Spanish mackerel
Excellent
Prime. Trolled baits and hardbodies over structure on the tide change, or high-speed metals cast at surface schools.
Lucinda Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The sugar jetty and the Hinchinbrook Channel: the world’s longest jetty, the channel’s barra and jacks, and the reef beyond Hinchinbrook Island.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Next tide
Low 1:16 pm model
Air / High
21 °C / 24 °C
Wind
ESE 22 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Lucinda is fishing in its best temperature window, with the bite spread across the day. Today brings a mixed sky, wind ESE around 23 km/h, steady pressure near 1023 hPa and a high of 24 °C. Tides: high 7:13 am and 7:28 pm, low 1:40 am and 1:16 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 23 °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 Lucinda today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (06:02), sunset (18:11), 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
LOW1:40 am-0.24 m
HIGH7:13 am1.58 m
LOW1:16 pm-0.33 m
HIGH7:28 pm2.05 m
Sat
LOW2:00 am-0.35 m
HIGH7:40 am1.70 m
LOW1:48 pm-0.32 m
HIGH7:49 pm2.04 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp21 °C
High / Low24 °C / 20 °C
WindESE 22 km/h, gusts 41 km/h
Pressure1023.4 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain39% cloud, 100%
Sunrise / Sunset06:02 / 18:11
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 Lucinda
The best day on Lucinda 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
- 06:02 to 18:11
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 24 km/h
- Rain chance
- 100%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Lucinda: 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 Lucinda 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 Lucinda 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 22 °C, wind to 21 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 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
Line fishing at Lucinda needs no Queensland licence; the barramundi closed season, the coral reef fin fish rules, the size and bag limits and the marine park zoning of the channel apply, on the pages linked below.
About this water
Lucinda is a coastal town in Queensland, Australia, covered from the Queensland reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Lucinda: the full guide
Lucinda and the channel
Lucinda is the village at the southern end of the Hinchinbrook Channel north of Townsville, with the sugar-loading jetty running nearly six kilometres out to sea, the channel and its mangrove creeks between the mainland and Hinchinbrook Island, the Herbert River mouth to the south and the reef outside the island. It is a channel village in the shadow of the island, and the report on this page is scored for the village’s coordinates. The Herbert River at Ingham and Cardwell have their own pages.
Species and seasons
Barramundi fish the channel’s creeks, the drains and the snags in the warm season and are the channel’s fish, under the east coast closed season; mangrove jack fish the snags in summer; fingermark and grunter fish the channel holes; queenfish and trevally work the jetty and the channel; Spanish mackerel run the jetty and the reef in the cooler months; mud crabs work the creeks under the pot rules; and the reef gives coral trout and red emperor for the boats. The jetty itself is off limits and the fishing is around it.
Where to fish it
The Dungeness ramp and the foreshore at Lucinda put a boat into the Hinchinbrook Channel, and the creeks on the island side, Gayundah, Deluge and the Hinchinbrook creeks, and the mainland drains are the barra and jack water on the last of the run-out; the channel’s deep holes off the jetty are the fingermark and grunter marks at night. The jetty itself is closed, and the fishing is around it by boat.
Reading this report here
The island shelters the channel from the south-easterly and the creeks fish in most weather; the wind row matters for the run out to the reef. The tide panel is a modelled curve for the coordinates of Lucinda, labelled as a model, and the channel and the creeks run hard on it, with the last of the run-out the barra tide. Pressure and sky build the score at Lucinda; the planner shows the day.
Licence, access and rules
Line fishing at Lucinda needs no Queensland licence; the barramundi closed season, the coral reef fin fish rules, the size and bag limits and the marine park zoning of the channel apply, on the pages linked below. The foreshore and the ramps at Lucinda and Dungeness are public; the jetty is a working port and closed to the public.
Common questions
Can I fish from the Lucinda jetty?
No. The sugar jetty is a working port and closed to the public; the fishing is around it by boat, and in the channel and the creeks.
Do I need a licence at Lucinda?
No. Queensland has no general recreational fishing licence; the limits and the closed seasons still apply.
Is fishing good at Lucinda 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.