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.
Tin Can Bay Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The calm side of the Cooloola coast: mangrove flats, the Great Sandy Strait and the barge to K’gari, with the surf a few kilometres away.
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 / 23 °C
Wind
SE 12 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Tin Can Bay has cool water and fish holding a little deeper and slower. Today brings a mixed sky, wind SE around 13 km/h, steady pressure near 1029 hPa and a high of 23 °C. Tides: high 6:19 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 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 Tin Can Bay today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:34), sunset (17:45), 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
HIGH6:19 am0.83 m
LOW12:16 pm-0.39 m
HIGH6:33 pm1.12 m
Sat
LOW12:54 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 / Low23 °C / 17 °C
WindSE 12 km/h, gusts 24 km/h
Pressure1029.2 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain31% cloud, 100%
Sunrise / Sunset05:34 / 17:45
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 Tin Can Bay
The best day on Tin Can Bay 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
- 05:34 to 17:45
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 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 Tin Can Bay: 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 Tin Can Bay 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 Tin Can Bay 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 24 °C, wind to 21 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 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 size and bag limits, the closed seasons and the Great Sandy Marine Park zoning of the strait apply, on the Queensland Government pages linked below.
About this water
Tin Can Bay is a bay or coastal water in Queensland, Australia, covered from the Queensland reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Tin Can Bay: the full guide
The bay and the strait
Tin Can Bay is a small town on the western, sheltered side of the Cooloola coast, on an inlet of the Great Sandy Strait, the long tidal waterway between the mainland and K’gari. It is the calm-water counterpart of Rainbow Beach: mangroves, sand flats, channels and seagrass instead of surf, with Carlo Point and the town foreshore as the launching points for the strait and the crossing to the island. Most of the fishing is by boat or kayak in the strait, but the town’s jetties and foreshore fish on the tide, and the dolphins that visit the boat ramp draw as many people as the fish.
Species and seasons
Whiting fish the sand flats and the channel edges in summer, flathead lie on the drop-offs and the mouths of the creeks through the warmer months, and bream work the mangroves, the jetties and the rock walls all year. Mud crabs are a pot fishery in the creeks and the mangroves, sand crabs on the open flats. The strait gives grunter, trevally and, in the cooler months, the odd snapper on the deeper reefs toward the island, and the mouth of the inlet turns up tailor and mackerel on the run. Barramundi and mangrove jack are summer fish in the creeks at the northern limit of their range here.
Reading this report here
The strait is tide-driven and sheltered: the wind row matters less than on the surf side, and a fresh south-easterly that closes Rainbow Beach leaves the strait fishable. The tide panel is a modelled curve for these coordinates, labelled as a model, and the flats fish on the run-in while the channels fish on the change; the Bureau of Meteorology has the exact times. Pressure and sky build the score and the planner shows which of the seven days to take.
Rules and access
Queensland has no general fishing licence; the size and bag limits, the closed seasons and the Great Sandy Marine Park zoning of the strait apply, on the Queensland Government pages linked below. The foreshore, the jetties and the ramps at the town and Carlo Point are public; the barge to K’gari leaves from Inskip Point.
Common questions
What can I catch at Tin Can Bay?
Whiting and flathead on the flats, bream on the mangroves and jetties, mud crabs in the creeks, and grunter, trevally and tailor in the strait and at the inlet mouth.
Do I need a licence to fish Tin Can Bay?
No. Queensland has no recreational fishing licence; marine park zones, limits and closed seasons apply.
Is fishing good at Tin Can Bay 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.