Bream
Good
Prime bream weather. Cast small vibes, crankbaits and 2 to 3 inch plastics at every piece of structure on the rising tide.
Hervey Bay Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 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.
2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Next tide
Low 1:54 pm model
Air / High
23 °C / 24 °C
Wind
NE 25 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Hervey Bay is fishing in its best temperature window, with the bite spread across the day. Today brings clear skies, wind NE around 26 km/h, rising pressure near 1018 hPa and a high of 24 °C. Tides: high 7:26 am and 7:28 pm, low 1:05 am and 1:54 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 10:22 AM-12:22 PM and 10:44 PM-12:44 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: 10:22 AM-12:22 PM, 10:44 PM-12:44 AM, 4:00 AM-5:00 AM. Similar at 25 °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 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 (04:56), 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 10:22 AM-12:22 PM and 10:44 PM-12:44 AM; minor 4:00 AM-5:00 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
LOW1:05 am-0.90 m
HIGH7:26 am1.82 m
LOW1:54 pm-0.55 m
HIGH7:28 pm1.28 m
Tue
LOW1:41 am-0.75 m
HIGH8:00 am1.80 m
LOW2:34 pm-0.48 m
HIGH7:58 pm1.17 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp23 °C
High / Low24 °C / 22 °C
WindNE 25 km/h, gusts 36 km/h
Pressure1017.7 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain18% cloud, 44%
Sunrise / Sunset04:56 / 18:08
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 Hervey Bay
The best day on Hervey Bay this week looks like Friday 13 Nov, at 5 out of 5, against 2 today.
Best day this week: Friday, 13 Nov — excellent at 5/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
Today, 9 Nov — Tough
Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
- Solunar majors
- 10:22 AM-12:22 PM and 10:44 PM-12:44 AM
- Minor period
- 4:00 AM-5:00 AM
- Sun
- 04:56 to 18:08
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Overcast, 34 km/h
- Rain chance
- 44%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
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. 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 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 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 Hervey Bay today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataSun, Nov 8
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Bream led the card at good. High of 27 °C, wind to 32 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 26 °C, wind to 23 km/h.
Fri, Nov 6
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Bream led the card at good. High of 26 °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; 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, which Queensland Parks calls 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. 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. The whole bay is inside the Great Sandy Marine Park. Many people look Hervey Bay up 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, when the 15 July to 15 August closure needs watching, the northern end of the bay and the island’s edge give golden trevally, queenfish and school mackerel in season, and 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 east coast barramundi closure from 1 November to 31 January 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 a council structure, reopened in July 2025 after restoration work, and free to fish; the beaches and the river walls are open, and the state facility list has ramps at the Urangan boat harbour, Torquay, Burrum Heads and River Heads, where the western barge to the island also leaves.
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 licence is needed anywhere in Queensland; in Hervey Bay the Great Sandy Marine Park zones, size and bag limits and the closed seasons still 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: 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.