Tailor
Excellent
The main run. Fish the gutters and headlands into the evening; ganged pilchards, metals, and a wire-free trace only if you accept the bite-offs.
Brisbane Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
A river city with the bay at its door: bream and jew in the Brisbane River, snapper on the bay beacons and flathead on the flats within the suburbs.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Next tide
Low 1:01 pm model
Air / High
18 °C / 24 °C
Wind
E 5 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Brisbane is in its cool-water rhythm: slower presentations and the warmest hours of the day. Today brings clear skies, wind E around 5 km/h, steady pressure near 1031 hPa and a high of 24 °C. Tides: high 6:57 am and 7:08 pm, low 1:04 am and 1:01 pm: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. Water sits around 18 °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.
Bream
Fair
Slow the retrieve right down: blades and lightly weighted plastics along the deeper rock walls and drop-offs, or unweighted bait drifted into the snags.
Flathead
Fair
Fish the deeper channels and the last of the run-out; slower hops with a heavier jighead, and a bait on the bottom as back-up.
Mulloway
Fair
The estuary fish move to the deeper reaches. Long, quiet sessions on the bottom with fresh bait across the top of the tide.
Tie on: Blade or vibe, slow hops · Lightly weighted plastic · Whole pilchard or squid on the bottom · Suspending hardbody. Prime windows: 10:25 AM-12:25 PM, 10:25 PM-12:25 AM, 4:55 AM-5:55 AM. Similar at 23 °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 bream here? Check the size and bag limits with Queensland DPI before you keep anything; the Bream page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Brisbane today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:34), sunset (17:45), 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
LOW1:04 am-0.75 m
HIGH6:57 am1.13 m
LOW1:01 pm-0.71 m
HIGH7:08 pm1.46 m
Sat
LOW1:34 am-0.82 m
HIGH7:30 am1.23 m
LOW1:43 pm-0.78 m
HIGH7:42 pm1.42 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp18 °C
High / Low24 °C / 15 °C
WindE 5 km/h, gusts 15 km/h
Pressure1030.6 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain4% cloud, 55%
Sunrise / Sunset05:34 / 17:45
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~18 °C est.
Why the tide matters here: tides and fishing in Australia.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Brisbane
The best day on Brisbane this week looks like Thursday 1 Oct, 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: Thursday, 1 Oct — good at 4/5, steady pressure, neither help nor hindrance.
Today, 25 Sept — Fair
A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
- Solunar majors
- 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM
- Minor period
- 4:55 AM-5:55 AM
- Sun
- 05:34 to 17:45
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 14 km/h
- Rain chance
- 55%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Brisbane: seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
Bream
Year-round; summer and autumn in the estuaries, winter at the mouths
Yellowfin bream on the east coast, black bream in the southern estuaries. Structure fish: rock walls, jetty piles, oyster racks, snags and pontoons. Slow the retrieve right down: blades and lightly weighted plastics along the deeper rock walls and drop-offs, or unweighted bait drifted into the snags.
Flathead
Best: November to April
Dusky flathead in the eastern estuaries, sand flathead in the southern bays. An ambush predator lying on sand and mud edges waiting for whatever the tide brings. Fish the deeper channels and the last of the run-out; slower hops with a heavier jighead, and a bait on the bottom as back-up.
Mulloway
Best: summer and autumn, especially after rain
Jewfish. The big silver prize of the estuaries, breakwalls and surf beaches: nocturnal, tide-driven and unforgiving of noise. The estuary fish move to the deeper reaches. Long, quiet sessions on the bottom with fresh bait across the top of the tide.
Tailor
Autumn and winter on the east coast; August to September on Fraser Island
The surf and rock fish of the east coast, running north in autumn and winter. Fast, toothy and best at dawn, dusk and into the dark. The main run. Fish the gutters and headlands into the evening; ganged pilchards, metals, and a wire-free trace only if you accept the bite-offs.
When to come: the Brisbane 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
Bream
Flathead
Mulloway
Tailor
SlowPeak
Water temperature through the year
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 18 °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 Brisbane today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataThu, Sep 24
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Tailor led the card at excellent. High of 24 °C, wind to 14 km/h.
Wed, Sep 23
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Tailor led the card at excellent. High of 24 °C, wind to 16 km/h.
Tue, Sep 22
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Tailor led the card at excellent. High of 28 °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 fishing licence, but the size and bag limits, the closed seasons and the Moreton Bay Marine Park zoning apply, all on the Queensland Government pages in the sources.
About this water
Brisbane is a coastal town in Queensland, Australia, covered from the Queensland reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Brisbane: the full guide
The river and the bay
Brisbane fishes its river first. The Brisbane River runs tidal through the city from the mouth at the port up past the CBD to the western suburbs, and it is a bream, flathead, mulloway and threadfin fishery in the middle of a capital, worked from the pontoons, the rock walls and the reaches by boat and kayak. Below the mouth is Moreton Bay, the city’s big fishery, with the beacons, reefs and flats from the Redcliffe peninsula to Cleveland, and the bayside suburbs of Wynnum, Manly and Sandgate give the city its jetties and its ramps. A Brisbane fishing report is a report on those two waters, and this page is scored for the city’s coordinates with the bay a short run away.
Species through the year
Bream are the river’s year-round fish along the walls and the pontoons, with flathead on the sand edges of the lower river and the bay in the warmer months. Threadfin salmon and mulloway are the river’s prize, best at night on the tide changes in the reaches around the port and the city, and the river’s snags hold mangrove jack in summer. In the bay, snapper on the beacons and reefs in winter, whiting on the flats in summer, tailor and school mackerel in their seasons, and crabs in the creeks and the mangroves. Moreton Bay has its own page on this site with the bay-wide picture.
Reading this report for Brisbane
The score is built from the wind, pressure and sky over the city; a strong south-easterly makes the bay uncomfortable and pushes the fishing into the river and the lee shores, while a still morning opens everything. The tide panel is a modelled curve for these coordinates, labelled as a model, and it is the direction of the river’s run that matters most for the bream and the jew; the Bureau of Meteorology prediction has the exact times. The seven-day planner shows which morning to take.
Rules and access
Queensland has no general fishing licence, but the size and bag limits, the closed seasons and the Moreton Bay Marine Park zoning apply, all on the Queensland Government pages in the sources. The river’s parks and pontoons are public, the bayside jetties at Wynnum, Manly and Shorncliffe are free, and ramps at Colmslie, Pinkenba, Manly and Sandgate serve the river and the bay.
Common questions
Can I fish the Brisbane River?
Yes. The river is tidal and public through the city, and it fishes for bream, flathead, mulloway, threadfin and mangrove jack from the walls, pontoons and by boat.
Do I need a fishing licence in Brisbane?
No. Queensland has no recreational fishing licence; size and bag limits, closed seasons and marine park zones apply.
Is fishing good at Brisbane 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
- 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.