Bream
Closed today
Reopens 1 Feb 2027. Black bream may not be taken or possessed in the Lakes and Coorong from 1 August to 31 January, a spawning closure PIRSA renews each season by notice under section 79 of the Fisheries Management Act 2007.
Goolwa Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
Where the Murray meets the sea: the barrages, the Goolwa channel, Hindmarsh Island and the ocean beach, two fisheries and two rule books in one town.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Next tide
High 11:44 am model
Air / High
19 °C / 26 °C
Wind
NE 13 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Goolwa has the water in the comfortable band where most of its fish feed through the day. Today brings clear skies, wind NE around 13 km/h, steady pressure near 1011 hPa and a high of 26 °C. Tides: high 11:44 am, low 7:48 am and 4:00 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 11:23 PM-1:23 AM and 11:51 AM-1:51 PM: the windows to build the day around.
Flathead
Good
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
Fair
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
Fair
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: 11:23 PM-1:23 AM, 11:51 AM-1:51 PM, 5:07 AM-6:07 AM. Similar at 25 °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 bream here? Check the size and bag limits with PIRSA before you keep anything; the Bream page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Goolwa today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (06:04), sunset (19:53), 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 11:23 PM-1:23 AM and 11:51 AM-1:51 PM; minor 5:07 AM-6:07 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
LOW7:48 am-0.46 m
HIGH11:44 am0.00 m
LOW4:00 pm-0.40 m
Tue
HIGH12:19 am0.64 m
LOW8:25 am-0.23 m
HIGH12:11 pm0.22 m
LOW4:24 pm-0.28 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp19 °C
High / Low26 °C / 12 °C
WindNE 13 km/h, gusts 22 km/h
Pressure1011.2 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain15% cloud, 84%
Sunrise / Sunset06:04 / 19:53
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 Goolwa
The best day on Goolwa this week looks like Wednesday 11 Nov, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today.
Best day this week: Wednesday, 11 Nov — good at 4/5, steady pressure, neither help nor hindrance.
Today, 9 Nov — Fair
A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
- Solunar majors
- 11:23 PM-1:23 AM and 11:51 AM-1:51 PM
- Minor period
- 5:07 AM-6:07 AM
- Sun
- 06:04 to 19:53
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 23 km/h
- Rain chance
- 84%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Goolwa: 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
Closed now Reopens 1 Feb 2027. Black bream may not be taken or possessed in the Lakes and Coorong from 1 August to 31 January, a spawning closure PIRSA renews each season by notice under section 79 of the Fisheries Management Act 2007. Rule as read from PIRSA on 2026-09-29.
Yellowfin bream on the east coast, black bream in the southern estuaries. Structure fish: rock walls, jetty piles, oyster racks, snags and pontoons.
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 Goolwa 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 Goolwa 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 19 °C, wind to 19 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 16 °C, wind to 23 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 21 °C, wind to 24 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; PIRSA sets the limits and the closures above, bans mesh nets within 150 metres of the barrages and on weekends in the Goolwa channel, and closes marine park sanctuary zones to all fishing.
About this water
Goolwa is a coastal town in South Australia, Australia, covered from the South Australia reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Goolwa: the full guide
Goolwa and the mouth
Goolwa is the river port at the end of the Murray on the Fleurieu Peninsula, where the river’s lakes drain through the barrages into the Goolwa channel and the Coorong and out to the sea at the Murray Mouth. The town fishes the fresh water above the barrages, the salt water of the channel below them, the ocean beach that runs from Goolwa along the Sir Richard Peninsula to the mouth, and Hindmarsh Island across the bridge. It is a place of two fisheries and two sets of rules a few metres apart. The report below is scored for Goolwa itself.
Species and seasons
Above the barrages, Lake Alexandrina gives golden perch (callop) and redfin, and Murray cod, which may never be kept in the lake and may be caught and released only from 1 January to 31 July. Below them, the channel and the Coorong give black bream around the barrages and the rock walls, but PIRSA closes black bream in the Lakes and Coorong from 1 August to 31 January to protect the spawning fish, so possession is not allowed then. Mulloway are taken in the channel and off the beach at night, salmon trout and flathead in the salt, and Australian salmon run the beach in the cooler months, with the surf gutters worked at dawn and dusk. Pipis, the Goolwa cockle, may be dug on the beach outside the statewide closure from 1 June to 31 October, but not on the Younghusband Peninsula beach between the Murray Mouth and 28 Mile Crossing, which is reserved for commercial fishing.
Reading this report here
The ocean beach and the sheltered channel behave differently: a south-westerly brings swell onto the beach and leaves the channel fishable, and a northerly flattens the beach. The river’s flow through the barrages decides the mouth’s fishing more than the weather, and that flow is published by the river managers, not on this page. Pressure and sky build the score and the planner shows the day; the tide panel is a modelled curve for these coordinates, labelled as a model, useful for the direction in the channel and at the mouth, with the Bureau of Meteorology for the times.
Rules and access
South Australia needs no fishing licence; PIRSA sets the limits and the closures above, bans mesh nets within 150 metres of the barrages and on weekends in the Goolwa channel, and closes marine park sanctuary zones to all fishing. Goolwa sits near the line between the Gulf St Vincent and Kangaroo Island zone and the South-East zone, so check PIRSA’s zone map before keeping snapper. The wharves, the channel foreshore and the beach are public, and boats launch from the town and Hindmarsh Island.
Common questions
When can I collect pipis at Goolwa?
Outside the statewide closure from 1 June to 31 October, within PIRSA’s daily limits, and never on the Younghusband Peninsula beach between the Murray Mouth and 28 Mile Crossing, which is commercial only.
Can I keep black bream at Goolwa?
Only from 1 February to 31 July. PIRSA closes black bream in the Lakes and Coorong from 1 August to 31 January, including possession.
Is fishing good at Goolwa 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
- 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.