Spanish mackerel
Excellent
Prime. Trolled baits and hardbodies over structure on the tide change, or high-speed metals cast at surface schools.
Borroloola Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The McArthur River and the Gulf: Borroloola’s barra, the river’s rocky bars, King Ash Bay and the Sir Edward Pellew islands, with the run-off season and the Gulf’s reef.
4/5
Good. Solid day ahead.Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
Water temp
~26 °C est.
Air / High
24 °C / 32 °C
Wind
NE 9 km/h
Sources: Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Borroloola sits in the warm band: moving baits, moving tides and fish on the edges. Today brings cloud cover, wind NE around 10 km/h, steady pressure near 1019 hPa and a high of 32 °C. Water sits around 26 °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.
Barramundi
Good
Work the colour changes and the snags on the run-out; larger swimbaits and slow-rolled plastics in the impoundments.
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: 10:25 AM-12:25 PM, 10:25 PM-12:25 AM, 4:55 AM-5:55 AM. Similar at 33 °C with likely rain: fish ahead of the front. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.
Before you go
Northern Territory has no general fishing licence, but rules and permits apply. Northern Territory fishing licence: cost, rules and where to buy →
Chasing barramundi here? Check the size and bag limits with NT Fisheries before you keep anything; the Barramundi page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Borroloola today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (06:12), sunset (18:21), 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 temp24 °C
High / Low32 °C / 20 °C
WindNE 9 km/h, gusts 15 km/h
Pressure1018.8 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain97% cloud, 92%
Sunrise / Sunset06:12 / 18:21
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~26 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Borroloola
Today is the pick of the week on Borroloola, at 4 out of 5. 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: today, 25 Sept — good at 4/5, steady pressure, neither help nor hindrance.
Today, 25 Sept — Good
Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
- Solunar majors
- 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM
- Minor period
- 4:55 AM-5:55 AM
- Sun
- 06:12 to 18:21
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 23 km/h
- Rain chance
- 92%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Borroloola: seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
Barramundi
Run-off (March to May) and build-up (October to November) in the north; check the closed season on the Queensland east coast
The north's fish. Tidal rivers, run-off creeks, rock bars and the stocked impoundments. Warm water, moving water and a barometer on the way down. Work the colour changes and the snags on the run-out; larger swimbaits and slow-rolled plastics in the impoundments.
Spanish mackerel
Winter and spring in the north; summer in NSW
The narrow-barred Spanish mackerel: a speedster of the headlands, reefs and shoals from Queensland around to northern WA, and a summer visitor to NSW. Prime. Trolled baits and hardbodies over structure on the tide change, or high-speed metals cast at surface schools.
When to come: the Borroloola 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
Barramundi
Spanish mackerel
SlowPeak
Water temperature through the year
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 26 °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 Borroloola today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataThu, Sep 24
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Spanish mackerel led the card at excellent. High of 34 °C, wind to 21 km/h.
Wed, Sep 23
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Spanish mackerel led the card at excellent. High of 33 °C, wind to 21 km/h.
Tue, Sep 22
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Spanish mackerel led the card at excellent. High of 34 °C, wind to 21 km/h.
Before you go
Licence
Northern Territory has no general recreational fishing licence; the limits and closures do. Details and where to buy →
Regulations
Size and bag limits, closed seasons and marine park zones are set by NT Fisheries and change: confirm the current rules on the agency page linked from the Northern Territory licence page before you keep anything.
Access
The Northern Territory has no recreational fishing licence, at Borroloola or anywhere; the possession and size limits, the black jewfish and golden snapper limits, closed areas and the permits for fishing near Aboriginal land apply, on the NT Government pages linked below.
About this water
Borroloola is a coastal town in Northern Territory, Australia, covered from the Northern Territory reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Borroloola: the full guide
Borroloola and the McArthur
Borroloola is the town on the McArthur River in the Gulf country of the Northern Territory near the Queensland border, with the river running past the town over rocky bars to the tidal reaches and the mouth at the Gulf of Carpentaria, King Ash Bay and its fishing camp on the lower river, the Sir Edward Pellew islands off the mouth and the Gulf’s reefs beyond. It is a river town for one fish, and the report on this page is scored for the town’s coordinates. The Roper River at Roper Bar has its own page.
Species and seasons
Barramundi fish the McArthur’s bars, the snags and the tidal reaches in the run-off and the build-up and are the reason people drive here; black jewfish and golden snapper fish the islands’ reef for the boats out of King Ash Bay, under the NT’s possession limits; Spanish mackerel run the Pellews in the dry season; queenfish and trevally work the mouth and the islands; threadfin salmon fish the mouth flats; mud crabs work the mangroves under the pot rules; and sooty grunter fish the upper river’s fresh reaches. The run-off after the wet is the season.
Where to fish it
The McArthur River at the town from the crossing down through the rocky bars is the barra and sooty grunter water for kayaks and small boats in the run-off, and the tidal reaches from King Ash Bay down to the mouth are the barra and threadfin water on the run-out for the boats from the camp; the Sir Edward Pellew islands off the mouth are the mackerel, jewfish and reef run for the bigger boats, and Batten Point is the ramp for them. The ramps are at the town and King Ash Bay.
Reading this report here
The river is sheltered and the Gulf is open to the dry-season south-easterly; the wind row matters for the run to the islands. The tide panel is a modelled curve for the coordinates of Borroloola, labelled as a model, and it rules the lower river and the mouth, with the town reaches above the tide. Pressure and sky build the score at Borroloola, and the rain row matters most, because the run-off after the wet is the barra season and the wet closes the road; the planner shows the day.
Licence, access and rules
The Northern Territory has no recreational fishing licence, at Borroloola or anywhere; the possession and size limits, the black jewfish and golden snapper limits, closed areas and the permits for fishing near Aboriginal land apply, on the NT Government pages linked below. The river at the town and King Ash Bay are public, with ramps at both; the road in is closed in the wet; the crocodile warnings are the other rule to read.
Common questions
When is the barramundi season at Borroloola?
The run-off after the wet, from about March, and the build-up before it, from about October; there is no closed season in the Northern Territory and the possession limits apply all year.
Do I need a licence at Borroloola?
No. The Northern Territory has no recreational fishing licence; the possession limits and the permits near Aboriginal land still apply.
Is fishing good at Borroloola right now?
Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
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.