Yellowtail kingfish
Good
Prime. Cast stickbaits and poppers at surface activity, jig the deeper reefs, and keep a live bait out under a balloon.
Fraser Island (K'gari) Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
K’gari: 123 kilometres of sand island, a long eastern surf beach, a winter tailor run and gutters that change with every tide.
2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Next tide
Low 1:58 pm model
Air / High
20 °C / 24 °C
Wind
ENE 11 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Fraser Island (K'gari) sits in the warm band: moving baits, moving tides and fish on the edges. Today brings clear skies, wind ENE around 11 km/h, rising pressure near 1018 hPa and a high of 24 °C. Tides: high 7:30 am and 7:30 pm, low 1:13 am and 1:58 pm: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. Water sits around 20 °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.
Tailor
Fair
Rock ledges and beach gutters on the rising tide; metals cast and retrieved fast, or a whole pilchard drifted through the wash.
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.
Australian salmon
Slow
Look for birds and surface splashes along the beaches and in the bays; cast metals, plastics or ganged pilchards into the school.
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, 3:59 AM-4:59 AM. Similar at 26 °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 tailor here? Check the size and bag limits with Queensland DPI before you keep anything; the Tailor page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Fraser Island (K'gari) today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (04:54), sunset (18:08), 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 3:59 AM-4:59 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
LOW1:13 am-0.98 m
HIGH7:30 am1.87 m
LOW1:58 pm-0.63 m
HIGH7:30 pm1.33 m
Tue
LOW1:47 am-0.82 m
HIGH8:03 am1.88 m
LOW2:38 pm-0.54 m
HIGH8:02 pm1.25 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp20 °C
High / Low24 °C / 19 °C
WindENE 11 km/h, gusts 22 km/h
Pressure1018.1 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain22% cloud, 73%
Sunrise / Sunset04:54 / 18:08
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~20 °C est.
Why the tide matters here: tides and fishing in Australia.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Fraser Island (K'gari)
The best day on Fraser Island (K'gari) 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
- 10:21 AM-12:21 PM and 10:42 PM-12:42 AM
- Minor period
- 3:59 AM-4:59 AM
- Sun
- 04:54 to 18:08
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 23 km/h
- Rain chance
- 73%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Fraser Island (K'gari): seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
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.
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.
Yellowtail kingfish
Best: December to April
The hardest-pulling fish within reach of the shore. Headlands, harbour markers, offshore reefs and the warm current in summer. Prime. Cast stickbaits and poppers at surface activity, jig the deeper reefs, and keep a live bait out under a balloon.
Australian salmon
Winter and spring on the southern beaches
Not a salmon at all: a hard-fighting schooling fish of the surf and the bays, from WA around to NSW. Great on light gear, poor on the plate. Look for birds and surface splashes along the beaches and in the bays; cast metals, plastics or ganged pilchards into the school.
When to come: the Fraser Island (K'gari) 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
Tailor
Mulloway
Yellowtail kingfish
Australian salmon
SlowPeak
Water temperature through the year
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 20 °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 Fraser Island (K'gari) 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. Yellowtail kingfish led the card at excellent. High of 32 °C, wind to 21 km/h.
Sat, Nov 7
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Yellowtail kingfish led the card at excellent. High of 29 °C, wind to 14 km/h.
Fri, Nov 6
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Yellowtail kingfish led the card at excellent. High of 26 °C, wind to 19 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 Waddy Point to Indian Head closure and the Great Sandy Marine Park zoning apply, all on the Queensland Government pages linked below.
About this water
Fraser Island (K'gari) is a bay or coastal water in Queensland, Australia, covered from the Queensland reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Fraser Island (K'gari): the full guide
The island and its beach
Fraser Island, K’gari to its traditional owners, the Butchulla people, and the name Queensland Parks uses, is the world’s largest sand island by that service’s description, 123 kilometres long and World Heritage listed since 1992. For anglers it is one beach: the eastern surf beach that runs from Hook Point in the south to Sandy Cape in the north, driven on four-wheel-drive tracks and fished from the gutters that form and re-form along its length. The western side faces Hervey Bay and is calmer and shallower; the northern end has Waddy Point and Indian Head, the rock platforms where much of the island’s land-based game fishing happens. The report on this page is scored for the island’s coordinates and reads the ocean beach first.
Species by season
Tailor are the fish the island is famous for: the winter run up the eastern beach, with the biggest fish late in the season around the northern headlands. To protect the spawning fish, the Queensland Government closes the eastern foreshore to all fin fish from 1 August to 29 September, within 400 metres of the shore from 400 metres north of Waddy Point to 400 metres south of Indian Head; worms and pipis may still be gathered by hand there. Dart and whiting fish the gutters in the warmer months, bream and flathead the western side and the creeks, and the headlands give trevally, tuna and the occasional pelagic to the rock anglers. Mulloway are the night fish of the deeper gutters.
Reading this report for the island
The beach is the whole game and the wind and swell run it: a south-easterly builds the surf and fills the gutters with weed, a westerly flattens the eastern beach and is the day to be there. 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 on a surf beach it is the falling tide that fishes the gutters, so use the curve for the direction and the Bureau of Meteorology prediction for the times. The beach is also the road, and the tide decides when it can be driven.
Rules and access
Queensland has no general fishing licence; the size and bag limits, the Waddy Point to Indian Head closure and the Great Sandy Marine Park zoning apply, all on the Queensland Government pages linked below. Access is by vehicle barge from Inskip Point, which needs no booking, or from River Heads, which does, and every vehicle on the island needs a vehicle access permit from Queensland Parks; the beach is the road.
Common questions
When do the tailor run on Fraser Island?
In winter, up the eastern beach, with the season peaking toward the northern headlands. From 1 August to 29 September all fin fish are closed within 400 metres of the eastern shore between Waddy Point and Indian Head, as the Queensland Government publishes.
Do I need a licence to fish on Fraser Island?
No. Queensland has no recreational fishing licence; the marine park zones, size and bag limits and the Waddy Point to Indian Head spawning closure apply, and a vehicle access permit is needed to drive on the island.
Is fishing good at Fraser Island (K'gari) 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
- 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.