Snapper
Excellent
Fish are thinner inshore. Work the deeper structure and the channel edges with baits on the bottom, and pick the tide change.
Devonport Fishing Report
Updated Tue, 10 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
The ferry port on the Mersey: the breakwaters and the Bluff, the river’s wharves, the beaches east towards Port Sorell and a Bass Strait coast of salmon, flathead and squid.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Next tide
Low 6:30 am model
Air / High
12 °C / 17 °C
Wind
ENE 10 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Devonport rewards patience today, with cool water and short feeding windows. Today brings cloud cover, wind ENE around 10 km/h, steady pressure near 1020 hPa and a high of 17 °C. Tides: high 12:20 pm, low 6:30 am and 6:53 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 12:09 AM-2:09 AM and 12:38 PM-2:38 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: 12:09 AM-2:09 AM, 12:38 PM-2:38 PM, 5:22 AM-6:22 AM. Warmer at 19 °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 Devonport today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:51), sunset (20:05), 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 12:09 AM-2:09 AM and 12:38 PM-2:38 PM; minor 5:22 AM-6:22 AM. New Moon, 1% 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.
Tue
LOW6:30 am-0.79 m
HIGH12:20 pm0.96 m
LOW6:53 pm-1.33 m
Wed
HIGH1:11 am1.06 m
LOW7:21 am-0.83 m
HIGH1:05 pm1.00 m
LOW7:41 pm-1.37 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp12 °C
High / Low17 °C / 8 °C
WindENE 10 km/h, gusts 19 km/h
Pressure1019.8 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain100% cloud, 57%
Sunrise / Sunset05:51 / 20:05
MoonNew Moon, 1%
Water temp (seasonal)~17 °C est.
Why the tide matters here: tides and fishing in Australia.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Devonport
The best day on Devonport this week looks like Friday 13 Nov, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today.
Best day this week: Friday, 13 Nov — good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
Today, 10 Nov — Fair
A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
- Solunar majors
- 12:09 AM-2:09 AM and 12:38 PM-2:38 PM
- Minor period
- 5:22 AM-6:22 AM
- Sun
- 05:51 to 20:05
- Moon
- New Moon, 1% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 16 km/h
- Rain chance
- 57%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Devonport: 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 Devonport 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 Devonport today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataMon, Nov 9
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 14 km/h.
Sun, 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 16 km/h.
Sat, Nov 7
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Snapper led the card at excellent. High of 16 °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
In Tasmania’s sea waters, rod and line fishing is licence-free, and NRE Tasmania licenses only gear such as pots, nets and set lines.
About this water
Devonport is a coastal town in Tasmania, Australia, covered from the Tasmania reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Devonport: the full guide
Devonport and the Mersey
Devonport is the port city of Tasmania’s north coast where the Spirit of Tasmania ferries dock, on the mouth of the Mersey River, with breakwaters at the entrance, the Bluff and its lighthouse on the western side, the river’s wharves and walls through the city, Coles Beach and Back Beach to the west, and the coast running east towards Port Sorell. It is a Bass Strait coast fished from the breakwaters, the Bluff, the wharves and the beaches, and from boats over the reef and the sand of the bay. The report here is calculated for Devonport at the mouth of the Mersey.
Species and seasons
Australian salmon run the beaches, the breakwaters and the river mouth in the cooler months and are the everyday fish of the coast. Flathead lie on the sand of the bay and the lower river from spring to autumn; since 1 March 2026 a sand flathead on this coast must be between 35 and 40 centimetres, with a bag of ten in the Northern and Western zone. Squid hunt the weed off the breakwaters, the Bluff and the wharf lights in spring and autumn, and silver trevally, garfish and whiting feed along the wharves and the beaches. Snapper turn up in summer, gummy shark feed over the sand at night, the Mersey gives bream in its estuary and sea-run trout in spring, and the reef off the Bluff gives the boats the Bass Strait species.
Reading this report here
The coast faces north into Bass Strait, so a northerly or a north-westerly closes the beaches and the breakwaters, and a southerly flattens the bay and opens them; the wind row tells you which. For Devonport the pressure trend and the cloud round out the score, and the planner picks the days with a southerly. The tide panel is a modelled curve for these coordinates, labelled as a model, and the Mersey runs hard on the tide through the entrance, so use the curve for the direction and the Bureau of Meteorology for the times. Keep clear of the shipping channel when the ferries are moving.
Licences, access and rules
In Tasmania’s sea waters, rod and line fishing is licence-free, and NRE Tasmania licenses only gear such as pots, nets and set lines. Trout, sea-run fish included, fall under the Inland Fisheries Service, whose licence covers rivers and lakes from age 14 and whose seaward-limit rules show where inland water begins; our Tasmania licence page has the fees and the split. The breakwaters, the Bluff, the wharves and the beaches are public, with boat ramps on the river.
Common questions
Do I need a licence to fish in Devonport?
Not for rod and line in the sea. For trout in the Mersey, including sea-run fish, the Inland Fisheries Service licence applies from age 14; check its seaward-limit rules.
What can I catch from the Devonport breakwaters?
Salmon in the cooler months, squid in spring and autumn, silver trevally, garfish and flathead within the 35 to 40 cm slot, and the occasional snapper in summer.
Is fishing good at Devonport 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.