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.
Tannum Sands Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
Gladstone’s beach: the Boyne River mouth, the Tannum beach and the Wild Cattle Creek, with whiting, bream, flathead and the barra of the river.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Next tide
Low 12:55 pm model
Air / High
18 °C / 25 °C
Wind
SSE 12 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Tannum Sands rewards patience today, with cool water and short feeding windows. Today brings clear skies, wind SSE around 13 km/h, steady pressure near 1028 hPa and a high of 26 °C. Tides: high 6:55 am and 7:03 pm, low 12:58 am and 12:55 pm: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. 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 23 °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 Tannum Sands today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:41), sunset (17:51), 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
LOW12:58 am-0.84 m
HIGH6:55 am1.60 m
LOW12:55 pm-0.80 m
HIGH7:03 pm2.05 m
Sat
LOW1:27 am-0.96 m
HIGH7:25 am1.72 m
LOW1:33 pm-0.86 m
HIGH7:36 pm1.97 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp18 °C
High / Low25 °C / 16 °C
WindSSE 12 km/h, gusts 24 km/h
Pressure1028.0 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain9% cloud, 100%
Sunrise / Sunset05:41 / 17:51
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~18 °C est.
Why the tide matters here: tides and fishing in Australia.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Tannum Sands
The best day on Tannum Sands 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
- 05:41 to 17:51
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Storms, 21 km/h
- Rain chance
- 100%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Tannum Sands: 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 Tannum Sands 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 Tannum Sands 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 26 °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 25 °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 25 °C, wind to 13 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
Line fishing at Tannum Sands needs no Queensland licence; the barramundi closed season, the size and bag limits and the crab rules apply, on the pages linked below.
About this water
Tannum Sands is a coastal town in Queensland, Australia, covered from the Queensland reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Tannum Sands: the full guide
Tannum Sands and the Boyne mouth
Tannum Sands is the beach town south of Gladstone at the mouth of the Boyne River, with the long beach running south to Wild Cattle Creek and its island, the river mouth and its rock walls at the northern end, the Boyne’s mangroves and flats running up to Awoonga dam, and the industrial harbour of Gladstone a few minutes north. It is a beach-and-river-mouth town, and the report on this page is scored for the town’s coordinates. Boyne Island across the river and Gladstone have their own pages.
Species and seasons
Whiting fish the beach and the river-mouth sand all year and are the town’s fish; bream fish the rock walls and the mangroves; flathead lie on the beach gutters and the river sand; barramundi run the Boyne in the warm season, and the spillway fish from Awoonga above are the reason, under the closed season; mangrove jack fish the snags in summer; tailor and dart run the beach in the cooler months; and mud crabs work the creek under the pot rules. Wild Cattle Creek is a quieter version of the same fishing.
Where to fish it
The rock walls at the Boyne mouth and the beach in front of the town are the whiting and bream marks, fished on the rising tide, and the Boyne’s mangroves and flats from the bridge up toward the Awoonga road are the barra and jack water for small boats; Wild Cattle Creek at the southern end of the beach is the quiet bream and crab water. The ramps are on the Boyne at Tannum and Boyne Island.
Reading this report here
The coast faces east and a south-easterly builds the surf and closes the beach, while a westerly flattens it and the river is always the fallback; the wind row tells you which. The tide panel is a modelled curve for the coordinates of Tannum Sands, labelled as a model, and the river runs on it. Pressure and sky build the score at Tannum Sands; the planner shows the day.
Licence, access and rules
Line fishing at Tannum Sands needs no Queensland licence; the barramundi closed season, the size and bag limits and the crab rules apply, on the pages linked below. The beach, the river walls and the creek are public, with ramps on the Boyne; the DAF rules are in the sources.
Common questions
Can I catch barramundi at Tannum Sands?
In the Boyne River in the warm season, outside the closed season; the fish that come over the Awoonga spillway are the reason the river is fished for them.
Do I need a licence at Tannum Sands?
No. Queensland has no general recreational fishing licence; the limits and the closed seasons still apply.
Is fishing good at Tannum Sands 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.