Southern calamari
Excellent
Spring and autumn are the seasons: the weed beds on the rising tide, slow sinking jigs.
Bruny Island Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The island south of Hobart: the D’Entrecasteaux Channel’s flathead and squid, Adventure Bay’s salmon, the Neck and the Cloudy Bay surf, with the reef of the southern cape.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Next tide
High 4:50 pm model
Air / High
10 °C / 19 °C
Wind
W 17 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Bruny Island has cool water and fish holding a little deeper and slower. Today brings cloud cover, wind W around 18 km/h, rising pressure near 1022 hPa and a high of 19 °C. Tides: high 6:30 am and 4:50 pm, low 10:50 am: 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 10 °C with likely rain: fish ahead of the front. 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 Bruny Island today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:55), sunset (18:10), 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
HIGH6:30 am0.05 m
LOW10:50 am-0.07 m
HIGH4:50 pm0.20 m
Sat
LOW12:06 am-0.32 m
HIGH6:18 am0.03 m
LOW12:10 pm-0.23 m
HIGH5:50 pm-0.02 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp10 °C
High / Low19 °C / 11 °C
WindW 17 km/h, gusts 40 km/h
Pressure1022.4 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain97% cloud, 100%
Sunrise / Sunset05:55 / 18:10
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 Bruny Island
The best day on Bruny Island 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.
Today, 25 Sept — Fair
A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
- Solunar majors
- 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM
- Minor period
- 4:55 AM-5:55 AM
- Sun
- 05:55 to 18:10
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Storms, 21 km/h
- Rain chance
- 100%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Bruny Island: 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
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 Bruny Island 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 Bruny Island 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 16 °C, wind to 16 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 15 °C, wind to 13 km/h.
Tue, Sep 22
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 14 °C, wind to 23 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 Bruny Island needs no general licence in Tasmania; our Tasmania licence page has the fees for the licensed fisheries.
About this water
Bruny Island is a bay or coastal water in Tasmania, Australia, covered from the Tasmania reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Bruny Island: the full guide
Bruny Island and its two shores
Bruny Island is the long island south of Hobart across the D’Entrecasteaux Channel, reached by ferry from Kettering, with the sheltered channel shore on the west from Dennes Point to Alonnah, Adventure Bay and the Neck on the ocean side, Cloudy Bay and its surf beach in the south, the cliffs and the reef of the southern cape and the jetties of the channel villages. It is an island of two shores, channel and ocean, and the report on this page is scored for the island’s coordinates. Hobart has its own page.
Species and seasons
Flathead fish the channel sand and Adventure Bay all year and are the island’s everyday fish; squid work the channel jetties and the weed; Australian salmon run Cloudy Bay, the Neck and Adventure Bay in the cooler months, big ones; silver trevally and mullet fill the jetties; bream fish the channel’s creek mouths; snapper come into the channel in summer; striped trumpeter and morwong fish the reef of the cape for the boats; and the tuna of the south run off the cape in autumn for the charters. Abalone and crayfish are licensed fisheries here.
Where to fish it
The jetties at Dennes Point, Barnes Bay and Alonnah on the channel shore are the walk-on marks for squid, flathead and trevally, fished at night under the lights and on the change of the tide, and the channel sand off Great Bay and Simpsons Bay is the flathead water for small boats; Cloudy Bay beach and the Neck beach on the ocean side are the salmon sand, and the Cape Bruny platforms are the exposed rocks. The ferry lands at Roberts Point, and the ramps are on the channel.
Reading this report here
The channel shore is sheltered from the south-westerly and the ocean side is open to it, so the wind row decides which shore to fish. The tide panel is a modelled curve for the coordinates of Bruny Island, labelled as a model, and the channel runs on it. Pressure and sky build the score at Bruny Island; the planner shows the day. The cape rocks are exposed and rock fishing off Bruny Island has its own safety rules.
Licence, access and rules
Line fishing in the sea at Bruny Island needs no general licence in Tasmania; our Tasmania licence page has the fees for the licensed fisheries. The jetties, the beaches and the cape tracks are public, with the ferry from Kettering and ramps at the channel villages; the sea fishing rules from NRE Tasmania and the South Bruny National Park rules are in the sources.
Common questions
What can I catch on Bruny Island?
Flathead in the channel all year, squid at the jetties, salmon on Cloudy Bay and the Neck in the cooler months, silver trevally at the jetties, trumpeter off the cape for the boats.
Do I need a licence on Bruny Island?
Not for line fishing in the sea; abalone and rock lobster need their own.
Is fishing good at Bruny Island 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
- 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.