Spanish mackerel
Excellent
Prime. Trolled baits and hardbodies over structure on the tide change, or high-speed metals cast at surface schools.
Bowen Fishing Report
Updated Sat, 26 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The mango town between the Whitsundays and Townsville: the harbour, Queens Beach and the Don River mouth, with mackerel, barra, whiting and the reef.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Water temp
~26 °C est.
Air / High
20 °C / 27 °C
Wind
SE 14 km/h
Sources: Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Bowen has the water in the comfortable band where most of its fish feed through the day. Today brings clear skies, wind SE around 14 km/h, steady pressure near 1024 hPa and a high of 27 °C. Water sits around 26 °C for the season (estimated). With the full moon, the solunar majors run 11:16 PM-1:16 AM and 11:16 AM-1:16 PM: 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: 11:16 PM-1:16 AM, 11:16 AM-1:16 PM, 5:46 AM-6:46 AM. Similar at 26 °C. 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 Bowen today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:54), sunset (18:04), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 11:16 PM-1:16 AM and 11:16 AM-1:16 PM; minor 5:46 AM-6:46 AM. Full Moon, 100% 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 temp20 °C
High / Low27 °C / 18 °C
WindSE 14 km/h, gusts 28 km/h
Pressure1023.7 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain5% cloud, 12%
Sunrise / Sunset05:54 / 18:04
MoonFull Moon, 100%
Water temp (seasonal)~26 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Bowen
The best day on Bowen this week looks like Sunday 27 Sept, at 4 out of 5, against 3 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: Sunday, 27 Sept — good at 4/5, steady pressure, neither help nor hindrance.
Today, 26 Sept — Fair
A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
- Solunar majors
- 11:16 PM-1:16 AM and 11:16 AM-1:16 PM
- Minor period
- 5:46 AM-6:46 AM
- Sun
- 05:54 to 18:04
- Moon
- Full Moon, 100% lit
- Sky and wind
- Partly cloudy, 24 km/h
- Rain chance
- 12%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Bowen: 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
Open now Closes 1 Nov 2026. 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. 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 Bowen 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 Bowen today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataFri, Sep 25
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Spanish mackerel led the card at excellent. High of 27 °C, wind to 26 km/h.
Thu, 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 27 °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. Spanish mackerel led the card at excellent. High of 26 °C, wind to 24 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 fishing licence, at Bowen or anywhere; the east coast barramundi closed season, the coral reef fin fish rules, the size and bag limits and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park zoning apply, on the pages linked below.
About this water
Bowen is a coastal town in Queensland, Australia, covered from the Queensland reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Bowen: the full guide
Bowen and its bays
Bowen is the town on the wide bay between Airlie Beach and Townsville, with the harbour and its jetty on the eastern side of the town, Queens Beach and Horseshoe and Rose bays on the northern side, the Don River mouth to the west, the Edgecumbe Bay flats and the islands and reef offshore. It is a town of many bays, and the report on this page is scored for the town’s coordinates. Airlie Beach has its own page.
Species and seasons
Spanish and school mackerel run the harbour, the headlands and the islands in the cooler months and are the town’s fish; barramundi fish the Don mouth and the creeks in the warm season under the closed season; whiting fish Queens Beach and the bay sand all year; bream and grunter fish the harbour walls and the jetty; mangrove jack fish the creek snags in summer; queenfish and trevally work the harbour; mud crabs work the creeks; and the reef gives coral trout and red emperor for the boats out of the harbour. Fingermark fish the harbour at night.
Where to fish it
The harbour jetty and the walls are the grunter and bream marks, fished at night, and the Queens Beach and Horseshoe Bay sand is the whiting water; the Don River mouth west of the town is the barra and jack spot in the warm season, and the headlands from Rose Bay to Flagstaff Hill are the mackerel rocks in the cooler months. The ramps are at the harbour and the northern beaches, and the islands are a short run.
Reading this report here
The town has a bay for every wind: a south-easterly roughs the harbour side and leaves Queens Beach fishable, and a northerly the reverse; the wind row tells you which. The tide panel is a modelled curve for the coordinates of Bowen, labelled as a model, and the flats and the creeks run on it. Pressure and sky build the score at Bowen; the planner shows the day.
Licence, access and rules
Queensland has no general fishing licence, at Bowen or anywhere; the east coast barramundi closed season, the coral reef fin fish rules, the size and bag limits and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park zoning apply, on the pages linked below. The jetty, the beaches and the river mouth are public, with ramps at the harbour and the beaches.
Common questions
What can I catch in Bowen?
Mackerel off the headlands in the cooler months, barramundi at the Don mouth in the warm season, whiting on Queens Beach, grunter and bream at the harbour, reef fish for the boats.
Do I need a licence in Bowen?
No. Queensland has no general recreational fishing licence; the limits and the closed seasons still apply.
Is fishing good at Bowen 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 the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
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.