Barramundi
Fair
Work the colour changes and the snags on the run-out; larger swimbaits and slow-rolled plastics in the impoundments.
Daly River Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Territory’s barramundi river: the Daly from the crossing down through the freshwater reaches, famous for the run-off and the Barra Classic.
2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Water temp
~26 °C est.
Air / High
27 °C / 32 °C
Wind
WSW 12 km/h
Sources: Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Daly River is fishing in its best temperature window, with the bite spread across the day. Today brings clear skies, wind WSW around 13 km/h, rising pressure near 1015 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.
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 32 °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 Daly River today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (06:36), sunset (18:45), 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 temp27 °C
High / Low32 °C / 23 °C
WindWSW 12 km/h, gusts 23 km/h
Pressure1015.2 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain3% cloud, 49%
Sunrise / Sunset06:36 / 18:45
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~26 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Daly River
The best day on Daly River this week looks like Saturday 26 Sept, at 4 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 — good at 4/5, 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
- 06:36 to 18:45
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 21 km/h
- Rain chance
- 49%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Daly River: 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.
When to come: the Daly 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
Barramundi
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 Daly River 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. Barramundi led the card at good. High of 32 °C, wind to 24 km/h.
Wed, Sep 23
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Barramundi led the card at good. High of 32 °C, wind to 23 km/h.
Tue, Sep 22
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Barramundi led the card at good. High of 32 °C, wind to 19 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 fishing licence; the barramundi possession limit, the closed areas and the Aboriginal land access rules apply, on the NT Fisheries and Northern Land Council pages linked below.
About this water
Daly River is a river in Northern Territory, Australia, covered from the Northern Territory reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Daly River: the full guide
The river
The Daly River runs west from the Katherine region through the tropical savanna to the Timor Sea, a big, slow, freshwater river above the tidal limit and a wide, muddy estuary below it, with the Daly River crossing and the community of Nauiyu, the fishing lodges and the camps on its banks, and hundreds of kilometres of snags, rock bars and creek mouths in between. It is the river the Northern Territory’s barramundi reputation rests on, the home of the Barra Classic and the Barra Nationals, and it fishes from boats on the freshwater reaches and the tidal river, with the bank fishing at the crossing and the camps. The report on this page is scored for the river’s coordinates near the crossing.
Species and seasons
Barramundi are the fish, at their best on the run-off from March to May when the floodplain drains back into the river through the creek mouths and the fish stack up under them, then through the dry along the snags and the rock bars, and again on the build-up before the wet; the Territory has no closed season for barramundi but has a possession limit and closed areas that NT Fisheries publishes. Saratoga fish the still backwaters, sooty grunter and black bream fish the fresh reaches, and the tidal river gives threadfin salmon, black jew and mud crabs. Crocodiles own the river.
Reading this report for the Daly
The river’s level is the whole story on the run-off and the water authority publishes it; this page does not have it, and reads the weather over the river instead: pressure, which matters for barramundi, a falling barometer before a storm being the classic bite; the rain row, which shows the wet arriving and the floodplain filling; and the water temperature, which is an estimate for a tropical river and says so. The tide reaches far up the lower river and the tide panel, a modelled curve for these coordinates labelled as a model, is for the direction there; the wind matters little.
Rules and access
The Northern Territory has no fishing licence; the barramundi possession limit, the closed areas and the Aboriginal land access rules apply, on the NT Fisheries and Northern Land Council pages linked below. The crossing, the camps and the lodges are the access, with ramps at the crossing and the camps; much of the lower river runs through Aboriginal land with its own permits.
Common questions
When is the run-off on the Daly River?
From about March to May, as the floodplain drains back into the river after the wet; the exact timing depends on the season and the river’s level, which the water authority publishes.
Do I need a fishing licence on the Daly River?
No. The Northern Territory has no recreational fishing licence; the barramundi possession limit, closed areas and land access permits apply.
Is fishing good at Daly 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.