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.
Yamba Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The mouth of the Clarence: breakwalls, Main Beach and the rocks of Yamba, with mulloway, bream and tailor and a tide most people search for.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Next tide
High 6:30 pm model
Air / High
16 °C / 22 °C
Wind
NNW 7 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Yamba rewards patience today, with cool water and short feeding windows. Today brings clear skies, wind NNW around 6 km/h, steady pressure near 1031 hPa and a high of 22 °C. Tides: high 6:22 am and 6:30 pm, low 12:18 pm: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. 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 22 °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 Yamba today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:33), sunset (17:44), 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
HIGH6:22 am0.62 m
LOW12:18 pm-0.48 m
HIGH6:30 pm0.86 m
Sat
LOW12:55 am-0.66 m
HIGH7:00 am0.69 m
LOW12:57 pm-0.57 m
HIGH7:07 pm0.84 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp16 °C
High / Low22 °C / 15 °C
WindNNW 7 km/h, gusts 15 km/h
Pressure1030.9 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain4% cloud, 65%
Sunrise / Sunset05:33 / 17:44
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~18 °C est.
Why the tide matters here: tides and fishing in Australia.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Yamba
The best day on Yamba this week looks like Sunday 27 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: Sunday, 27 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
- 05:33 to 17:44
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 16 km/h
- Rain chance
- 65%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Yamba: 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 Yamba 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 Yamba 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 22 °C, wind to 14 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 22 °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
The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee applies, from A$7 for three days; our New South Wales licence page has the fees.
About this water
Yamba is a coastal town in New South Wales, Australia, covered from the New South Wales reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Yamba: the full guide
Yamba and the mouth
Yamba sits on the southern side of the Clarence River mouth on the New South Wales north coast, a headland town of beaches, rock platforms and the long breakwalls that train the river to the sea, facing Iluka across the entrance. It is the town the Clarence delivers its fish to: mulloway on the walls, bream and flathead in the lower river, tailor and whiting on Main, Pippi and Turners beaches, and the reef and the bar outside for the boats. Most searches for Yamba are for the tide, and this page shows one: a modelled curve for the coordinates of Yamba, labelled as a model, with the Bureau of Meteorology’s prediction linked. The Clarence itself has its own page.
Species and seasons
Mulloway are the wall fish, at night on the change of the tide from spring to autumn and best after a fresh; bream fish the walls, the rocks and the lower river all year with the winter run to the mouth; tailor run the beaches and the walls in the cooler months at dawn and dusk; whiting fish Pippi and Main beaches in summer; flathead lie on the sand of the lower river and the beaches from spring to autumn; and luderick fish the walls in winter. Outside, the reef gives snapper in winter and mackerel in summer.
Where to fish it
The Yamba breakwall on the southern side of the Clarence mouth is the walk-on mark, fished for bream and luderick on the run-in and for mulloway after dark; Turners Beach beside it and Main Beach under the lighthouse take the tailor at first light. The ramp at Whiting Beach puts a boat into the river, and Oyster Channel behind the town is the sheltered flathead water when the bar is up.
Reading this report here
The wind row and the swell decide the walls and the beaches: a southerly or an easterly swell washes the walls and closes the bar, a westerly flattens the coast and opens everything. The tide runs hard through the entrance, so the modelled curve is for the direction and the Bureau’s prediction for the minute. Pressure and sky build the score at Yamba and the planner shows the day; the rain row matters because a fresh brings the jew.
Licence, access and rules
The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee applies, from A$7 for three days; our New South Wales licence page has the fees. The breakwalls, the beaches and the rock platforms are public, with ramps at the marina and the river; the DPIRD limits and the rock fishing life-jacket rule of the Clarence Valley are on the pages in the sources.
Common questions
Do I need a fishing licence in Yamba?
Yes. The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee applies, from A$7 for three days.
Is fishing good at Yamba 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.