Spanish mackerel
Excellent
Prime. Trolled baits and hardbodies over structure on the tide change, or high-speed metals cast at surface schools.
Gladstone Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
A harbour city on the Capricorn coast: the Boyne and Calliope rivers, the harbour islands, Lake Awoonga behind it and the reef offshore.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Next tide
High 7:05 pm model
Air / High
19 °C / 24 °C
Wind
SE 15 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Gladstone is fishing in its best temperature window, with the bite spread across the day. Today brings clear skies, wind SE around 14 km/h, steady pressure near 1028 hPa and a high of 24 °C. Tides: high 6:57 am and 7:05 pm, low 1:00 am and 12:56 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 22 °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 Gladstone today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:42), sunset (17:52), 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
LOW1:00 am-0.85 m
HIGH6:57 am1.62 m
LOW12:56 pm-0.81 m
HIGH7:05 pm2.08 m
Sat
LOW1:28 am-0.96 m
HIGH7:27 am1.74 m
LOW1:35 pm-0.87 m
HIGH7:38 pm2.00 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp19 °C
High / Low24 °C / 17 °C
WindSE 15 km/h, gusts 34 km/h
Pressure1027.6 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain9% cloud, 67%
Sunrise / Sunset05:42 / 17:52
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 Gladstone
The best day on Gladstone 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
- 05:42 to 17:52
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 27 km/h
- Rain chance
- 67%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Gladstone: 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 Gladstone 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 Gladstone 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. Spanish mackerel led the card at excellent. High of 24 °C, wind to 26 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 24 °C, wind to 23 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 14 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 marine park zoning apply, on the pages linked below; parts of the harbour are port exclusion zones the port publishes.
About this water
Gladstone is a coastal town in Queensland, Australia, covered from the Queensland reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Gladstone: the full guide
Gladstone and its water
Gladstone is the industrial port of central Queensland, on a harbour of islands and channels between the Boyne and Calliope rivers, with the marina and the harbour walls in the city, the creeks and mangroves of the harbour, Facing Island and the Curtis Island channels, the beaches at Tannum Sands and Boyne Island to the south, and the southern Great Barrier Reef offshore. Behind the city is Lake Awoonga, the stocked barramundi impoundment that has its own page. The report on this page is scored for the city’s coordinates and reads the harbour and the rivers first.
Species and seasons
Barramundi fish the rivers, the harbour creeks and the Boyne mouth on the run-off and the build-up, with the east coast closed season through the summer spawning to check, and the fish that escape Awoonga in floods are famous in the Boyne; mangrove jack and grunter fish the creeks and the rock walls, queenfish and trevally the harbour and the channels on the tide, and Spanish mackerel run the islands and the reef in the cooler months. Mud crabs are a pot fishery in the creeks, whiting and flathead fish the beaches and the creek mouths, and the reef gives the reef species under the coral reef fin fish rules for the boats.
Reading this report here
The south-easterly trade wind decides whether the islands and the reef are reachable and pushes the fishing into the rivers and the harbour when it is up. Pressure matters for barramundi, a falling barometer before a storm being the classic bite, and the rain row shows the wet arriving. The tide panel is a modelled curve for these coordinates, labelled as a model; the harbour has big tides that run hard through the channels, so the direction and the size decide the creeks and the flats, and the Bureau of Meteorology has the minute. Crocodiles are in the rivers and the creeks.
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 marine park zoning apply, on the pages linked below; parts of the harbour are port exclusion zones the port publishes. The marina walls, the river banks and the beaches are public, with ramps at the marina, the Boyne, the Calliope and Tannum Sands.
Common questions
Do I need a fishing licence in Gladstone?
No. Queensland has no recreational fishing licence; closed seasons, limits and marine park zones apply, and Lake Awoonga needs the stocked impoundment permit.
What can I catch in the Boyne River?
Barramundi, including fish that escape Lake Awoonga in floods, mangrove jack, grunter and mud crabs, with queenfish and trevally at the mouth.
Is fishing good at Gladstone 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.