Spanish mackerel
Excellent
Prime. Trolled baits and hardbodies over structure on the tide change, or high-speed metals cast at surface schools.
Dundee Beach Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The beach west of Darwin: the Dundee ramp, the Finniss River mouth and the Bynoe Harbour creeks, with barra, jewfish, golden snapper and the reef of the Peron Islands.
2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Next tide
High 4:08 pm model
Air / High
27 °C / 32 °C
Wind
WSW 9 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Dundee Beach sits in the warm band: moving baits, moving tides and fish on the edges. Today brings clear skies, wind WSW around 8 km/h, rising pressure near 1015 hPa and a high of 32 °C. Tides: high 3:59 am and 4:08 pm, low 10:16 am and 10:15 pm: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. 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
Fair
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 a rain chance. 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 Dundee Beach today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (06:36), sunset (18:44), 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
HIGH3:59 am2.52 m
LOW10:16 am-1.26 m
HIGH4:08 pm2.21 m
LOW10:15 pm-1.52 m
Sat
HIGH4:21 am2.75 m
LOW10:39 am-1.71 m
HIGH4:39 pm2.70 m
LOW10:48 pm-1.65 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp27 °C
High / Low32 °C / 22 °C
WindWSW 9 km/h, gusts 19 km/h
Pressure1015.3 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain5% cloud, 20%
Sunrise / Sunset06:36 / 18:44
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~26 °C est.
Why the tide matters here: tides and fishing in Australia.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Dundee Beach
The best day on Dundee Beach 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 18:44
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 16 km/h
- Rain chance
- 20%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
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.
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 Dundee Beach 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 Dundee Beach 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 33 °C, wind to 14 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 31 °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. Spanish mackerel led the card at excellent. High of 29 °C, wind to 16 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 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.
About this water
Dundee Beach is a coastal town in Northern Territory, Australia, covered from the Northern Territory reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Dundee Beach: the full guide
Dundee Beach and Bynoe Harbour
Dundee Beach is the settlement on the coast west of Darwin, an hour and a half by road, with the beach and its ramp, the Finniss River mouth and its flats to the south, the creeks and the islands of Bynoe Harbour to the north, the Peron Islands and the reef offshore and the lodges and caravan parks that exist for the fishing. It is a beach-and-harbour settlement built on fishing, and the report on this page is scored for the settlement’s coordinates. Darwin has its own page.
Species and seasons
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 run-off after the wet is the season people book for.
Where to fish it
The Dundee Beach ramp puts a boat into the bay, and 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.
Reading this report here
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 the barra season; the planner shows the day.
Licence, access and rules
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 and the ramp are public, with the harbour and the reef a boat; the crocodile warnings are the other rule to read.
Common questions
What can I catch at Dundee Beach?
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.
Do I need a licence at Dundee Beach?
No. The Northern Territory has no recreational fishing licence; the possession limits and the permits near Aboriginal land still apply.
Is fishing good at Dundee Beach 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
- 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.