Spanish mackerel
Excellent
Prime. Trolled baits and hardbodies over structure on the tide change, or high-speed metals cast at surface schools.
Cairns Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The tropical north: barramundi in the creeks and the Trinity Inlet, reef fish and pelagics off the Great Barrier Reef, and a wet season that runs the calendar.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Next tide
Low 1:09 pm model
Air / High
21 °C / 25 °C
Wind
SSE 12 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Cairns sits in the warm band: moving baits, moving tides and fish on the edges. Today brings a mixed sky, wind SSE around 11 km/h, steady pressure near 1022 hPa and a high of 25 °C. Tides: high 7:13 am and 7:30 pm, low 1:28 am and 1:09 pm: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. Water sits around 26 °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.
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: 10:25 AM-12:25 PM, 10:25 PM-12:25 AM, 4:55 AM-5:55 AM. Similar at 25 °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 Cairns today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (06:04), sunset (18:13), 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
LOW1:28 am-0.09 m
HIGH7:13 am1.32 m
LOW1:09 pm-0.20 m
HIGH7:30 pm1.76 m
Sat
LOW1:48 am-0.19 m
HIGH7:41 am1.42 m
LOW1:40 pm-0.14 m
HIGH7:51 pm1.72 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp21 °C
High / Low25 °C / 19 °C
WindSSE 12 km/h, gusts 36 km/h
Pressure1022.0 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain27% cloud, 82%
Sunrise / Sunset06:04 / 18:13
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~26 °C est.
Why the tide matters here: tides and fishing in Australia.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Cairns
The best day on Cairns this week looks like Saturday 26 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: Saturday, 26 Sept — 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
- 06:04 to 18:13
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 21 km/h
- Rain chance
- 82%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Cairns: 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 Cairns 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 Cairns today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataThu, 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 23 °C, wind to 16 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 16 km/h.
Tue, Sep 22
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 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; the barramundi closed season, the coral reef fin fish rules, the size and bag limits and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park zoning apply, published by the Queensland Government and the marine park authority and linked below.
About this water
Cairns is a coastal town in Queensland, Australia, covered from the Queensland reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Cairns: the full guide
Cairns and its waters
Cairns sits on Trinity Inlet in far north Queensland with the Great Barrier Reef offshore and the wet tropics behind it, and its fishing runs from the mangrove creeks of the inlet and the Barron and Mulgrave rivers to the reef itself. The inlet and the creeks are barramundi, mangrove jack and grunter water, worked by boat and from the banks; the beaches north of the city and the headlands fish for queenfish, trevally and the odd mackerel; and the reef, an hour or more out, is the coral trout, nannygai and Spanish mackerel fishery that draws people from everywhere. The report on this page is scored for the city’s coordinates and reads the inlet and the coast first.
Seasons in the tropics
The north has two seasons, not four, and they run the fishing: the wet from roughly November to April, when the rivers flood and the barramundi feed on the run-off as it eases, and the dry, when the seas settle and the reef becomes reachable. Barramundi are the prize, with a closed season on the Queensland east coast through the summer spawning that the Queensland Government publishes; mangrove jack and grunter fish the creeks all year; queenfish and trevally the inlet mouth and the beaches; and Spanish mackerel run the reef and the headlands in the cooler months. Coral reef fin fish have their own rules and closures.
Reading this report for Cairns
The wind row is the trade wind: the south-easterly that blows through the dry season decides whether the reef is reachable and pushes the fishing into the inlet and the creeks when it is up. Pressure matters for barramundi more than for most fish, a falling barometer before a storm being the classic bite, and the sky and rain rows show the wet season arriving. The tide panel is a modelled curve for these coordinates, labelled as a model; the creeks and the inlet run on big tropical tides, so use the curve for the direction and the Bureau of Meteorology prediction for the minute. Crocodiles live in all of this water.
Rules and access
Queensland has no general fishing licence; the barramundi closed season, the coral reef fin fish rules, the size and bag limits and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park zoning apply, published by the Queensland Government and the marine park authority and linked below. The inlet foreshores, the marina walls and the northern beaches are public, with ramps at the marina, the Barron mouth and the northern beaches; the reef is a charter or a serious boat.
Common questions
When is barramundi season in Cairns?
The east coast barramundi fishery has a closed season through the summer spawning that the Queensland Government publishes; the run-off at the end of the wet is the classic time. The species card rates the month and today’s conditions.
Do I need a fishing licence in Cairns?
No. Queensland has no recreational fishing licence; the closed seasons, limits and marine park zones apply.
Is fishing good at Cairns 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.