Barramundi
Good
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.
Finniss River at Gitchams Crossing Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Finniss River at Gitchams Crossing south-west of Darwin: barramundi in the upper Finniss, with a Bureau gauge.
1/5
Tough. Pick your battles.Post-front sun and slick water make them sulk.
Level
0.88 m
Air / High
27 °C / 37 °C
Wind
S 17 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge G8150180, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Finniss River at Gitchams Crossing is in full summer mode: early starts, shade at midday, and the evening change. The gauge reads 0.88 m, easing 0.06 over the week. Today brings clear skies, wind S around 18 km/h, rising pressure near 1012 hPa and a high of 37 °C. Water sits around 29 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 11:46 PM-1:46 AM and 11:22 AM-1:22 PM: plan around them and beat the heat.
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: 11:46 PM-1:46 AM, 11:22 AM-1:22 PM, 5:22 AM-6:22 AM. Similar at 37 °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 Finniss River at Gitchams Crossing today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (06:11), sunset (18:50), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 11:46 PM-1:46 AM and 11:22 AM-1:22 PM; minor 5:22 AM-6:22 AM. New Moon, 0% lit.
Water and weather
Live readings from Bureau of Meteorology station G8150180 (Finniss River - Gitchams Xng).
River level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station G8150180. Latest reading 2026-11-08 06:50.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp27 °C
High / Low37 °C / 25 °C
WindS 17 km/h, gusts 37 km/h
Pressure1012.3 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain6% cloud, 69%
Sunrise / Sunset06:11 / 18:50
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~29 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Finniss River at Gitchams Crossing
The best day on Finniss River at Gitchams Crossing this week looks like Friday 13 Nov, at 3 out of 5, against 1 today.
Best day this week: Friday, 13 Nov — fair at 3/5, steady pressure, neither help nor hindrance.
Today, 9 Nov — Slow
Post-front sun and slick water make them sulk.
- Solunar majors
- 11:46 PM-1:46 AM and 11:22 AM-1:22 PM
- Minor period
- 5:22 AM-6:22 AM
- Sun
- 06:11 to 18:50
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 18 km/h
- Rain chance
- 69%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Finniss River at Gitchams Crossing: 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. 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.
When to come: the Finniss River at Gitchams Crossing 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 29 °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 Finniss River at Gitchams Crossing today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataSun, Nov 8
2/5 Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing. Barramundi led the card at excellent. High of 37 °C, wind to 13 km/h.
Sat, Nov 7
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 10 km/h.
Fri, Nov 6
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 36 °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; the possession and size limits and closed areas apply, on the pages linked below..
About this water
Finniss River at Gitchams Crossing is a river in Northern Territory, Australia, covered from the Northern Territory reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Finniss River at Gitchams Crossing: the full guide
The Finniss at Gitchams Crossing
The Finniss River runs from the country around Batchelor and Litchfield north-west across the floodplains to the coast south-west of Darwin; Gitchams Crossing is a crossing on its middle reaches. The Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at Gitchams Crossing supplies the river level and the 30-day chart on this page. Dundee Beach, near the Finniss mouth, has its own page.
Species and seasons
Barramundi are the fish of the Finniss, in the pools and snags of the middle river in the run-off and in the tidal lower river; sooty grunter hold in the fresh water. The Northern Territory has no general closed season for barramundi; the NT-wide limits of five fish and 55 cm minimum apply.
Where to fish it
The crossing is the access to this reach in the dry season. Estuarine crocodiles live in the Finniss: stay back from the water.
Planning a visit
Batchelor is the nearest town with supplies, and Darwin is the base for most trips. Carry water and fuel on the unsealed roads.
The river through the year
The Finniss follows the Top End’s two seasons. Through the wet, roughly November to April, monsoon rain fills it and it spreads across the floodplains below Gitchams toward the coast; in the run-off, as the rain eases, the floodplain water drains back through the creeks and the barramundi feed at the mouths of the drains and along the snags. Through the dry, from about May to October, the river falls, clears and shrinks to pools, and the fish hold in the deeper water. The build-up, the humid weeks before the rains, brings storms and restless fish. The unsealed roads to the crossing decide when it can be reached, and the level on the chart shows where the river is in that cycle.
Reading this report here
The chart shows the Finniss rising in the wet and falling through the dry; the run-off is the barramundi season. The water temperature estimate, labelled as one, is warm all year; pressure and sky build the score at Gitchams Crossing.
Licence, access and rules
The Northern Territory has no recreational fishing licence; the possession and size limits and closed areas apply, on the pages linked below.
Common questions
What can I catch in the Finniss?
Barramundi, with sooty grunter in the fresh water.
Are there crocodiles in the Finniss?
Yes. Treat the Finniss River at Gitchams Crossing as crocodile water and keep back from the edge.
Do I need a licence here?
No. Nobody needs a recreational fishing licence to fish the Finniss River at Gitchams Crossing, or anywhere else in the Territory.
Is fishing good at Finniss River at Gitchams Crossing right now?
Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Tough. Pick your battles. Post-front sun and slick water make them sulk.
Nearby waters
Where this page's numbers come from
- Storage and river readings
- Bureau of Meteorology, Water Data Online, station G8150180 — Finniss River - Gitchams Xng
- Open-Meteo forecast model
- https://open-meteo.com/
- Moon and solunar windows
- Calculated on this site
- Pages checked
- 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.