons
Bream fish the walls, the leases and the snags all year with the winter run to the mouths; flathead lie on the flats and the drop-offs of the lower river from spring to autumn; whiting work the flats at Harrington in summer; and mulloway are the night fish of the breakwalls, the bridges and the deep bends, best after rain. Luderick fish the walls in winter, tailor push in through the mouths in the cooler months, mangrove jack reach the snags of the middle river in the warm months, and bass hold in the fresh reaches above Wingham with the NSW river closed season for bass to check. The prawns run the delta on the dark nights of summer.
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 breakwalls and slight at Wingham; the Bureau of Meteorology has the coastal times. Rain matters, because the Manning floods and a fresh colours the river for days and pushes the fish to the mouths. The wind matters on the delta and at the walls. 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 Taree and Wingham, the reserves, the Harrington breakwall and the Old Bar foreshore are public, with ramps at Harrington, Manning Point, Old Bar, Taree and Wingham; 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 Manning River?
Bream and flathead, whiting on the Harrington flats in summer, luderick on the walls in winter, mulloway at night, jack in the warm months, bass in the fresh reaches and prawns on the dark summer nights.
Do I need a fishing licence on the Manning River?
Yes. The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee applies, from A$7 for three days.
Is fishing good at Manning 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.