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.
Maroochy River Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 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
~18 °C est.
Air / High
18 °C / 22 °C
Wind
ESE 11 km/h
Sources: Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Maroochy River has cool water and fish holding a little deeper and slower. Today brings clear skies, wind ESE around 11 km/h, steady pressure near 1030 hPa and a high of 22 °C. 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 Maroochy River today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:34), sunset (17:44), the moon and today's score. 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
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 temp18 °C
High / Low22 °C / 17 °C
WindESE 11 km/h, gusts 23 km/h
Pressure1029.6 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain15% cloud, 81%
Sunrise / Sunset05:34 / 17:44
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~18 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Maroochy River
The best day on Maroochy River 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
- 05:34 to 17:44
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 21 km/h
- Rain chance
- 81%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
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. 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 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 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 Maroochy River 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 23 °C, wind to 19 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 23 °C, wind to 21 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 24 °C, wind to 23 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 and the closed seasons apply, 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 a fleet of hire boats and kayaks. The coast around it has the Sunshine Coast page; this one is scored for the river.
Species and seasons
Flathead are the river’s fish, on the sand flats and the drop-offs from spring to autumn and the reason most people search for the Maroochy; 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 a pot fishery in the creeks and the leases.
Reading this report for the river
The river runs on the tide and the tide panel, a modelled curve for these coordinates labelled as a model, is the thing to read: the flats fish on the run-in, the mouth on the change and the run-out; the Bureau of Meteorology has the official times. The wind matters mainly at the mouth and on the open reaches, which a south-easterly chops up. Pressure and sky build the score and the planner shows the day.
Rules and access
Queensland has no general fishing licence; the size and bag limits and the closed seasons apply, on the Queensland Government pages linked below. The river parks, the Cotton Tree foreshore, the jetties and the rock walls are public, with ramps at Maroochydore, Bli Bli and Chambers Island.
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. Queensland has no recreational fishing licence; 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
- 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.