Bream
Good
Prime bream weather. Cast small vibes, crankbaits and 2 to 3 inch plastics at every piece of structure on the rising tide.
Nowra Fishing Report
Updated Tue, 10 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
The town on the Shoalhaven: the river’s bridges, walls and bends, bass upstream, jew and bream in the tidal reaches, and Jervis Bay a short drive away.
2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Next tide
Low 2:20 am model
Air / High
11 °C / 21 °C
Wind
W 10 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Nowra sits in the warm band: moving baits, moving tides and fish on the edges. Today brings clear skies, wind W around 10 km/h, rising pressure near 1020 hPa and a high of 21 °C. Tides: high 8:54 am and 9:25 pm, low 2:20 am and 3:30 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 11:52 PM-1:52 AM and 12:20 PM-2:20 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: 11:52 PM-1:52 AM, 12:20 PM-2:20 PM, 5:24 AM-6:24 AM. Warmer at 26 °C with a rain chance. 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 Nowra today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:47), sunset (19:35), 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 11:52 PM-1:52 AM and 12:20 PM-2:20 PM; minor 5:24 AM-6:24 AM. New Moon, 1% 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.
Tue
LOW2:20 am-0.36 m
HIGH8:54 am0.79 m
LOW3:30 pm-0.49 m
HIGH9:25 pm0.32 m
Wed
LOW2:51 am-0.36 m
HIGH9:26 am0.75 m
LOW4:10 pm-0.52 m
HIGH10:06 pm0.24 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp11 °C
High / Low21 °C / 7 °C
WindW 10 km/h, gusts 19 km/h
Pressure1019.5 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain2% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset05:47 / 19:35
MoonNew Moon, 1%
Water temp (seasonal)~22 °C est.
Why the tide matters here: tides and fishing in Australia.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Nowra
The best day on Nowra this week looks like Wednesday 11 Nov, at 4 out of 5, against 2 today.
Best day this week: Wednesday, 11 Nov — good at 4/5, rising pressure behind a front, typically the slowest.
Today, 10 Nov — Tough
Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
- Solunar majors
- 11:52 PM-1:52 AM and 12:20 PM-2:20 PM
- Minor period
- 5:24 AM-6:24 AM
- Sun
- 05:47 to 19:35
- Moon
- New Moon, 1% lit
- Sky and wind
- Overcast, 16 km/h
- Rain chance
- 0%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Nowra: 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 Nowra 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 Nowra today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataMon, Nov 9
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Bream led the card at excellent. High of 18 °C, wind to 21 km/h.
Sun, 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 17 °C, wind to 29 km/h.
Sat, Nov 7
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Bream led the card at good. High of 28 °C, wind to 29 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
Anyone fishing the river at Nowra pays the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, A$7 for three days at the cheapest; the New South Wales licence page on this site lists the rest.
About this water
Nowra is a coastal town in New South Wales, Australia, covered from the New South Wales reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Nowra: the full guide
Nowra and the river
Nowra is the main town of the Shoalhaven on the New South Wales south coast, on the river’s tidal reaches below the gorge country, with the bridges, the rock walls and the river parks in the town, the fresh reaches and the gorge upstream, and the lower river running east to Shoalhaven Heads and the Crookhaven. The river has its own page; this one is scored for the town’s coordinates and reads the town reaches first: the bridges, the wharf, the river parks on both banks, and the launching points for the tidal and the fresh water.
Species by season
Bream fish the walls, the pylons and the snags of the town reaches all year with the winter run downstream; mulloway are the night fish of the bridges and the deep bends around the town; flathead lie on the sand of the reaches below the town in the warmer months; and Australian bass fish the fresh reaches and the gorge above the town from spring to autumn. DPIRD closes bass and estuary perch in rivers from 1 May to 31 August, except in rivers above impoundments. Estuary perch hold in the tidal reaches and luderick fish the walls in winter.
Reading this report for Nowra
The tide reaches the town, and the tide panel, a modelled curve for these coordinates labelled as a model, is for the direction of the run in the town reaches, where it is weaker and later than at the mouth; the river’s level after rain matters more, because a fresh from the gorge colours the water and moves the fish. The wind matters little in the river. The barometer and the cloud cover fill in the score, and the planner picks the night for the mulloway.
Licence, access and rules
Anyone fishing the river at Nowra pays the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, A$7 for three days at the cheapest; the New South Wales licence page on this site lists the rest. The river parks, the walls and the bridge approaches are public; the DPIRD limits and the bass and estuary perch closure are on the pages in the sources.
Common questions
What can I catch at Nowra?
Bream on the walls and pylons, mulloway at night around the bridges, flathead below the town in the warmer months, and bass in the fresh reaches from September to April, outside the river closure.
Do I need a fishing licence in Nowra?
Yes: the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, which starts at A$7 for three days, covers the tidal and the fresh reaches alike.
Is fishing good at Nowra 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.