Bream
Good
Prime bream weather. Cast small vibes, crankbaits and 2 to 3 inch plastics at every piece of structure on the rising tide.
Caloundra Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
Where the Pumicestone Passage meets the sea: the bar, the beaches and the passage flats at the southern end of the Sunshine Coast.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Next tide
Low 1:30 pm model
Air / High
19 °C / 23 °C
Wind
NNE 10 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Caloundra sits in the warm band: moving baits, moving tides and fish on the edges. Today brings a mixed sky, wind NNE around 11 km/h, rising pressure near 1018 hPa and a high of 23 °C. Tides: high 7:14 am and 7:13 pm, low 12:39 am and 1:30 pm: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. Water sits around 22 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 10:21 AM-12:21 PM and 10:42 PM-12:42 AM: the windows to build the day around.
Flathead
Good
The best of it. Drift the sand and weed edges, bounce plastics or a strip of bait along the bottom, and cover ground until you find the school.
Mulloway
Fair
Fish the deep holes and the rock walls through a tide change after dark; live mullet, yellowtail or a large soft plastic worked slowly.
Tailor
Fair
Rock ledges and beach gutters on the rising tide; metals cast and retrieved fast, or a whole pilchard drifted through the wash.
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: 10:21 AM-12:21 PM, 10:42 PM-12:42 AM, 3:56 AM-4:56 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 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 Caloundra today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (04:52), sunset (18:10), 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 10:21 AM-12:21 PM and 10:42 PM-12:42 AM; minor 3:56 AM-4:56 AM. New Moon, 0% 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.
Mon
LOW12:39 am-0.43 m
HIGH7:14 am1.20 m
LOW1:30 pm-0.20 m
HIGH7:13 pm0.76 m
Tue
LOW1:08 am-0.40 m
HIGH7:53 am1.23 m
LOW2:17 pm-0.17 m
HIGH7:45 pm0.66 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp19 °C
High / Low23 °C / 17 °C
WindNNE 10 km/h, gusts 21 km/h
Pressure1018.1 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain37% cloud, 80%
Sunrise / Sunset04:52 / 18:10
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~22 °C est.
Why the tide matters here: tides and fishing in Australia.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Caloundra
The best day on Caloundra this week looks like Tuesday 10 Nov, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today.
Best day this week: Tuesday, 10 Nov — good at 4/5, rising pressure behind a front, typically the slowest.
Today, 9 Nov — Fair
A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
- Solunar majors
- 10:21 AM-12:21 PM and 10:42 PM-12:42 AM
- Minor period
- 3:56 AM-4:56 AM
- Sun
- 04:52 to 18:10
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 16 km/h
- Rain chance
- 80%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Caloundra: 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. Prime bream weather. Cast small vibes, crankbaits and 2 to 3 inch plastics at every piece of structure on the rising tide.
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. The best of it. Drift the sand and weed edges, bounce plastics or a strip of bait along the bottom, and cover ground until you find the school.
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. Fish the deep holes and the rock walls through a tide change after dark; live mullet, yellowtail or a large soft plastic worked slowly.
Tailor
Autumn and winter on the east coast; the run reaches K'gari (Fraser Island) in late winter, where the east beach from Waddy Point to Indian Head is closed to all fin fish from 1 August to 29 September
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. Rock ledges and beach gutters on the rising tide; metals cast and retrieved fast, or a whole pilchard drifted through the wash.
When to come: the Caloundra 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 22 °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 Caloundra today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataSun, Nov 8
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Bream led the card at excellent. High of 28 °C, wind to 24 km/h.
Sat, Nov 7
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Bream led the card at excellent. High of 27 °C, wind to 18 km/h.
Fri, Nov 6
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Bream 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; the size and bag limits, the closed seasons and the Moreton Bay Marine Park zoning apply, and Queensland Parks says the park begins at Caloundra and takes in the passage.
About this water
Caloundra is a coastal town in Queensland, Australia, covered from the Queensland reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Caloundra: the full guide
Caloundra and the bar
Caloundra is the southern town of the Sunshine Coast, on the headland where the Pumicestone Passage opens to the sea opposite the top of Bribie Island. That gives it a bar and a channel that fish on every tide, a run of beaches from Bulcock and Kings to Dicky and Moffat, rock platforms at the headlands, and the calm water of the passage behind the town, with Golden Beach and the flats toward Bells Creek. The reefs off Caloundra are a short run for the boats.
Species by season
Bream, flathead and whiting are the passage’s fish, the flathead on the sand edges in the warmer months, the bream around the rock walls and the pontoons all year and the whiting on the flats in summer; tailor and dart fish the beaches, tailor in the cooler months at dawn and dusk; mulloway are the night fish of the bar and the beach gutters; and the bar itself gives trevally, tailor and school mackerel on the run. Mud crabs and sand crabs are a pot fishery in the passage, and the offshore reefs fish for snapper in winter, closed on the east coast from 15 July to 15 August, and for pelagics in summer. Kings Beach and the Caloundra headland rocks are the town’s best-known land-based spots, and the bar is fished from the shore at the end of the passage.
Reading this report here
The wind row decides between the passage and the beaches: a south-easterly stirs the surf and makes the passage the place, a westerly cleans the beaches up. Pressure and sky build the score and the planner shows the day; the tide panel is a modelled curve for these coordinates, labelled as a model, and the bar and the passage run hard on the tide, so use the curve for the direction and the Bureau of Meteorology prediction for the minute.
Rules and access
Queensland has no general fishing licence; the size and bag limits, the closed seasons and the Moreton Bay Marine Park zoning apply, and Queensland Parks says the park begins at Caloundra and takes in the passage. The rules are on the Queensland Government pages linked below. The beaches, the headlands and the passage foreshore at Golden Beach are public, and the state facility list has ramps at Golden Beach, on Tripcony Lane in Caloundra, at Kings Beach and on Bells Creek at Pelican Waters.
Common questions
Do I need a fishing licence in Caloundra?
No. There is no recreational fishing licence in Queensland; at Caloundra the Moreton Bay Marine Park zones, the size and bag limits and the closed seasons are what apply.
What can I catch at the Caloundra bar?
Trevally, tailor and school mackerel on the run, flathead and whiting on the edges, and mulloway at night.
Is fishing good at Caloundra 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
- 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.