
Southern calamari
Spring and autumn are the seasons: the weed beds on the rising tide, slow sinking jigs.
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Limestone Coast’s harbour town: the marina, Lake Butler, the obelisk rocks and the long beaches, with rock lobster country all around.
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Robe is in its cool-water rhythm: slower presentations and the warmest hours of the day. Today brings cloud cover, wind SSE around 11 km/h, rising pressure near 1026 hPa and a high of 17 °C. Tides: high 11:08 am and 11:15 pm, low 4:20 am and 5:40 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.

Spring and autumn are the seasons: the weed beds on the rising tide, slow sinking jigs.

The main season. Beach gutters, rock platforms and bay edges on the rising tide; metals, surf poppers and bait all work.

Fish are thinner inshore. Work the deeper structure and the channel edges with baits on the bottom, and pick the tide change.


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 14 °C with likely rain: fish ahead of the front. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.
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.
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:56), sunset (18:09), the moon and today's score, with the modelled tide changes in the panel below. Tap a bar to see why.
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.
A modelled tide curve for these coordinates and the forecast for the day.
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.
Latest readings
Why the tide matters here: tides and fishing in Australia.
The best day on Robe this week looks like Sunday 27 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: Sunday, 27 Sept — good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
The species that matter on Robe: seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Open all year Robe is in the South-East fishing zone, the one zone where snapper may be taken 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.

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 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.

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.

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.
Activity by species and month for the southern year, and how the water warms and cools. Tap any cell.
1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted. January is midsummer here.
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 13 °C (estimated, not a reading).
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.
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Southern calamari led the card at excellent. High of 19 °C, wind to 23 km/h.
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Southern calamari led the card at excellent. High of 19 °C, wind to 14 km/h.
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Southern calamari led the card at excellent. High of 14 °C, wind to 19 km/h.
South Australia has no general recreational fishing licence; the limits and closures do. Details and where to buy →
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.
South Australia needs no fishing licence; the size, bag and boat limits, the snapper closure and the rock lobster rules apply, published by PIRSA and linked from this page.
Robe is a coastal town in South Australia, Australia, covered from the South Australia reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Robe is the old port of South Australia’s Limestone Coast, on Guichen Bay south of Kingston, with the marina and Lake Butler in the town, the obelisk and the limestone rocks of the cape, the long beaches of the bay to the north and Little Dip to the south, and a fleet of rock lobster boats that gives the town its character. It is a Southern Ocean town with a sheltered bay, and it fishes from the marina walls, the rocks and the beaches, and from boats over the sand and reef of the bay. The report on this page is scored for the town’s coordinates.
Australian salmon run the beaches of Guichen Bay and Little Dip in the cooler months and are the fish the coast is known for; King George whiting fish the sand-and-weed of the bay from spring to autumn; squid work the weed off the marina and the rocks in spring and autumn; and tommy ruff, garfish and mullet fish the marina and Lake Butler all year. Snapper come onto the reefs in spring and summer with the PIRSA closure to check, flathead and gummy shark fish the sand, mulloway are taken off the beaches at night, and the rocks give salmon, sweep and the occasional snapper to rock anglers who watch the swell.
The swell decides the day on this coast: a south-westerly brings it into the bay and closes the rocks and the beaches, a northerly or an easterly flattens the bay and makes the marina, the beaches and the boat grounds fishable. Pressure and sky build the score and the planner shows the window; the tide panel is a modelled curve for these coordinates, labelled as a model, with irregular South Australian tides, so read it for the direction and take the times from the Bureau of Meteorology.
South Australia needs no fishing licence; the size, bag and boat limits, the snapper closure and the rock lobster rules apply, published by PIRSA and linked from this page. The marina walls, Lake Butler, the beaches and the rocks are public, with a ramp in the marina; the rocks of the cape are exposed and rock fishing there has its own safety rules.
No. South Australia has no recreational fishing licence; PIRSA’s limits and closures apply, including the rock lobster rules.
Tommy ruff, garfish, mullet and squid through the year, King George whiting in season and salmon in the cooler months.
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.
Pablo Ruiz QuinteroReadings 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.