Golden perch
Excellent
Prime. Hop soft plastics and vibes around the timber, or fish shrimp and worms on the bottom.
Flinders River at Hughenden Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Flinders at Hughenden: an inland Gulf river that flows in the wet and shrinks to waterholes in the dry, with no live gauge in town.
2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Water temp
~19 °C est.
Air / High
30 °C / 37 °C
Wind
ESE 12 km/h
Sources: Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Flinders River at Hughenden is fishing in its best temperature window, with the bite spread across the day. Today brings clear skies, wind ESE around 13 km/h, rising pressure near 1011 hPa and a high of 37 °C. Water sits around 19 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 11:22 PM-1:22 AM and 10:58 AM-12:58 PM: the windows to build the day around.
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: 11:22 PM-1:22 AM, 10:58 AM-12:58 PM, 4:43 AM-5:43 AM. Similar at 37 °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 golden perch here? Check the size and bag limits with Queensland DPI before you keep anything; the Golden perch page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Flinders River at Hughenden today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:36), sunset (18:37), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 11:22 PM-1:22 AM and 10:58 AM-12:58 PM; minor 4:43 AM-5:43 AM. New Moon, 0% lit.
Water and weather
Bureau of Meteorology station 915004A (Flinders_R Hughenden) has sent no reading in the last 30 days, so conditions here are modelled from weather, season and the nearest stations.
No recent gauge reading
Readings come back here when station 915004A reports again. Until then the seasonal curve below is the estimate.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp30 °C
High / Low37 °C / 22 °C
WindESE 12 km/h, gusts 22 km/h
Pressure1011.3 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain1% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset05:36 / 18:37
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~19 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Flinders River at Hughenden
The best day on Flinders River at Hughenden this week looks like Tuesday 10 Nov, at 4 out of 5, against 2 today.
Best day this week: Tuesday, 10 Nov — good at 4/5, rising pressure behind a front, typically the slowest.
Today, 9 Nov — Tough
Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
- Solunar majors
- 11:22 PM-1:22 AM and 10:58 AM-12:58 PM
- Minor period
- 4:43 AM-5:43 AM
- Sun
- 05:36 to 18:37
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Partly cloudy, 21 km/h
- Rain chance
- 0%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Flinders River at Hughenden: seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
Golden perch
Best: November to April
Yellowbelly. The bread-and-butter native of the Murray-Darling lakes and rivers; loves warm water, structure and a lure worked slowly past its nose. Prime. Hop soft plastics and vibes around the timber, or fish shrimp and worms on the bottom.
When to come: the Flinders River at Hughenden 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
Golden perch
SlowPeak
Water temperature through the year
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 19 °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 Flinders River at Hughenden 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. Golden perch led the card at excellent. High of 38 °C, wind to 21 km/h.
Sat, Nov 7
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Golden perch led the card at excellent. High of 38 °C, wind to 32 km/h.
Fri, Nov 6
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Golden perch led the card at excellent. High of 37 °C, wind to 27 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 and there is no stocked impoundment permit on the river.
About this water
Flinders River at Hughenden is a river in Queensland, Australia, covered from the Queensland reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Flinders River at Hughenden: the full guide
The reach
At Hughenden the Flinders is an inland river of sand, rock and river gums on the Flinders Highway, flowing in the wet season and drawing back to a chain of waterholes through the dry before it heads north-west across the plains toward the Gulf of Carpentaria. Bureau of Meteorology station 915004A, Flinders_R Hughenden, is listed in Water Data Online, but its level record ends in 1988, so this page has no live river level.
Species and seasons
The species card on this page is for golden perch, but we have not found a Queensland agency survey confirming golden perch in this Gulf-draining river, so treat that card as provisional until one is read. The Queensland freshwater limits page does set rules for fish of northern inland waters, among them a 28 cm minimum for sooty grunter and a 35 cm minimum for eel-tailed catfish. Whatever you catch, the waterholes are small and fish can be concentrated in the dry, so take only what you need.
Where to fish it
Public land around the town and the road crossings are the practical ways in; beyond them the river runs through grazing properties, where you need the owner’s permission. In the dry, fish the deepest waterholes, especially those with shade, rock or fallen timber, and fish them early and late when the heat is lower. After the first flows of the wet, the heads of pools where new water runs in are the places to try.
Reading the report
Without a working gauge, the rain row is the most useful panel here: widespread rain in the catchment starts the river flowing, and long dry spells leave only the permanent holes. The water temperature is an estimate, labelled as one, and in an inland summer it runs very warm; the wind crosses open country unchecked, and storm fronts show clearly in the pressure trend.
Rules and access
Queensland has no general fishing licence and there is no stocked impoundment permit on the river. Size and possession limits are on the Queensland Government freshwater limits page linked below, and spearfishing is not allowed in any Queensland freshwater.
Porcupine Gorge
North of Hughenden, Porcupine Gorge National Park protects a sandstone gorge cut by Porcupine Creek, reached along the road toward the Gulf, and national park rules apply there. The Flinders itself runs on north-west past Richmond toward the Gulf, a long river that, at Hughenden, spends much of the year as a string of waterholes.
Common questions
Is there a live level for the Flinders at Hughenden?
No. The Hughenden station, 915004A, has no level readings after 1988, so the page shows none; the rain row is the better guide to whether the river is flowing.
Does the Flinders stop flowing at Hughenden?
In most dry seasons it contracts to a chain of waterholes, and it runs again when the wet brings rain to the catchment.
Do I need a licence at Hughenden?
No. There is no general recreational fishing licence in Queensland; the state’s freshwater limits apply, and spearfishing in fresh water is banned.
Is fishing good at Flinders River at Hughenden right now?
Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
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
- 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.