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.
Tathra Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The historic wharf on the Sapphire Coast: the Tathra wharf’s bream and kingfish, the Bega River mouth at Mogareeka and the beaches, with the reef outside.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Next tide
High 6:38 pm model
Air / High
15 °C / 24 °C
Wind
WNW 9 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Tathra rewards patience today, with cool water and short feeding windows. Today brings cloud cover, wind WNW around 8 km/h, rising pressure near 1023 hPa and a high of 24 °C. Tides: high 6:35 am and 6:38 pm, low 12:25 pm: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. Water sits around 17 °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.
Australian salmon
Good
The main season. Beach gutters, rock platforms and bay edges on the rising tide; metals, surf poppers and bait all work.
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.
Yellowtail kingfish
Slow
The fish thin out as the current cools; jig the deeper offshore marks and work the harbours on the warmer afternoons.
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. Cooler at 20 °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 tailor here? Check the size and bag limits with DPIRD NSW before you keep anything; the Tailor page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Tathra today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:46), sunset (17:59), 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 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
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.
Fri
HIGH6:35 am0.36 m
LOW12:25 pm-0.48 m
HIGH6:38 pm0.58 m
Sat
LOW12:58 am-0.64 m
HIGH7:10 am0.50 m
LOW1:09 pm-0.53 m
HIGH7:14 pm0.56 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp15 °C
High / Low24 °C / 12 °C
WindWNW 9 km/h, gusts 16 km/h
Pressure1023.0 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain89% cloud, 47%
Sunrise / Sunset05:46 / 17:59
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~17 °C est.
Why the tide matters here: tides and fishing in Australia.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Tathra
The best day on Tathra this week looks like Monday 28 Sept, at 4 out of 5, against 3 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: Monday, 28 Sept — good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
Today, 25 Sept — Fair
A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
- Solunar majors
- 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM
- Minor period
- 4:55 AM-5:55 AM
- Sun
- 05:46 to 17:59
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Overcast, 8 km/h
- Rain chance
- 47%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Tathra: seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
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.
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.
Yellowtail kingfish
Best: December to April
The hardest-pulling fish within reach of the shore. Headlands, harbour markers, offshore reefs and the warm current in summer. The fish thin out as the current cools; jig the deeper offshore marks and work the harbours on the warmer afternoons.
Australian salmon
Winter and spring on the southern beaches
Not a salmon at all: a hard-fighting schooling fish of the surf and the bays, from WA around to NSW. Great on light gear, poor on the plate. The main season. Beach gutters, rock platforms and bay edges on the rising tide; metals, surf poppers and bait all work.
When to come: the Tathra 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
Tailor
Mulloway
Yellowtail kingfish
Australian salmon
SlowPeak
Water temperature through the year
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 17 °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 Tathra 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 22 °C, wind to 19 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 16 km/h.
Tue, Sep 22
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Tailor led the card at excellent. High of 15 °C, wind to 13 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
Fishing Tathra takes 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
Tathra is a coastal town in New South Wales, Australia, covered from the New South Wales reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Tathra: the full guide
Tathra and the wharf
Tathra is the village on the Sapphire Coast between Bermagui and Merimbula, with the historic timber wharf on the headland that is the village’s fishing platform, Tathra Beach running north to the Bega River mouth at Mogareeka, the rock platforms of the headland and the Kianinny boat ramp in its cove. It is a wharf-and-beach village with the Bega River behind it, and the report on this page is scored for the village’s coordinates. The Bega River has its own page.
Species and seasons
Bream, trevally and yellowtail fish the wharf all year and squid work its lights at night; kingfish come to the wharf and the headland in summer and are the prize; tailor and salmon run Tathra Beach and the rocks in the cooler months at dawn and dusk; whiting fish the beach and the Mogareeka sand in summer; flathead lie in the river mouth and on the beach from spring to autumn; mulloway are the night fish of the river mouth; and the reef off the headland gives snapper in winter for the boats out of Kianinny.
Where to fish it
Tathra wharf is the walk-on mark for bream, trevally and squid all year and for kingfish in summer, fished from the deck under the wharf’s own rules; Tathra Beach north to Mogareeka is the tailor and whiting sand, and the Bega River mouth at Mogareeka is the flathead and jew water. The Kianinny ramp in its cove is the boat access, and the rocks at the headland are the drummer platforms.
Reading this report here
The coast faces east and a southerly or an easterly swell washes the wharf and closes the rocks, while a westerly flattens the sea; the wind row tells you which. The tide panel is a modelled curve for the coordinates of Tathra, labelled as a model, useful at the river mouth. Pressure and sky build the score at Tathra; the planner shows the day.
Licence, access and rules
Fishing Tathra takes 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 wharf, the beach and the rocks are public, with the ramp at Kianinny; DPIRD’s limits and the wharf’s own rules are in the sources.
Common questions
Can I fish from Tathra wharf?
Yes; the historic wharf is the village’s fishing platform, for bream, trevally and squid all year and kingfish in summer, under the wharf’s own rules.
Do I need a licence at Tathra?
Yes: the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, from A$7 for three days.
Is fishing good at Tathra right now?
Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
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
- 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.