Bream
Excellent
Prime bream weather. Cast small vibes, crankbaits and 2 to 3 inch plastics at every piece of structure on the rising tide.
Tannum Sands Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 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.
4/5
Good. Solid day ahead.Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
Next tide
Low 2:00 pm model
Air / High
22 °C / 26 °C
Wind
ESE 10 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Tannum Sands has the water in the comfortable band where most of its fish feed through the day. Today brings a mixed sky, wind ESE around 10 km/h, rising pressure near 1017 hPa and a high of 26 °C. Tides: high 7:39 am and 7:42 pm, low 1:15 am and 2:00 pm: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. Water sits around 22 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 10:28 AM-12:28 PM and 10:50 PM-12:50 AM: the windows to build the day around.
Flathead
Excellent
The best of it. Drift the sand and weed edges, bounce plastics or a strip of bait along the bottom, and cover ground until you find the school.
Mulloway
Good
Fish the deep holes and the rock walls through a tide change after dark; live mullet, yellowtail or a large soft plastic worked slowly.
Tailor
Good
Rock ledges and beach gutters on the rising tide; metals cast and retrieved fast, or a whole pilchard drifted through the wash.
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: 10:28 AM-12:28 PM, 10:50 PM-12:50 AM, 4:08 AM-5:08 AM. Similar at 27 °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 (05:03), sunset (18:13), 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 10:28 AM-12:28 PM and 10:50 PM-12:50 AM; minor 4:08 AM-5:08 AM. New Moon, 0% 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.
Mon
LOW1:15 am-0.89 m
HIGH7:39 am2.01 m
LOW2:00 pm-0.56 m
HIGH7:42 pm1.40 m
Tue
LOW1:50 am-0.80 m
HIGH8:12 am1.92 m
LOW2:36 pm-0.54 m
HIGH8:16 pm1.19 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp22 °C
High / Low26 °C / 21 °C
WindESE 10 km/h, gusts 23 km/h
Pressure1017.4 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain53% cloud, 84%
Sunrise / Sunset05:03 / 18:13
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~22 °C est.
Why the tide matters here: tides and fishing in Australia.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Tannum Sands
Today is the pick of the week on Tannum Sands, at 4 out of 5.
Best day this week: today, 9 Nov — good at 4/5, rising pressure behind a front, typically the slowest.
Today, 9 Nov — Good
Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
- Solunar majors
- 10:28 AM-12:28 PM and 10:50 PM-12:50 AM
- Minor period
- 4:08 AM-5:08 AM
- Sun
- 05:03 to 18:13
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 21 km/h
- Rain chance
- 84%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
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. Prime bream weather. Cast small vibes, crankbaits and 2 to 3 inch plastics at every piece of structure on the rising tide.
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. The best of it. Drift the sand and weed edges, bounce plastics or a strip of bait along the bottom, and cover ground until you find the school.
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. Fish the deep holes and the rock walls through a tide change after dark; live mullet, yellowtail or a large soft plastic worked slowly.
Tailor
Autumn and winter on the east coast; the run reaches K'gari (Fraser Island) in late winter, where the east beach from Waddy Point to Indian Head is closed to all fin fish from 1 August to 29 September
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. Rock ledges and beach gutters on the rising tide; metals cast and retrieved fast, or a whole pilchard drifted through the wash.
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 22 °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 dataSun, Nov 8
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Bream led the card at excellent. High of 32 °C, wind to 14 km/h.
Sat, Nov 7
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Bream led the card at excellent. High of 28 °C, wind to 18 km/h.
Fri, Nov 6
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Bream led the card at excellent. High of 31 °C, wind to 19 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 either side of the 1 November to 31 January closed season, and tagged fish stocked in Lake Awoonga have been recaptured below the dam after the lake spilled; 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 upstream of the bridge 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. Boats launch on the Boyne, on both sides of the river.
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?
Yes, in the Boyne River outside the 1 November to 31 January closed season; tagging records show Lake Awoonga fish recaptured in the river below the dam after the 2011 and 2017 spills.
Do I need a licence at Tannum Sands?
No. Tannum Sands is tidal water with no licence requirement, though Queensland’s limits and closed seasons apply here.
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: Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
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
- Pages checked
- 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.