Spanish mackerel
Excellent
Prime. Trolled baits and hardbodies over structure on the tide change, or high-speed metals cast at surface schools.
Townsville Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
Cleveland Bay, the Strand, the Ross River and Magnetic Island: the dry-tropics city with the reef offshore and barramundi in the creeks.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Next tide
Low 1:17 pm model
Air / High
21 °C / 26 °C
Wind
SE 15 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Townsville 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 1024 hPa and a high of 26 °C. Tides: high 7:09 am and 7:22 pm, low 1:46 am and 1:17 pm: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. 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 26 °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 Townsville today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (06:00), sunset (18:09), 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
LOW1:46 am-0.28 m
HIGH7:09 am1.53 m
LOW1:17 pm-0.30 m
HIGH7:22 pm2.02 m
Sat
LOW2:01 am-0.37 m
HIGH7:32 am1.63 m
LOW1:46 pm-0.29 m
HIGH7:41 pm1.99 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp21 °C
High / Low26 °C / 19 °C
WindSE 15 km/h, gusts 30 km/h
Pressure1023.9 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain16% cloud, 64%
Sunrise / Sunset06:00 / 18:09
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~26 °C est.
Why the tide matters here: tides and fishing in Australia.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Townsville
The best day on Townsville 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
- 06:00 to 18:09
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 26 km/h
- Rain chance
- 64%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Townsville: 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 Townsville 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 Townsville 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 26 °C, wind to 24 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 25 °C, wind to 24 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 26 °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
Queensland has no general fishing licence; the barramundi closed season, the coral reef fin fish rules, the size and bag limits and the marine park zoning apply, on the pages linked below; the stocked weirs of the Ross River are inside the Stocked Impoundment Permit Scheme, which our Queensland licence page explains.
About this water
Townsville is a coastal town in Queensland, Australia, covered from the Queensland reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Townsville: the full guide
Townsville and its water
Townsville sits on Cleveland Bay in the dry tropics of north Queensland, with Magnetic Island across the bay, the Ross River running through the city, the creeks and mangroves of the bay’s shores and the Great Barrier Reef offshore. The fishing is the Strand and the rock walls of the port, the Ross River and its weirs, the creeks toward the Haughton and the Burdekin, the beaches and headlands of the island, and the reef and the shoals for the boats. It rains less here than in Cairns, which makes the seasons a little more even, but the wet still sets the calendar.
Species by season
Barramundi fish the creeks, the river and the bay foreshores, with the east coast closed season through the summer spawning to check and the run-off at the end of the wet the classic time; the stocked weirs of the Ross River give barramundi and sooty grunter all year. Mangrove jack and grunter fish the creeks and the rocks, queenfish and trevally the bay and the island on the tide, and Spanish mackerel run the shoals and the headlands in the cooler months. The reef gives coral trout, nannygai and the reef species under the coral reef fin fish rules, and mud crabs are a pot fishery in the creeks.
Reading this report here
The south-easterly trade wind is the row to read through the dry season: it decides whether the bay and the reef are reachable and pushes the fishing into the river and the creeks. Pressure matters for barramundi, with a falling barometer in the build-up the classic bite, and the rain row shows the wet. The tide panel is a modelled curve for these coordinates, labelled as a model; the creeks run on big tides, so use the curve for direction and the Bureau of Meteorology prediction for the minute. Crocodiles are in the creeks and the river.
Rules and access
Queensland has no general fishing licence; the barramundi closed season, the coral reef fin fish rules, the size and bag limits and the marine park zoning apply, on the pages linked below; the stocked weirs of the Ross River are inside the Stocked Impoundment Permit Scheme, which our Queensland licence page explains. The Strand, the rock walls, the river and the beaches are public, with ramps in the city and the creeks.
Common questions
Do I need a permit to fish the Ross River weirs?
The stocked weirs are in the Stocked Impoundment Permit Scheme, which needs a permit from age 18; our Queensland licence page has the prices. Elsewhere, no licence applies.
When is barramundi season in Townsville?
The east coast has a closed season through the summer spawning, published by the Queensland Government; the run-off after the wet is the classic time, and the species card rates the month and today’s conditions.
Is fishing good at Townsville 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.