Spanish mackerel
Excellent
Prime. Trolled baits and hardbodies over structure on the tide change, or high-speed metals cast at surface schools.
Karumba Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Gulf of Carpentaria’s fishing town: the Norman River mouth, the sandbar, the beach at Karumba Point and the barramundi and salmon of the Gulf.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Next tide
Low 6:30 pm model
Air / High
23 °C / 33 °C
Wind
NE 1 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Karumba is fishing in its best temperature window, with the bite spread across the day. Today brings a mixed sky, wind NE around 2 km/h, steady pressure near 1018 hPa and a high of 33 °C. Tides: high 4:43 am, low 6:30 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 33 °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 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 Karumba today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (06:24), sunset (18:32), 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
HIGH4:43 am1.38 m
LOW6:30 pm-0.51 m
Sat
HIGH4:57 am1.15 m
LOW4:30 pm-0.25 m
LOW6:30 pm-0.26 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp23 °C
High / Low33 °C / 21 °C
WindNE 1 km/h, gusts 8 km/h
Pressure1018.4 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain25% cloud, 6%
Sunrise / Sunset06:24 / 18:32
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 Karumba
The best day on Karumba 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
- 06:24 to 18:32
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Partly cloudy, 13 km/h
- Rain chance
- 6%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Karumba: 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 7 Oct 2026. Closed 7 October to 31 January in the Gulf of Carpentaria, tidal and fresh. 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 Karumba 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 Karumba today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataThu, Sep 24
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 31 °C, wind to 14 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 31 °C, wind to 18 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 31 °C, wind to 16 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 Gulf barramundi closed season, the size and bag limits and the net-free zone rules apply, on the pages linked below.
About this water
Karumba is a coastal town in Queensland, Australia, covered from the Queensland reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Karumba: the full guide
Karumba and the Gulf
Karumba is the fishing town at the mouth of the Norman River on the south-eastern corner of the Gulf of Carpentaria, at the end of the road from Normanton, with the river and its wharves in the town, the sandbar and the beach at Karumba Point, the mangrove creeks either side, and the shallow, muddy Gulf in front where the prawn trawlers work. It is a dry-season town: the road is cut in the wet, and from April to October the caravans come for the barramundi and the sunsets. It fishes from the beach, the boat ramps and the river banks, and from boats over the Gulf flats and up the creeks. The report on this page is scored for the town’s coordinates.
Species and seasons
Barramundi are the fish, in the river, the creeks and along the beach on the run-off after the wet and through the dry, with the Gulf closed season from October to January, which is different from the east coast, to check on the Queensland Government page; king and blue threadfin salmon fish the beach and the river on the tide changes and are the everyday fish; and grunter, blue salmon and queenfish fish the sandbar and the flats. Mud crabs are a pot fishery in the creeks, Spanish mackerel and the pelagics fish the Gulf when the water clears, and the shark and the crocodile are part of every session.
Reading this report here
The tide is the whole story on the Gulf flats, where a metre of water moves across kilometres of mud; the tide panel is a modelled curve for these coordinates, labelled as a model, and the Bureau of Meteorology has the prediction. The south-easterly blows through the dry and the afternoon sea breeze roughs up the Gulf; the wind row tells you the morning window. Pressure matters for barramundi, a falling barometer being the classic bite, and the rain row shows the wet arriving. Crocodiles are in the river, the creeks and the sea.
Rules and access
Queensland has no general fishing licence; the Gulf barramundi closed season, the size and bag limits and the net-free zone rules apply, on the pages linked below. The beach, the wharves and the river banks are public, with ramps in the town and at the Point; the creeks and the Gulf are a boat.
Common questions
When is barramundi season in Karumba?
The Gulf closed season runs from October to January, different from the east coast; the Queensland Government page is linked in the sources and the species card rates the month.
Do I need a fishing licence in Karumba?
No. Queensland has no recreational fishing licence; closed seasons and limits apply.
Is fishing good at Karumba 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.