Tailor
Excellent
The main run. Fish the gutters and headlands into the evening; ganged pilchards, metals, and a wire-free trace only if you accept the bite-offs.
Hervey Bay Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The sheltered water between the mainland and K’gari: whiting flats, the Urangan Pier, and a bay where the tide is the whole story.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Next tide
Low 12:44 pm model
Air / High
21 °C / 22 °C
Wind
ESE 26 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Hervey Bay is in its cool-water rhythm: slower presentations and the warmest hours of the day. Today brings clear skies, wind ESE around 26 km/h, steady pressure near 1028 hPa and a high of 22 °C. Tides: high 6:42 am and 6:54 pm, low 12:46 am and 12:44 pm: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. Water sits around 18 °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.
Bream
Fair
Slow the retrieve right down: blades and lightly weighted plastics along the deeper rock walls and drop-offs, or unweighted bait drifted into the snags.
Flathead
Fair
Fish the deeper channels and the last of the run-out; slower hops with a heavier jighead, and a bait on the bottom as back-up.
Mulloway
Fair
The estuary fish move to the deeper reaches. Long, quiet sessions on the bottom with fresh bait across the top of the tide.
Tie on: Blade or vibe, slow hops · Lightly weighted plastic · Whole pilchard or squid on the bottom · Suspending hardbody. 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 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 Hervey Bay today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:35), sunset (17:45), 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
LOW12:46 am-0.83 m
HIGH6:42 am1.42 m
LOW12:44 pm-0.82 m
HIGH6:54 pm1.83 m
Sat
LOW1:14 am-0.93 m
HIGH7:12 am1.60 m
LOW1:24 pm-0.86 m
HIGH7:22 pm1.80 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp21 °C
High / Low22 °C / 20 °C
WindESE 26 km/h, gusts 37 km/h
Pressure1028.4 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain16% cloud, 84%
Sunrise / Sunset05:35 / 17:45
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~18 °C est.
Why the tide matters here: tides and fishing in Australia.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Hervey Bay
The best day on Hervey Bay this week looks like Thursday 1 Oct, 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: Thursday, 1 Oct — 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
- 05:35 to 17:45
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 32 km/h
- Rain chance
- 84%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Hervey Bay: 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. Slow the retrieve right down: blades and lightly weighted plastics along the deeper rock walls and drop-offs, or unweighted bait drifted into the snags.
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. Fish the deeper channels and the last of the run-out; slower hops with a heavier jighead, and a bait on the bottom as back-up.
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. The estuary fish move to the deeper reaches. Long, quiet sessions on the bottom with fresh bait across the top of the tide.
Tailor
Autumn and winter on the east coast; August to September on Fraser Island
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. The main run. Fish the gutters and headlands into the evening; ganged pilchards, metals, and a wire-free trace only if you accept the bite-offs.
When to come: the Hervey Bay 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 18 °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 Hervey Bay 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. Tailor led the card at excellent. High of 22 °C, wind to 32 km/h.
Wed, Sep 23
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Tailor led the card at excellent. High of 22 °C, wind to 27 km/h.
Tue, Sep 22
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Tailor led the card at excellent. High of 22 °C, wind to 18 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, closed seasons and the Great Sandy Marine Park zoning apply, published by the Queensland Government and linked below.
About this water
Hervey Bay is a bay or coastal water in Queensland, Australia, covered from the Queensland reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Hervey Bay: the full guide
A bay built for boats and piers
Hervey Bay is the calm water on the lee side of K’gari, the world’s largest sand island, and it is shallow, sandy and huge, with Urangan Pier reaching out over the flats, the Burrum and Mary rivers feeding it, and the deeper channels toward the island where the boat fishery lives. The bay is famous for whales in winter, but for anglers it is known for the whiting and flathead flats, the snapper and pelagics of the bay reefs and the northern end, and a tide that runs a long way over a long, flat bottom. Most Hervey Bay searches are for the tide, and this page shows one: a modelled curve for these coordinates, labelled as a model, with the Bureau of Meteorology prediction linked for the official times.
Species by season
Whiting are the flats fish of summer, worked on the run-in over the sand with worm and yabby, and flathead lie on the edges of the same flats through the warmer months. Bream fish the pier, the rock walls and the river mouths all year with the winter run into the Burrum. Snapper come onto the bay reefs in winter, the northern end of the bay and the island’s edge give golden trevally, queenfish and school mackerel in season, and the Urangan Pier is a year-round fishery of its own, from bream and flathead near the shore to mackerel and tuna off the end in summer. The Mary and Burrum rivers add barramundi and mangrove jack in the warmer months, with the Queensland closed season for barramundi on the east coast to check first.
Reading this report for the bay
The wind row matters here because the bay is so shallow: a fresh south-easterly stirs the flats and puts colour in the water, while a westerly or a still day is when the flats fish and the bay reefs are reachable. Pressure and sky build the score and the seven-day planner shows the calmest day. The tide panel is a modelled curve for these coordinates and is labelled as such; on flats like these the direction and the size of the tide decide where the fish are, and the official prediction has the exact minutes.
Rules and access
Queensland has no general fishing licence; the size and bag limits, closed seasons and the Great Sandy Marine Park zoning apply, published by the Queensland Government and linked below. Urangan Pier is public and free, the beaches and the river walls are open, and the ramps at Urangan, Torquay, Burrum Heads and River Heads serve the bay and the island crossings.
Common questions
What can I catch from Urangan Pier?
Bream, flathead and whiting along the inner pier, and mackerel, trevally, queenfish and tuna off the end in the warmer months, with squid under the lights.
Do I need a licence to fish Hervey Bay?
No. Queensland has no recreational fishing licence; marine park zones, size and bag limits and closed seasons apply.
Is fishing good at Hervey Bay 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.