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.
Rainbow Beach Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The coloured cliffs, Inskip Point and the beach to Double Island Point: tailor gutters, whiting and the barge to K’gari at the top of the Cooloola coast.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Next tide
High 6:33 pm model
Air / High
18 °C / 22 °C
Wind
ESE 14 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Rainbow Beach has cool water and fish holding a little deeper and slower. Today brings a mixed sky, wind ESE around 14 km/h, steady pressure near 1029 hPa and a high of 22 °C. Tides: high 6:22 am and 6:33 pm, low 12:16 pm: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. Water sits around 17 °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.
Australian salmon
Good
The main season. Beach gutters, rock platforms and bay edges on the rising tide; metals, surf poppers and bait all work.
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.
Yellowtail kingfish
Slow
The fish thin out as the current cools; jig the deeper offshore marks and work the harbours on the warmer afternoons.
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 tailor here? Check the size and bag limits with Queensland DPI before you keep anything; the Tailor page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Rainbow Beach today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:34), sunset (17:44), 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
HIGH6:22 am0.82 m
LOW12:16 pm-0.39 m
HIGH6:33 pm1.11 m
Sat
LOW12:55 am-0.48 m
HIGH6:55 am0.92 m
LOW12:53 pm-0.45 m
HIGH7:05 pm1.08 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp18 °C
High / Low22 °C / 17 °C
WindESE 14 km/h, gusts 28 km/h
Pressure1028.9 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain38% cloud, 88%
Sunrise / Sunset05:34 / 17:44
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~17 °C est.
Why the tide matters here: tides and fishing in Australia.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Rainbow Beach
Today is the pick of the week on Rainbow Beach, at 3 out of 5. 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: today, 25 Sept — fair at 3/5, 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, 23 km/h
- Rain chance
- 88%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Rainbow Beach: seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
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.
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.
Yellowtail kingfish
Best: December to April
The hardest-pulling fish within reach of the shore. Headlands, harbour markers, offshore reefs and the warm current in summer. The fish thin out as the current cools; jig the deeper offshore marks and work the harbours on the warmer afternoons.
Australian salmon
Winter and spring on the southern beaches
Not a salmon at all: a hard-fighting schooling fish of the surf and the bays, from WA around to NSW. Great on light gear, poor on the plate. The main season. Beach gutters, rock platforms and bay edges on the rising tide; metals, surf poppers and bait all work.
When to come: the Rainbow Beach 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
Tailor
Mulloway
Yellowtail kingfish
Australian salmon
SlowPeak
Water temperature through the year
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 17 °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 Rainbow Beach 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 23 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 24 °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 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
Queensland has no general fishing licence; the size and bag limits, the closed seasons and the Great Sandy Marine Park zoning apply, on the Queensland Government pages linked below.
About this water
Rainbow Beach is a coastal town in Queensland, Australia, covered from the Queensland reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Rainbow Beach: the full guide
Rainbow Beach and the Cooloola coast
Rainbow Beach is a small town on the Cooloola coast of Queensland, north of Noosa and south of K’gari, named for the coloured sand cliffs behind its beach. The fishing is the beach: south along the Cooloola sands to Double Island Point, where the rock platform and the lee beach are the classic marks, and north to Inskip Point, where the barge leaves for the island and the Great Sandy Strait opens behind it. The strait and Tin Can Bay give calm water and flats; the offshore reefs off Double Island Point are for the boats.
Species by season
Tailor are the beach fish of the cooler months, in the gutters at dawn and dusk and off the rocks at Double Island Point; dart and whiting fish the gutters in summer; bream fish the rocks and the strait all year; and mulloway are the night fish of the deeper gutters and Inskip Point. The strait and Tin Can Bay give flathead, whiting and crabs in calm water, the rock platform at the point turns up trevally, tuna and the odd pelagic, and the reefs offshore fish for snapper in winter and the reef species in season.
Reading this report here
The beach is the whole game and the wind and swell run it: a south-easterly builds the surf and puts weed in the gutters while it makes the lee side of Double Island Point fishable, a westerly flattens the beach. Pressure and sky build the score and the planner shows the day; the tide panel is a modelled curve for these coordinates, labelled as a model, and the gutters fish on the falling tide, so use the curve for direction and the Bureau of Meteorology prediction for the minute. The beach is also the road and the tide decides when.
Rules and access
Queensland has no general fishing licence; the size and bag limits, the closed seasons and the Great Sandy Marine Park zoning apply, on the Queensland Government pages linked below. The beach is driven with a vehicle access permit the parks service publishes, Inskip Point and the town beach are walk-on, and the ramps at Rainbow Beach, Carlo Point and Tin Can Bay serve the strait.
Common questions
Do I need a licence to fish at Rainbow Beach?
No. Queensland has no recreational fishing licence; limits, closed seasons and marine park zones apply, and driving the beach needs a vehicle access permit.
What can I catch at Double Island Point?
Tailor in the cooler months, dart and whiting in summer, bream and trevally off the rocks and mulloway at night.
Is fishing good at Rainbow Beach 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.