Spanish mackerel
Excellent
Prime. Trolled baits and hardbodies over structure on the tide change, or high-speed metals cast at surface schools.
Weipa Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The mining town on the western Cape: the Embley and Mission rivers, the Gulf beaches and creeks, and barramundi, queenfish and salmon in remote tropical water.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Next tide
High 5:00 pm model
Air / High
24 °C / 32 °C
Wind
E 16 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Weipa sits in the warm band: moving baits, moving tides and fish on the edges. Today brings a mixed sky, wind E around 16 km/h, steady pressure near 1018 hPa and a high of 32 °C. Tides: high 1:30 am and 5:00 pm, low 9:42 am and 10:42 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 32 °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 Weipa today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (06:20), sunset (18:28), 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
HIGH1:30 am0.64 m
LOW9:42 am-0.51 m
HIGH5:00 pm0.60 m
LOW10:42 pm0.28 m
Sat
HIGH2:30 am0.54 m
LOW10:07 am-0.51 m
HIGH4:52 pm0.57 m
LOW11:02 pm-0.02 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp24 °C
High / Low32 °C / 22 °C
WindE 16 km/h, gusts 34 km/h
Pressure1018.0 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain27% cloud, 82%
Sunrise / Sunset06:20 / 18:28
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 Weipa
The best day on Weipa 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
- 06:20 to 18:28
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 23 km/h
- Rain chance
- 82%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Weipa: 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 7 Oct 2026. Closed 7 October to 31 January in the Gulf of Carpentaria, tidal and fresh. 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 Weipa 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 Weipa 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 34 °C, wind to 18 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 34 °C, wind to 16 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 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; the Gulf barramundi closed season, the size and bag limits and the Aboriginal land access rules of the western Cape apply, on the pages linked below.
About this water
Weipa is a coastal town in Queensland, Australia, covered from the Queensland reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Weipa: the full guide
Weipa and its rivers
Weipa is the bauxite town on the western coast of Cape York, on the Gulf of Carpentaria, at the meeting of the Embley and Mission rivers, with the wharves and the ramps in the town, the mangrove creeks and the sand flats of the rivers, the beaches and the headlands north and south, and the Gulf in front. It is reached by air from Cairns or by the Peninsula Developmental Road in the dry, and it is a fishing town by reputation: barramundi, queenfish and the tropical species in water that sees few boats. The report on this page is scored for the town’s coordinates.
Species and seasons
Barramundi fish the creeks, the river snags and the flats on the run-off after the wet and through the dry, with the Gulf closed season from October to January to check; queenfish and giant trevally fish the headlands, the flats and the river mouths on the tide and are the sport fish of the place; king and blue threadfin salmon fish the beaches and the flats; and fingermark, mangrove jack and grunter fish the snags, the rocks and the reef. Mud crabs are a pot fishery in the creeks, Spanish mackerel and the pelagics fish the headlands and the shoals in the dry, and the flats give permit and the tropical fly species.
Reading this report here
The tide decides the flats and the creeks, and the tide panel is a modelled curve for these coordinates, labelled as a model, with the Bureau of Meteorology for the prediction; the Gulf tides here are irregular and the official table is the one to use. The south-easterly blows through the dry and the afternoon sea breeze roughs the Gulf, so the wind row shows the morning window; pressure matters for barramundi and the rain row shows the wet. Crocodiles are in the rivers, the creeks and the sea, and the sand flats are theirs too.
Rules and access
Queensland has no general fishing licence; the Gulf barramundi closed season, the size and bag limits and the Aboriginal land access rules of the western Cape apply, on the pages linked below. The wharves, the ramps and the town beaches are public; much of the coast beyond is Aboriginal land with its own permits.
Common questions
When is barramundi season in Weipa?
The Gulf closed season runs from October to January; the Queensland Government page is linked in the sources.
Do I need a fishing licence in Weipa?
No. Queensland has no recreational fishing licence; closed seasons, limits and land access rules apply.
Is fishing good at Weipa 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.