Spanish mackerel
Excellent
Prime. Trolled baits and hardbodies over structure on the tide change, or high-speed metals cast at surface schools.
Rockhampton Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Fitzroy River through the beef capital: barramundi below the barrage, the delta creeks and Keppel Bay downstream, and the reef beyond.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Water temp
~26 °C est.
Air / High
18 °C / 26 °C
Wind
SE 14 km/h
Sources: Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Rockhampton has the water in the comfortable band where most of its fish feed through the day. Today brings clear skies, wind SE around 14 km/h, steady pressure near 1027 hPa and a high of 26 °C. 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 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 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 Rockhampton today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:45), sunset (17:54), 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 / Low26 °C / 17 °C
WindSE 14 km/h, gusts 29 km/h
Pressure1027.0 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain5% cloud, 86%
Sunrise / Sunset05:45 / 17:54
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~26 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Rockhampton
The best day on Rockhampton 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
- 05:45 to 17:54
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 24 km/h
- Rain chance
- 86%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Rockhampton: 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 Rockhampton 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 Rockhampton 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 27 °C, wind to 23 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 26 °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 27 °C, wind to 14 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 barramundi closed season, the size and bag limits and the net-free zone of the lower Fitzroy apply, on the Queensland Government pages linked below, and the fresh water above the barrage is in the Stocked Impoundment Permit Scheme, which our Queensland licence page explains.
About this water
Rockhampton is a coastal town in Queensland, Australia, covered from the Queensland reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Rockhampton: the full guide
Rockhampton and the Fitzroy
Rockhampton sits on the Fitzroy River, the biggest river system on the east coast, a few kilometres inland from Keppel Bay on the Tropic of Capricorn. The barrage in the city divides the river into the tidal reaches below, a barramundi and threadfin fishery of reputation that runs down through the delta creeks to the bay, and the fresh water above, where the same species are stocked and grow in the long pool toward the ranges. The river is fished from the banks, the rock walls and the ramps in the city and from boats along the reaches; Yeppoon and the coast have their own page. The report on this page is scored for the city’s coordinates.
Species and seasons
Barramundi are the river’s fish, below the barrage on the run-off and the build-up, with the east coast closed season through the summer spawning to check, and above the barrage in the stocked fresh water; threadfin salmon fish the tidal reaches and the delta on the tide changes, best at night; mangrove jack and grunter fish the snags and the rocks; and mud crabs are a pot fishery in the delta creeks. The fresh reaches give sooty grunter and the stocked species under the Stocked Impoundment Permit Scheme where it applies, and the bay downstream gives the estuary and reef species.
Reading this report for the river
The tide reaches the barrage and the tide panel, a modelled curve for these coordinates labelled as a model, is for the direction of the run in the tidal reaches; the Bureau of Meteorology has the coastal times. Pressure matters for barramundi, a falling barometer before a storm being the classic bite, and the rain row shows the wet arriving; a flood on the Fitzroy changes the river for weeks. The wind matters little in the city reaches. Crocodiles are in the river on both sides of the barrage.
Rules and access
Queensland has no general fishing licence; the barramundi closed season, the size and bag limits and the net-free zone of the lower Fitzroy apply, on the Queensland Government pages linked below, and the fresh water above the barrage is in the Stocked Impoundment Permit Scheme, which our Queensland licence page explains. The city foreshores, the rock walls and the barrage approaches are public, with ramps in the city and at the delta.
Common questions
Do I need a permit to fish the Fitzroy at Rockhampton?
Below the barrage, no licence or permit; above it, the stocked fresh water is a Stocked Impoundment Permit Scheme water from age 18. Our Queensland licence page has the prices.
When is barramundi season on the Fitzroy?
The tidal river has the east coast closed season through the summer spawning, published by the Queensland Government; the run-off after the wet is the classic time.
Is fishing good at Rockhampton 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.