Barramundi
Closed today
Reopens 1 Feb 2027. 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.
Rockhampton Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Fitzroy River through Rockhampton: barramundi and threadfin below the barrage, the delta creeks and Keppel Bay downstream, in a net-free zone.
2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Water temp
~29 °C est.
Air / High
22 °C / 27 °C
Wind
ESE 10 km/h
Sources: Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Rockhampton runs hot and bright: the fish feed early, late and deep. Today brings clear skies, wind ESE around 11 km/h, rising pressure near 1017 hPa and a high of 27 °C. Water sits around 29 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 10:31 AM-12:31 PM and 10:53 PM-12:53 AM: plan around them and beat the heat.
Spanish mackerel
Fair
Troll rigged garfish or lures over the reef edges and shoals at first light; float-line a live bait through the middle of the day.
Tie on: Soft plastic, 3 to 5 inch paddle tail · Pilchard on ganged hooks · Metal slug, 20 to 40 g · Surface walker at first light. Prime windows: 10:31 AM-12:31 PM, 10:53 PM-12:53 AM, 4:13 AM-5:13 AM. Warmer at 31 °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 (05:08), sunset (18:15), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 10:31 AM-12:31 PM and 10:53 PM-12:53 AM; minor 4:13 AM-5:13 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 temp22 °C
High / Low27 °C / 22 °C
WindESE 10 km/h, gusts 24 km/h
Pressure1016.8 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain17% cloud, 94%
Sunrise / Sunset05:08 / 18:15
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~29 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Rockhampton
The best day on Rockhampton this week looks like Tuesday 10 Nov, at 3 out of 5, against 2 today.
Best day this week: Tuesday, 10 Nov — fair at 3/5, rising pressure behind a front, typically the slowest.
Today, 9 Nov — Tough
Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
- Solunar majors
- 10:31 AM-12:31 PM and 10:53 PM-12:53 AM
- Minor period
- 4:13 AM-5:13 AM
- Sun
- 05:08 to 18:15
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 19 km/h
- Rain chance
- 94%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
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
Closed now Reopens 1 Feb 2027. 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.
Spanish mackerel
Winter and spring in the north; summer in NSW
Open now Closes 1 Feb 2027. East coast waters south of 22°S close to Spanish mackerel from 1 to 21 February and from 1 to 21 March each year. Rule as read from Queensland Department of Primary Industries on 2026-09-27.
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. Troll rigged garfish or lures over the reef edges and shoals at first light; float-line a live bait through the middle of the day.
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 29 °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 dataSun, Nov 8
3/5 Fair. Fish early or late. Heat pins the bite to the dawn and dusk windows. Barramundi led the card at excellent. High of 33 °C, wind to 14 km/h.
Sat, Nov 7
3/5 Fair. Fish early or late. Heat pins the bite to the dawn and dusk windows. Barramundi led the card at excellent. High of 33 °C, wind to 18 km/h.
Fri, Nov 6
3/5 Fair. Fish early or late. Heat pins the bite to the dawn and dusk windows. Barramundi led the card at excellent. High of 34 °C, wind to 18 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 and no permit is needed on the Fitzroy: the barrage pool is not in the Stocked Impoundment Permit Scheme, whose list of 65 dams and weirs the Queensland Government publishes.
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 a few kilometres inland from Keppel Bay, close to the Tropic of Capricorn. The barrage in the city divides the river into the tidal reaches below, a barramundi and threadfin fishery that runs down through the delta creeks to the bay, and the fresh water above. The river at Rockhampton lies inside the Capricorn Coast net-free zone, which closes it to commercial mesh and seine netting. It is fished from the banks and the rock walls in the city and from boats along the reaches; Yeppoon and the coast have their own page. The report here is scored for Rockhampton’s own coordinates.
Species and seasons
Barramundi are the river’s fish, below the barrage on the run-off and the build-up and in the fresh water above it, and the east coast closure from 1 November to 31 January applies on both sides, because the Fitzroy barrage is not one of the waters the Queensland Government exempts. 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 bay downstream gives the estuary and reef species, and the reef species have their own October and November closures.
Reading this report for the Fitzroy
The tide reaches the barrage, and the tide panel, a modelled curve for these coordinates labelled as a model, gives the direction of the run in the tidal reaches; the Bureau of Meteorology publishes 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. The Fitzroy is inside the estuarine crocodile’s Queensland range, so fish from a safe distance above the water.
Rules and access
Queensland has no general fishing licence and no permit is needed on the Fitzroy: the barrage pool is not in the Stocked Impoundment Permit Scheme, whose list of 65 dams and weirs the Queensland Government publishes. The barramundi closed season and the size and bag limits apply, on the pages linked below, and the city foreshores and rock walls give bank access on both sides of the river.
Common questions
Do I need a permit to fish the Fitzroy at Rockhampton?
No. Queensland has no general fishing licence, and the Fitzroy barrage is not on the Stocked Impoundment Permit Scheme list, so no permit is needed above or below it.
When is barramundi season on the Fitzroy?
The east coast closure runs from 1 November to 31 January, in the tidal river and in the fresh water above the barrage; 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: Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
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
- qld.gov.au/recreation/activities/boating-fishing/rec-fishing/dams/stoc
- dpi.qld.gov.au/business-priorities/fisheries/closures/fresh/seasons
- dpi.qld.gov.au/business-priorities/fisheries/closures/tidal/seasons
- business.qld.gov.au/industries/farms-fishing-forestry/fisheries/commer
- qld.gov.au/environment/plants-animals/animals/living-with/crocodiles
- 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.