Snapper
Excellent
Fish are thinner inshore. Work the deeper structure and the channel edges with baits on the bottom, and pick the tide change.
Hobart Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Derwent estuary through the middle of a capital: salmon off the wharves, bream you should not eat, sand flathead closed in the south-east, and trout water upstream.
4/5
Good. Solid day ahead.Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
Next tide
Low 3:10 pm model
Air / High
10 °C / 18 °C
Wind
NNE 4 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Hobart has cool water and fish holding a little deeper and slower. Today brings clear skies, wind NNE around 5 km/h, falling pressure near 1021 hPa and a high of 18 °C. Tides: high 7:39 am and 11:00 pm, low 12:45 am and 3:10 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 11:46 AM-1:46 PM: the windows to build the day around.
King George whiting
Excellent
Deeper sand patches and the middle of the day; slower bites, bigger fish.
Southern calamari
Closed today
Reopens 15 Nov 2026. No taking or possessing calamari or squid, or squid jigs on a line, from Lemon Rock (south of Wineglass Bay) to Whale Head, including Coles Bay and Great Oyster Bay, from 15 October to 14 November inclusive.
Flathead
Closed today
Sand flathead may not be taken or possessed in the south-eastern zone (Whale Head to Cape Pillar, including the D’Entrecasteaux Channel, the Derwent and Frederick Henry and Norfolk bays, but not Blackman Bay) since 1 March 2026, until the notice is revoked.
Australian salmon
Fair
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, 11:46 AM-1:46 PM, 4:43 AM-5:43 AM. Similar at 18 °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 Hobart today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:44), 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 11:17 PM-1:17 AM and 11:46 AM-1:46 PM; minor 4:43 AM-5:43 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
LOW12:45 am-0.23 m
HIGH7:39 am0.25 m
LOW3:10 pm-0.56 m
HIGH11:00 pm-0.03 m
Tue
LOW12:30 am-0.04 m
HIGH8:18 am0.42 m
LOW4:18 pm-0.43 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp10 °C
High / Low18 °C / 8 °C
WindNNE 4 km/h, gusts 19 km/h
Pressure1020.8 hPa, falling
Sky / Rain12% cloud, 2%
Sunrise / Sunset05:44 / 20:05
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 Hobart
Today is the pick of the week on Hobart, at 4 out of 5.
Best day this week: today, 9 Nov — good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
Today, 9 Nov — Good
Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
- Solunar majors
- 11:17 PM-1:17 AM and 11:46 AM-1:46 PM
- Minor period
- 4:43 AM-5:43 AM
- Sun
- 05:44 to 20:05
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Overcast, 13 km/h
- Rain chance
- 2%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Hobart: 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
Closed now Reopens 15 Nov 2026. No taking or possessing calamari or squid, or squid jigs on a line, from Lemon Rock (south of Wineglass Bay) to Whale Head, including Coles Bay and Great Oyster Bay, from 15 October to 14 November 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.
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
Closed Sand flathead may not be taken or possessed in the south-eastern zone (Whale Head to Cape Pillar, including the D’Entrecasteaux Channel, the Derwent and Frederick Henry and Norfolk bays, but not Blackman Bay) since 1 March 2026, until the notice is revoked. Rule as read from NRE Tasmania on 2026-09-27.
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.
When to come: the Hobart 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 Hobart 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 14 °C, wind to 14 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 13 °C, wind to 14 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 17 °C, wind to 18 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
No licence is needed for rod and line fishing in Tasmania’s marine waters; licences are required only for gear such as pots, nets, set lines, abalone and scallops.
About this water
Hobart is a coastal town in Tasmania, Australia, covered from the Tasmania reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Hobart: the full guide
Hobart and the Derwent
Hobart sits on the Derwent estuary, a deep, tidal arm of the sea that runs from the city wharves and the Tasman Bridge down past Sandy Bay and Kingston to the Iron Pot and Storm Bay. It fishes from the middle of town: the waterfront and the marinas, the bridges, the rocks at Sandy Bay and Taroona, the beaches at Kingston and Blackmans Bay, and the boat grounds towards the mouth. Upstream, the Derwent below the New Norfolk bridge is open to trout all year under the Inland Fisheries Service rules, and the Central Plateau lakes are within a drive. This page is scored for the city’s coordinates and reads the estuary first.
Species and seasons
Australian salmon run the estuary and the beaches, especially in the cooler months, and are the everyday fish of the wharves; black bream live in the upper estuary around the bridges, the pylons and the rock walls, best from spring to autumn; and squid hunt the weed and the lights. Two rules change what you can take home. Since 1 March 2026 sand flathead are closed in Tasmania’s new south-eastern zone, which takes in the whole Derwent, so none may be taken or kept on the water. And the Director of Public Health advises not to eat bream from the Derwent estuary, to eat flathead and other Derwent fish no more than twice a week, once for pregnant women and young children, and to eat no shellfish from it at all, because of heavy metals.
Reading this report here
The estuary is sheltered from most weather, but a south-westerly funnels up it, and the wind row tells you whether the open reaches are comfortable. Over the Derwent, pressure and cloud cover complete the score and the planner ranks the days ahead. The tide panel is a modelled curve for these coordinates, labelled as a model, useful for the direction of the run through the bridges, with the Bureau of Meteorology for the times.
Licences, access and rules
No licence is needed for rod and line fishing in Tasmania’s marine waters; licences are required only for gear such as pots, nets, set lines, abalone and scallops. The Inland Fisheries Service licence covers the rivers and lakes for anyone 14 or older, and our Tasmania licence page has the fees and the split. The wharves, the beaches and the rocks are public, and boat ramps are spread along both shores. The sea fishing rules from NRE Tasmania, the flathead closure and the health advice are on the pages in the sources.
Common questions
Can I keep flathead from the Derwent?
Not sand flathead: since 1 March 2026 Tasmania’s south-eastern zone, which includes the Derwent, has a bag and possession limit of zero for them.
Is it safe to eat fish from the Derwent?
The Director of Public Health advises eating no bream and no shellfish from the estuary, and limiting flathead and other fish to twice a week, or once a week for pregnant women and children six and under.
Is fishing good at Hobart right now?
Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
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.