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.
Port River Fishing Report
Updated Sat, 26 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
Adelaide’s working river: the Port River and Barker Inlet, mangroves, ship channels and the dolphins, a fishery of bream, mulloway and crabs inside the city.
4/5
Good. Solid day ahead.Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
Water temp
~18 °C est.
Air / High
15 °C / 21 °C
Wind
SE 11 km/h
Sources: Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Port River is in its cool-water rhythm: slower presentations and the warmest hours of the day. Today brings cloud cover, wind SE around 11 km/h, falling pressure near 1030 hPa and a high of 21 °C. Water sits around 18 °C for the season (estimated). With the full moon, the solunar majors run 11:16 PM-1:16 AM and 11:16 AM-1:16 PM: the windows to build the day around.
Bream
Good
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
Good
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
Good
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: 11:16 PM-1:16 AM, 11:16 AM-1:16 PM, 5:46 AM-6:46 AM. Similar 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 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 Port River today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (06:00), sunset (18:14), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 11:16 PM-1:16 AM and 11:16 AM-1:16 PM; minor 5:46 AM-6:46 AM. Full Moon, 100% lit.
Water and weather
Conditions here are modelled from weather, season and the nearest stations.
No live gauge on this water
Water readings appear when a Bureau of Meteorology station covers it. Until then the seasonal curve below is the estimate.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp15 °C
High / Low21 °C / 13 °C
WindSE 11 km/h, gusts 22 km/h
Pressure1030.2 hPa, falling
Sky / Rain100% cloud, 24%
Sunrise / Sunset06:00 / 18:14
MoonFull Moon, 100%
Water temp (seasonal)~18 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Port River
The best day on Port River this week looks like Friday 2 Oct, at 5 out of 5, against 4 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: Friday, 2 Oct — excellent at 5/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
Today, 26 Sept — Good
Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
- Solunar majors
- 11:16 PM-1:16 AM and 11:16 AM-1:16 PM
- Minor period
- 5:46 AM-6:46 AM
- Sun
- 06:00 to 18:14
- Moon
- Full Moon, 100% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 18 km/h
- Rain chance
- 24%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Port River: 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 Port River 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 Port River today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataFri, Sep 25
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Tailor led the card at excellent. High of 26 °C, wind to 13 km/h.
Thu, 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 27 °C, wind to 18 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 24 °C, wind to 18 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; the size, bag and boat limits, the crab rules, the mulloway rules and the dolphin sanctuary’s speed and access rules apply, published by PIRSA and the parks service and linked from this page.
About this water
Port River is a river in South Australia, Australia, covered from the South Australia reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Port River: the full guide
The river and the inlet
The Port River is the tidal estuary of Adelaide’s port, running from Port Adelaide and its wharves through the ship channels and the mangroves of Barker Inlet to the gulf at Outer Harbor, with Torrens Island, the power station outlets, the Garden Island ships’ graveyard and the dolphin sanctuary along its length. It is a working river and one of the city’s best fisheries, fished from the wharves and the rock walls, the bridges and the creek mouths, and from boats and kayaks through the channels and the inlet. Adelaide’s metropolitan jetties have their own page; this one is scored for the river.
Species and seasons
Bream are the river’s fish, all year around the wharves, the pylons and the mangroves, with the biggest in the cooler months; mulloway are the prize, in the deep channels, at the power station outlets and around the bridges at night, from spring to autumn; blue swimmer crabs are the summer and autumn fishery of the inlet flats; and yellowfin whiting fish the shallow flats in summer. Salmon trout, flathead and garfish fish the channels and the mouth, snook and squid work the weed near Outer Harbor, and the mangrove creeks give bream and the occasional black bream.
Reading this report for the river
The river is sheltered and the wind matters mainly on the open inlet; the tide runs through the channels and the tide panel, a modelled curve for these coordinates labelled as a model, is for the direction, with the irregular South Australian tides making the Bureau of Meteorology’s prediction the one to check. Pressure and sky build the score and the planner shows the night to take for the mulloway.
Rules and access
South Australia needs no fishing licence; the size, bag and boat limits, the crab rules, the mulloway rules and the dolphin sanctuary’s speed and access rules apply, published by PIRSA and the parks service and linked from this page. The wharves, the rock walls, the bridges and the creek mouths are public, with ramps at Port Adelaide, Garden Island and North Haven; parts of the port are exclusion zones the port publishes.
Common questions
Do I need a fishing licence on the Port River?
No. South Australia has no recreational fishing licence; PIRSA’s limits, the crab rules and the dolphin sanctuary rules apply.
What can I catch in the Port River?
Bream around the wharves and the mangroves, mulloway in the channels and at the outlets at night, blue swimmer crabs on the inlet flats in summer, yellowfin whiting on the flats and garfish and squid near the mouth.
Is fishing good at Port River right now?
Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
Nearby waters
Where this page's numbers come from
- 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.