Southern calamari
Excellent
Spring and autumn are the seasons: the weed beds on the rising tide, slow sinking jigs.
Burnie Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The north-west port on Bass Strait: the breakwater and the wharves, the Emu and Cam river mouths, and a coast of beaches and reef toward Wynyard.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Next tide
Low 3:39 pm model
Air / High
10 °C / 17 °C
Wind
WSW 12 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Burnie rewards patience today, with cool water and short feeding windows. Today brings cloud cover, wind WSW around 13 km/h, rising pressure near 1024 hPa and a high of 17 °C. Tides: high 9:23 am and 9:33 pm, low 3:07 am and 3:39 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.
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 14 °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 Burnie today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (06:01), sunset (18:15), 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
LOW3:07 am-1.05 m
HIGH9:23 am0.74 m
LOW3:39 pm-0.80 m
HIGH9:33 pm0.71 m
Sat
LOW4:03 am-1.09 m
HIGH10:17 am0.70 m
LOW4:37 pm-1.06 m
HIGH10:41 pm0.71 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp10 °C
High / Low17 °C / 10 °C
WindWSW 12 km/h, gusts 21 km/h
Pressure1023.9 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain99% cloud, 100%
Sunrise / Sunset06:01 / 18:15
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 Burnie
The best day on Burnie 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
- 06:01 to 18:15
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 19 km/h
- Rain chance
- 100%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Burnie: 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 Burnie 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 Burnie 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 15 °C, wind to 11 km/h.
Wed, Sep 23
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 12 °C, wind to 8 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 21 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 needs no general licence in Tasmania; the inland angling licence covers the rivers and lakes from age 14; our Tasmania licence page has the fees and the split.
About this water
Burnie is a coastal town in Tasmania, Australia, covered from the Tasmania reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Burnie: the full guide
Burnie and its coast
Burnie is the port city of Tasmania’s north-west coast, on Emu Bay facing Bass Strait, with the port and its breakwater, the wharves and the foreshore in the city, West Beach and the beaches running west to Wynyard and Boat Harbour, the Emu and Cam river mouths, and the rocky points and reef between them. It is a Bass Strait coast, exposed to the north and west, and it fishes from the breakwater, the beaches and the rocks, and from boats over the reef and the sand of the bay. The report on this page is scored for the city’s coordinates.
Species and seasons
Australian salmon run the beaches, the river mouths and the breakwater in the cooler months and are the everyday fish of the coast; flathead lie on the sand of the bay from spring to autumn; squid work the weed off the breakwater and the points in spring and autumn; and silver trevally, garfish and whiting fish the wharves and the beaches. Snapper have become a Bass Strait fish in recent years and are taken off the north-west in summer, gummy shark fish the sand and the reef edges, and the Emu and Cam rivers give bream at the mouths and trout upstream under the inland licence.
Reading this report here
The coast faces north and west into Bass Strait, so a north-westerly or a westerly closes the beaches and the rocks and a southerly flattens the bay and makes the breakwater and the beaches fishable; the wind row tells you which. 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, and Bass Strait tides are larger on this coast than in the south, so use the curve for the direction and the Bureau of Meteorology for the times.
Licences, access and rules
Line fishing in the sea needs no general licence in Tasmania; the inland angling licence covers the rivers and lakes from age 14; our Tasmania licence page has the fees and the split. The breakwater, the wharves, the beaches and the river mouths are public, with ramps at the port and the rivers; the sea fishing rules from NRE Tasmania are on the page in the sources.
Common questions
Do I need a licence to fish in Burnie?
Not in the sea; the inland angling licence covers rivers and lakes. See our Tasmania licence page.
What can I catch from the Burnie breakwater?
Salmon in the cooler months, squid in spring and autumn, silver trevally, garfish and flathead, and the odd snapper in summer.
Is fishing good at Burnie 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.