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.
Burrum Heads Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Burrum River mouth on Hervey Bay: whiting, bream and flathead in the river, the flats and the bay, with the sand banks at the mouth and mud crabs in the mangroves.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Next tide
High 6:58 pm model
Air / High
17 °C / 23 °C
Wind
SSE 11 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Burrum Heads has cool water and fish holding a little deeper and slower. Today brings clear skies, wind SSE around 11 km/h, steady pressure near 1029 hPa and a high of 23 °C. Tides: high 6:47 am and 6:58 pm, low 12:51 am and 12:48 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 24 °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 Burrum Heads today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:36), sunset (17:46), 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
LOW12:51 am-0.83 m
HIGH6:47 am1.45 m
LOW12:48 pm-0.81 m
HIGH6:58 pm1.86 m
Sat
LOW1:18 am-0.93 m
HIGH7:16 am1.62 m
LOW1:30 pm-0.84 m
HIGH7:25 pm1.81 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp17 °C
High / Low23 °C / 16 °C
WindSSE 11 km/h, gusts 22 km/h
Pressure1028.6 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain10% cloud, 100%
Sunrise / Sunset05:36 / 17:46
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 Burrum Heads
The best day on Burrum Heads 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, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
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
- 05:36 to 17:46
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 23 km/h
- Rain chance
- 100%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Burrum Heads: 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 Burrum Heads 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 Burrum Heads 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 26 °C, wind to 23 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 26 °C, wind to 19 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 25 °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, at Burrum Heads or anywhere; the size and bag limits and the crab rules apply, on the pages linked below.
About this water
Burrum Heads is a coastal town in Queensland, Australia, covered from the Queensland reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Burrum Heads: the full guide
Burrum Heads and the river
Burrum Heads is the village at the mouth of the Burrum River on the western shore of Hervey Bay north of Maryborough, with the river’s deep channel and mangrove banks running up past Buxton, the sand banks and flats at the mouth, the beach on the bay and the shallow bay out to the Fraser coast. It is a river-mouth village on a sheltered bay, and the report on this page is scored for the village’s coordinates. Hervey Bay has its own page.
Species and seasons
Whiting fish the mouth banks and the bay sand all year and are the village’s fish; bream fish the river’s snags and the mangroves; flathead lie on the flats and the channel from spring to autumn; mangrove jack fish the river snags in summer; grunter fish the river holes; tailor come to the mouth in winter; mud crabs work the mangroves under the pot rules; and the bay gives whiting and the odd mackerel for the boats. The river’s upper reaches around Buxton are the quiet water.
Where to fish it
The sand banks at the river mouth and the beach in front of the village are the whiting marks, fished on the rising tide, and the river’s channel and mangrove banks from the village up to Buxton are the bream, jack and crab water for small boats; the bay in front is the whiting ground for the boats. The ramps are at the village and Buxton, and the Burrum Coast National Park beaches are to the south.
Reading this report here
The village faces the bay and Fraser Island breaks the ocean swell, so the wind is the whole story: a south-easterly chops the bay and the river stays fishable. The tide panel is a modelled curve for the coordinates of Burrum Heads, labelled as a model, and the river and the banks run on it. Pressure and sky build the score at Burrum Heads; the planner shows the day.
Licence, access and rules
Queensland has no general fishing licence, at Burrum Heads or anywhere; the size and bag limits and the crab rules apply, on the pages linked below. The river banks, the beach and the mouth are public, with ramps at the village and Buxton; the Great Sandy Marine Park zoning is in the sources.
Common questions
What can I catch at Burrum Heads?
Whiting on the mouth banks, bream in the mangroves, flathead on the flats in the warm months, mangrove jack in summer, mud crabs under the pot rules.
Do I need a licence at Burrum Heads?
No. Queensland has no general recreational fishing licence; the limits still apply.
Is fishing good at Burrum Heads 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.