
Barramundi
Dawn, dusk and the run-off drains and creek mouths on the falling tide; hardbodies and soft vibes cast tight to snags and rock bars.
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
The beach west of Darwin: the Finniss River mouth and the Bynoe Harbour creeks, with barra, jewfish, golden snapper and the reef of the Peron Islands.
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Dundee Beach is a dawn-and-dusk fishery today, with the middle of the day for moving spots. Today brings clear skies, wind WNW around 6 km/h, rising pressure near 1011 hPa and a high of 34 °C. Tides: high 3:52 am and 4:56 pm, low 10:25 am and 11:01 pm: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. Water sits around 29 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 11:48 PM-1:48 AM and 11:24 AM-1:24 PM: plan around them and beat the heat.

Dawn, dusk and the run-off drains and creek mouths on the falling tide; hardbodies and soft vibes cast tight to snags and rock bars.

Troll rigged garfish or lures over the reef edges and shoals at first light; float-line a live bait through the middle of the day.
Tie on: Soft plastic, 3 to 5 inch paddle tail · Pilchard on ganged hooks · Metal slug, 20 to 40 g · Surface walker at first light. Prime windows: 11:48 PM-1:48 AM, 11:24 AM-1:24 PM, 5:24 AM-6:24 AM. Similar at 33 °C with likely rain: fish ahead of the front. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.
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.
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (06:13), sunset (18:51), the moon and today's score, with the modelled tide changes in the panel below. Tap a bar to see why.
Solunar majors 11:48 PM-1:48 AM and 11:24 AM-1:24 PM; minor 5:24 AM-6:24 AM. New Moon, 0% lit.
A modelled tide curve for these coordinates and the forecast for the day.
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.
Latest readings
Why the tide matters here: tides and fishing in Australia.
The best day on Dundee Beach this week looks like Tuesday 10 Nov, at 3 out of 5, against 2 today.
Best day this week: Tuesday, 10 Nov — fair at 3/5, rising pressure behind a front, typically the slowest.
Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
The species that matter on Dundee Beach: seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

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. Dawn, dusk and the run-off drains and creek mouths on the falling tide; hardbodies and soft vibes cast tight to snags and rock bars.

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. Troll rigged garfish or lures over the reef edges and shoals at first light; float-line a live bait through the middle of the day.
Activity by species and month for the southern year, and how the water warms and cools. Tap any cell.
1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted. January is midsummer here.
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 29 °C (estimated, not a reading).
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.
3/5 Fair. Fish early or late. Heat pins the bite to the dawn and dusk windows. Barramundi led the card at excellent. High of 34 °C, wind to 14 km/h.
3/5 Fair. Fish early or late. Heat pins the bite to the dawn and dusk windows. Barramundi led the card at excellent. High of 34 °C, wind to 18 km/h.
3/5 Fair. Fish early or late. Heat pins the bite to the dawn and dusk windows. Barramundi led the card at excellent. High of 33 °C, wind to 18 km/h.
Northern Territory has no general recreational fishing licence; the limits and closures do. Details and where to buy →
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.
The Northern Territory has no recreational fishing licence, at Dundee Beach 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.
Dundee Beach is a coastal town in Northern Territory, Australia, covered from the Northern Territory reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Dundee Beach is the settlement on the coast south-west of Darwin, with the beach and its launching, the Finniss River mouth and its flats to the south, the creeks and the islands of Bynoe Harbour to the north, and the Peron Islands and the reef offshore. It is a beach-and-harbour settlement that lives on visiting anglers, and the report on this page is scored for the settlement’s coordinates. Darwin’s harbour and creeks are on their own page.
Barramundi fish the Finniss mouth, the harbour creeks and the drains in the run-off and the build-up and are the settlement’s fish; black jewfish and golden snapper fish the reef and the rubble for the boats, under the NT’s possession limits; Spanish mackerel run the Perons in the dry season; queenfish and trevally work the beach and the creek mouths; threadfin salmon fish the flats; mud crabs work the creeks under the pot rules; and the reef gives red emperor and coral trout. The NT Government notes that barramundi spawn between September and March in marine bays and river mouths.
The Finniss River mouth and its flats south of the beach are the barra and threadfin water on the run-out in the run-off season, with the creeks of Bynoe Harbour north of the beach the barra, jack and crab water for small boats on the last of the run-out; the beach in front of the settlement is the queenfish and trevally sand at dawn, and the Peron Islands are the mackerel and reef run for the bigger boats. Launching off a beach on a big-tide coast needs a plan for the retrieve.
The coast faces west and the dry-season south-easterly is offshore and flattens the sea, while the wet-season north-westerly builds it; the wind row tells you which. The tide panel is a modelled curve for the coordinates of Dundee Beach, labelled as a model, and it rules the creeks and the flats, with a large range. Pressure and sky build the score at Dundee Beach, and the rain row matters because the run-off is when the barra move; the NT Government notes that water can be up to 10 degrees warmer in the build-up and the wet than in the dry, and barra feed harder in it.
The Northern Territory has no recreational fishing licence, at Dundee Beach 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 beach is public, with the harbour and the reef a boat trip; the NT’s crocodile safety advice is the other rule to read before wading or fishing from the bank.
Barramundi at the Finniss mouth and in the harbour creeks in the run-off, black jewfish and golden snapper on the reef, mackerel off the Perons in the dry, queenfish on the beach, mud crabs in the creeks.
No. The Northern Territory has no recreational fishing licence; the possession limits and the permits near Aboriginal land still apply.
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.
Pablo Ruiz QuinteroReadings 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.