Bream
Good
Prime bream weather. Cast small vibes, crankbaits and 2 to 3 inch plastics at every piece of structure on the rising tide.
Maroochy River Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Sunshine Coast’s long sandy estuary: flathead flats, bream on the leases, whiting in summer and the mouth at Cotton Tree.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Water temp
~22 °C est.
Air / High
21 °C / 23 °C
Wind
NNE 13 km/h
Sources: Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Maroochy River sits in the warm band: moving baits, moving tides and fish on the edges. Today brings a mixed sky, wind NNE around 13 km/h, rising pressure near 1018 hPa and a high of 23 °C. Water sits around 22 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 10:21 AM-12:21 PM and 10:42 PM-12:42 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: 10:21 AM-12:21 PM, 10:42 PM-12:42 AM, 3:56 AM-4:56 AM. Similar at 25 °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 Maroochy River today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (04:52), sunset (18:10), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 10:21 AM-12:21 PM and 10:42 PM-12:42 AM; minor 3:56 AM-4:56 AM. New Moon, 0% lit.
Water and weather
Conditions here are modelled from weather, season and the nearest stations.
No live gauge on this water
Water readings appear when a Bureau of Meteorology station covers it. Until then the seasonal curve below is the estimate.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp21 °C
High / Low23 °C / 17 °C
WindNNE 13 km/h, gusts 25 km/h
Pressure1018.1 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain33% cloud, 80%
Sunrise / Sunset04:52 / 18:10
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~22 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Maroochy River
The best day on Maroochy River this week looks like Tuesday 10 Nov, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today.
Best day this week: Tuesday, 10 Nov — good at 4/5, rising pressure behind a front, typically the slowest.
Today, 9 Nov — Fair
A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
- Solunar majors
- 10:21 AM-12:21 PM and 10:42 PM-12:42 AM
- Minor period
- 3:56 AM-4:56 AM
- Sun
- 04:52 to 18:10
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 19 km/h
- Rain chance
- 80%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Maroochy River: 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 Maroochy River 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 Maroochy River 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 27 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 18 km/h.
Fri, Nov 6
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Bream led the card at excellent. High of 24 °C, wind to 21 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
On the Maroochy, as across Queensland, there is no general fishing licence; the size and bag limits and the closed seasons are on the Queensland Government pages linked below.
About this water
Maroochy River is a river in Queensland, Australia, covered from the Queensland reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Maroochy River: the full guide
The river
The Maroochy River runs from the Blackall Range through Yandina and Bli Bli to the sea at Cotton Tree, between Maroochydore and Mudjimba, and its lower reaches are the Sunshine Coast’s big estuary: wide sand flats, channels, oyster leases, the islands around Chambers Island and Goat Island, the Bli Bli reaches with their mangroves, and the mouth with its shifting bar and rock walls. It is fished from the banks, the parks and the jetties of Maroochydore and from hire boats and kayaks. The coast around it is on the Sunshine Coast page; this one is scored for the river.
Species and seasons
Flathead are the river’s signature fish, on the sand flats and the drop-offs from spring to autumn; bream fish the leases, the walls and the snags all year with the winter run to the mouth; whiting work the flats and the mouth sand in summer; and mangrove jack push into the snags of the Bli Bli reaches through the warm months. Trevally, tailor and queenfish run the mouth on the tide, mulloway are the night fish of the mouth and the deeper holes, and mud crabs and sand crabs are taken in pots in the creeks, away from the oyster leases.
Reading this report for the Maroochy
River pages carry no tide panel, but the Maroochy is tidal: the flats fish on the run-in, the mouth on the change and the run-out, and the Bureau of Meteorology’s predictions for the nearest port give the official times, with the change arriving later as you move upstream toward Bli Bli. The wind matters mainly at the mouth and on the open reaches, which a south-easterly chops up. The barometer and the cloud cover make the score, and the planner shows the day. After heavy rain the river runs dirty for days and the fish drop back toward the mouth.
Rules and access
On the Maroochy, as across Queensland, there is no general fishing licence; the size and bag limits and the closed seasons are on the Queensland Government pages linked below. The river parks, the Cotton Tree foreshore, the jetties and the rock walls are public. The bar at the mouth shifts with every big swell, so small boats should cross it only in settled conditions and with local knowledge.
Common questions
What can I catch in the Maroochy River?
Flathead on the flats, bream on the leases and walls, whiting in summer, mangrove jack in the warm months, trevally and queenfish at the mouth and crabs in pots.
Do I need a licence on the Maroochy River?
No. There is no fishing licence in Queensland; on the Maroochy only the limits and closed seasons apply.
Is fishing good at Maroochy River 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
- 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.