Southern calamari
Excellent
Spring and autumn are the seasons: the weed beds on the rising tide, slow sinking jigs.
Cowell Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
Franklin Harbour on the Eyre Peninsula: the sheltered harbour’s whiting, garfish and crabs, the oyster town’s jetty and the gulf outside the entrance.
2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Next tide
High 2:09 pm model
Air / High
17 °C / 26 °C
Wind
WSW 7 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Cowell rewards patience today, with cool water and short feeding windows. Today brings a mixed sky, wind WSW around 6 km/h, rising pressure near 1025 hPa and a high of 26 °C. Tides: high 2:25 am and 2:09 pm, low 8:12 am and 8:47 pm: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. Water sits around 13 °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.
Australian salmon
Good
The main season. Beach gutters, rock platforms and bay edges on the rising tide; metals, surf poppers and bait all work.
Snapper
Fair
Fish are thinner inshore. Work the deeper structure and the channel edges with baits on the bottom, and pick the tide change.
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.
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. Cooler at 19 °C. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.
Before you go
South Australia has no general fishing licence, but rules and permits apply. South Australia fishing licence: cost, rules and where to buy →
Chasing snapper here? Check the size and bag limits with PIRSA before you keep anything; the Snapper page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Cowell today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (06:08), sunset (18:20), 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
HIGH2:25 am0.31 m
LOW8:12 am-0.45 m
HIGH2:09 pm0.58 m
LOW8:47 pm-0.64 m
Sat
HIGH2:30 am0.36 m
LOW8:39 am-0.68 m
HIGH2:39 pm0.45 m
LOW9:00 pm-0.82 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp17 °C
High / Low26 °C / 17 °C
WindWSW 7 km/h, gusts 18 km/h
Pressure1025.0 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain25% cloud, 37%
Sunrise / Sunset06:08 / 18:20
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~13 °C est.
Why the tide matters here: tides and fishing in Australia.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Cowell
The best day on Cowell this week looks like Saturday 26 Sept, at 4 out of 5, against 2 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, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
Today, 25 Sept — Tough
Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
- Solunar majors
- 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM
- Minor period
- 4:55 AM-5:55 AM
- Sun
- 06:08 to 18:20
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 14 km/h
- Rain chance
- 37%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Cowell: seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
Snapper
Best: October to January in the southern bays
Closed now Reopens 1 July 2027. Closed in the West Coast, Spencer Gulf and Gulf St Vincent/Kangaroo Island zones until 30 June 2027; open only in the South-East zone. No catch and release in the closed zones. Rule as read from PIRSA on 2026-09-23.
The southern headline fish. Runs into Port Phillip, Western Port, the gulfs and the WA sounds in spring to spawn; holds on reef and rubble the rest of the year. Fish are thinner inshore. Work the deeper structure and the channel edges with baits on the bottom, and pick the tide change.
King George whiting
Best: December to May in SA; spring and summer in Port Phillip
The table fish of the south. Feeds over sand patches between weed and reef in 2 to 10 metres, mostly by day, mostly on the moving tide. Deeper sand patches and the middle of the day; slower bites, bigger fish.
Southern calamari
Spring and autumn peaks in the southern bays
Southern calamari over weed and sand in 2 to 10 metres of the bays and gulfs; a jig fishery at dawn, dusk and under the jetty lights. Spring and autumn are the seasons: the weed beds on the rising tide, slow sinking jigs.
Australian salmon
Winter and spring on the southern beaches
Not a salmon at all: a hard-fighting schooling fish of the surf and the bays, from WA around to NSW. Great on light gear, poor on the plate. The main season. Beach gutters, rock platforms and bay edges on the rising tide; metals, surf poppers and bait all work.
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.
When to come: the Cowell 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
Snapper
King George whiting
Southern calamari
Australian salmon
Flathead
SlowPeak
Water temperature through the year
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 13 °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 Cowell 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. Southern calamari led the card at excellent. High of 31 °C, wind to 21 km/h.
Wed, Sep 23
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Southern calamari led the card at excellent. High of 26 °C, wind to 18 km/h.
Tue, Sep 22
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Southern calamari led the card at excellent. High of 21 °C, wind to 16 km/h.
Before you go
Licence
South Australia has no general recreational fishing licence; the limits and closures do. Details and where to buy →
Regulations
Size and bag limits, closed seasons and marine park zones are set by PIRSA and change: confirm the current rules on the agency page linked from the South Australia licence page before you keep anything.
Access
South Australia needs no fishing licence at Cowell; the size, bag and boat limits, the snapper closure and the crab rules apply, published by PIRSA and linked from this page.
About this water
Cowell is a coastal town in South Australia, Australia, covered from the South Australia reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Cowell: the full guide
Cowell and Franklin Harbour
Cowell is the oyster town on Franklin Harbour, the almost enclosed bay on the eastern coast of the Eyre Peninsula between Whyalla and Port Lincoln, with the jetty and the ramp, the harbour’s shallow flats and channels, the narrow entrance to Spencer Gulf and the beaches and the mangroves along the shore. It is a harbour town on the flats, and the report on this page is scored for the town’s coordinates. Whyalla has its own page.
Species and seasons
King George whiting fish the harbour’s channels and weed from spring to autumn and are the town’s fish; garfish and tommy ruff fish the jetty all year; blue swimmer crabs work the flats in summer under the PIRSA rules; snapper come to the gulf outside the entrance in summer under the state closure to 2027; squid work the jetty weed; flathead lie on the flats; and Australian salmon run the entrance in the cooler months. The harbour is shallow and the tide decides everything.
Where to fish it
Cowell jetty is the walk-on mark for garfish, squid and whiting, fished at night under the lights, and the harbour’s channels and flats toward the oyster leases are the whiting and crab water for wading and small boats on the rising tide; the entrance to the gulf is the snapper and salmon run for the boats. The ramp is at the town foreshore, and Lucky Bay to the north is the ferry port and the other access.
Reading this report here
The harbour is sheltered from most winds and the entrance and the gulf are open to a south-easterly; the wind row tells you which. The tide panel is a modelled curve for the coordinates of Cowell, labelled as a model, and the harbour fills and drains on it, with the gulf’s dodge tides in between. Pressure and sky build the score at Cowell; the planner shows the day.
Licence, access and rules
South Australia needs no fishing licence at Cowell; the size, bag and boat limits, the snapper closure and the crab rules apply, published by PIRSA and linked from this page. The jetty, the foreshore and the flats are public, with a ramp at the town; the Franklin Harbour marine park zones are in the sources.
Common questions
What can I catch at Cowell?
King George whiting in the harbour channels from spring to autumn, garfish at the jetty, blue swimmer crabs on the flats in summer, squid over the weed.
Do I need a licence at Cowell?
No. South Australia has no general recreational fishing licence; the PIRSA limits and the snapper closure still apply.
Is fishing good at Cowell right now?
Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
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.