Barramundi
Closed today
Reopens 1 Feb 2027. Closed 1 November to 31 January on the east coast, tidal and fresh, except in the stocked dams the Queensland Government lists. No catch and release in the closure.
Barron River at Mareeba Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Barron at Mareeba: sooty grunter and barramundi in the tableland river below Tinaroo, with the Bureau’s Mareeba gauge on the page.
3/5
Fair. Fish early or late.Heat pins the bite to the dawn and dusk windows.
Level
1.87 m
Air / High
24 °C / 32 °C
Wind
NE 8 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 110002A, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Barron River at Mareeba is in full summer mode: early starts, shade at midday, and the evening change. The gauge reads 1.87 m, holding steady. Today brings a mixed sky, wind NE around 8 km/h, steady pressure near 1015 hPa and a high of 32 °C. Water sits around 29 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 11:16 PM-1:16 AM and 10:52 AM-12:52 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: 11:16 PM-1:16 AM, 10:52 AM-12:52 PM, 4:45 AM-5:45 AM. Similar at 31 °C with likely rain: fish ahead of the front. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.
Before you go
Queensland has no general fishing licence, but rules and permits apply. Queensland fishing licence: cost, rules and where to buy →
Chasing barramundi here? Check the size and bag limits with Queensland DPI before you keep anything; the Barramundi page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Barron River at Mareeba today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:37), sunset (18:27), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 11:16 PM-1:16 AM and 10:52 AM-12:52 PM; minor 4:45 AM-5:45 AM. New Moon, 0% lit.
Water and weather
Live readings from Bureau of Meteorology station 110002A (Barron_R Mareeba).
River level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station 110002A. Latest reading 2026-11-08 18:00.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp24 °C
High / Low32 °C / 22 °C
WindNE 8 km/h, gusts 22 km/h
Pressure1014.5 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain33% cloud, 75%
Sunrise / Sunset05:37 / 18:27
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~29 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Barron River at Mareeba
Today is the pick of the week on Barron River at Mareeba, at 3 out of 5.
Best day this week: today, 9 Nov — fair at 3/5, steady pressure, neither help nor hindrance.
Today, 9 Nov — Fair
Heat pins the bite to the dawn and dusk windows.
- Solunar majors
- 11:16 PM-1:16 AM and 10:52 AM-12:52 PM
- Minor period
- 4:45 AM-5:45 AM
- Sun
- 05:37 to 18:27
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 18 km/h
- Rain chance
- 75%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Barron River at Mareeba: 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
Closed now Reopens 1 Feb 2027. Closed 1 November to 31 January on the east coast, tidal and fresh, except in the stocked dams the Queensland Government lists. No catch and release in the closure. Rule as read from Queensland Department of Primary Industries on 2026-09-23.
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.
When to come: the Barron River at Mareeba 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
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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 Barron River at Mareeba today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataSun, Nov 8
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 19 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 33 °C, wind to 19 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 33 °C, wind to 16 km/h.
Before you go
Licence
Queensland has no general recreational fishing licence; permits apply on some waters and the limits and closures do. Details and where to buy →
Regulations
Size and bag limits, closed seasons and marine park zones are set by Queensland DPI and change: confirm the current rules on the agency page linked from the Queensland licence page before you keep anything.
Access
Queensland has no general recreational fishing licence, and the Barron below the dam is not a stocked impoundment, so no permit is needed on the river itself.
About this water
Barron River at Mareeba is a river in Queensland, Australia, covered from the Queensland reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Barron River at Mareeba: the full guide
The reach
The Barron at Mareeba is the Atherton Tableland stretch of the river below Tinaroo Falls Dam, running past the town over rock bars, sand runs and snag-lined pools before it turns north-east toward Kuranda and the gorge. It is sooty grunter and barramundi water on a regulated river, and Bureau of Meteorology station 110002A, Barron_R Mareeba, supplies the river level and the 30-day chart on this page.
Species and seasons
Sooty grunter are the everyday fish, holding on the rock bars and in the faster water through the warm months; Queensland sets a 28 cm minimum and a combined limit of 10 grunter of all kinds. Barramundi sit in the deeper pools, and the east coast closure from 1 November to 31 January applies here: the Tinaroo exemption covers the dam and the waterways upstream of it, not the river below the wall, and barramundi may not be targeted at all during the closure, catch and release included.
Where to fish it
Public reserves and road crossings give most of the bank access around town; away from them the river runs past farmland, so ask before crossing a paddock. Work the head of each pool, where the riffle drops in, for grunter, and the slower, deeper water with timber for barramundi. A kayak lets you fish several pools in a morning, dragging over the shallow bars between them.
Reading the report
Releases from Tinaroo and wet-season rain drive the level at Mareeba, and the chart shows both: a steady line through the dry usually means the river is running on dam water, while a sharp spike means rain upstream. The water temperature is an estimate, labelled as one; the tableland runs cooler than the coast, so the warm-water fish switch on later in spring and ease off earlier in autumn. Afternoon storms in the build-up are when the pressure trend on the score is most worth watching.
Rules and access
Queensland has no general recreational fishing licence, and the Barron below the dam is not a stocked impoundment, so no permit is needed on the river itself. Tinaroo Falls Dam is on the state’s stocked impoundment list, and anglers aged 18 and over need a permit to line fish it. Size and possession limits for grunter, barramundi and the rest are on the Queensland Government freshwater limits page linked below.
Down to the gorge
Below Mareeba the Barron runs on to Kuranda and then drops over the Barron Falls into the gorge and the coastal plain at Cairns; the Kuranda reach has its own page on this site. Of the two, the Mareeba water is the more open and the more shaped by the dam, and a morning on the river pairs easily with an afternoon on Tinaroo for anyone carrying a stocked impoundment permit.
Common questions
Is barramundi closed in the Barron at Mareeba?
Yes, from 1 November to 31 January. The Tinaroo exemption covers the dam and the waters upstream of it, not the river below, and the closure means no targeting at all, catch and release included.
Do I need a licence or permit at Mareeba?
Queensland sells no general licence and the river needs no permit; Lake Tinaroo upstream is a stocked impoundment where anglers aged 18 and over need one.
Is fishing good at Barron River at Mareeba right now?
Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish early or late. Heat pins the bite to the dawn and dusk windows.
Nearby waters
Where this page's numbers come from
- Storage and river readings
- Bureau of Meteorology, Water Data Online, station 110002A — Barron_R Mareeba
- 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.