Snapper
Excellent
Fish are thinner inshore. Work the deeper structure and the channel edges with baits on the bottom, and pick the tide change.
Bridport Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
The north-east coast holiday town on Anderson Bay: the jetty, the Brid River and the beaches, with flathead, salmon, squid and bream in three listed estuaries.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Next tide
High 10:53 am model
Air / High
13 °C / 17 °C
Wind
ENE 14 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Bridport is in its cool-water rhythm: slower presentations and the warmest hours of the day. Today brings cloud cover, wind ENE around 14 km/h, steady pressure near 1021 hPa and a high of 17 °C. Tides: high 10:53 am and 11:53 pm, low 5:05 am and 5:33 pm: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. Water sits around 17 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 11:17 PM-1:17 AM and 11:45 AM-1:45 PM: the windows to build the day around.
Southern calamari
Excellent
Spring and autumn are the seasons: the weed beds on the rising tide, slow sinking jigs.
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.
Australian salmon
Slow
The main season. Beach gutters, rock platforms and bay edges on the rising tide; metals, surf poppers and bait all work.
Tie on: Blade or vibe, slow hops · Lightly weighted plastic · Whole pilchard or squid on the bottom · Suspending hardbody. Prime windows: 11:17 PM-1:17 AM, 11:45 AM-1:45 PM, 4:48 AM-5:48 AM. Similar at 16 °C. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.
Before you go
Tasmania requires a fishing licence for most fishing, from A$29.00. Tasmania fishing licence: cost, rules and where to buy →
Chasing snapper here? Check the size and bag limits with IFS Tasmania before you keep anything; the Snapper page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Bridport today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:48), sunset (20:00), 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 11:17 PM-1:17 AM and 11:45 AM-1:45 PM; minor 4:48 AM-5:48 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
LOW5:05 am-0.78 m
HIGH10:53 am0.88 m
LOW5:33 pm-1.16 m
HIGH11:53 pm0.84 m
Tue
LOW6:00 am-0.68 m
HIGH11:45 am0.88 m
LOW6:24 pm-1.19 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp13 °C
High / Low17 °C / 7 °C
WindENE 14 km/h, gusts 32 km/h
Pressure1020.9 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain100% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset05:48 / 20:00
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~17 °C est.
Why the tide matters here: tides and fishing in Australia.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Bridport
The best day on Bridport this week looks like Thursday 12 Nov, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today.
Best day this week: Thursday, 12 Nov — good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
Today, 9 Nov — Fair
A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
- Solunar majors
- 11:17 PM-1:17 AM and 11:45 AM-1:45 PM
- Minor period
- 4:48 AM-5:48 AM
- Sun
- 05:48 to 20:00
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Overcast, 16 km/h
- Rain chance
- 0%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Bridport: 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
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
Open now Closes 1 Sept 2027. No taking or possessing calamari or squid, or squid jigs on a line, north of Cape Grim and Cape Naturaliste from 1 September to 31 October inclusive. Rule as read from NRE Tasmania on 2026-09-27.
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 Bridport 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 17 °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 Bridport today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataSun, Nov 8
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Snapper led the card at excellent. High of 16 °C, wind to 21 km/h.
Sat, Nov 7
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Snapper led the card at excellent. High of 15 °C, wind to 18 km/h.
Fri, Nov 6
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Snapper led the card at excellent. High of 16 °C, wind to 34 km/h.
Before you go
Licence
Tasmanian Inland Angling Licence, from A$29.00, the same for residents and visitors. Details and where to buy →
Regulations
Size and bag limits, closed seasons and marine park zones are set by IFS Tasmania and change: confirm the current rules on the agency page linked from the Tasmania licence page before you keep anything.
Access
Line fishing in the sea at Bridport needs no general licence in Tasmania.
About this water
Bridport is a coastal town in Tasmania, Australia, covered from the Tasmania reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Bridport: the full guide
Bridport and Anderson Bay
Bridport is the holiday town on Anderson Bay on Tasmania’s north-east coast, with the jetty and the Brid River mouth in the town, the Great Forester River entering the same bay to the east, the Little Forester to the west, the beaches running along the bay toward Waterhouse and the islands of Bass Strait offshore. It is a jetty-and-beach town on the strait, and the report on this page is scored for the town’s coordinates. Devonport has its own page.
Species and seasons
Flathead fish the bay sand and the jetty all year and are the coast’s everyday fish; Australian salmon run the beaches in the cooler months; squid work the jetty lights and the weed; black bream fish the Brid, the Great Forester and the Little Forester; silver trevally and mullet fill the jetty; King George whiting are taken on the flats in the warmer months; gummy shark fish the sand at night; and striped trumpeter are the reef fish for the boats. The rivers above the estuaries hold trout under the inland licence.
Where to fish it
Bridport jetty on the foreshore is the walk-on mark for flathead, squid and trevally, fished at night under the lights and on the change of the tide, and the Brid River mouth and its lower reaches in the town are bream water for the banks and kayaks; the bay’s beaches are the salmon and flathead sand, and the Great Forester estuary east of the town is the other bream river. Bream take best on a making tide in the snags and along the edges of the channels.
Reading this report here
The bay faces north, so a northerly or a north-westerly chops the jetty and builds the surf on the beaches, while a southerly off the land flattens the water; the wind row tells you which. The tide panel is a modelled curve for the coordinates of Bridport, labelled as a model, and the river mouth runs on it. Pressure and sky build the score at Bridport; the planner shows the day.
Licence, access and rules
Line fishing in the sea at Bridport needs no general licence in Tasmania. Bream in the Brid below the town’s marked line, in the Great Forester below the Waterhouse Road bridge and in the Little Forester below the Sandy Points Road bridge can be fished without an inland licence, because the Inland Fisheries Regulations list those reaches for native fish; trout need the inland angling licence, and our Tasmania licence page has the fees and the split.
Common questions
What can I catch at Bridport?
Flathead at the jetty and on the bay sand all year, salmon on the beaches in the cooler months, squid under the jetty lights, bream in the Brid and the Great Forester, whiting on the flats.
Do I need a licence at Bridport?
Not for line fishing in the sea or for bream in the listed estuaries of the Brid, Great Forester and Little Forester; trout need the inland licence.
Is fishing good at Bridport 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.