Tailor
Excellent
The main run. Fish the gutters and headlands into the evening; ganged pilchards, metals, and a wire-free trace only if you accept the bite-offs.
St Helens Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
Georges Bay and the Bay of Fires: the east coast town where the sheltered bay fishes for flathead, bream and squid and the ocean beaches for salmon.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Next tide
High 6:25 pm model
Air / High
12 °C / 21 °C
Wind
SE 6 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
St Helens has cool water and fish holding a little deeper and slower. Today brings cloud cover, wind SE around 6 km/h, rising pressure near 1022 hPa and a high of 21 °C. Tides: high 6:36 am and 6:25 pm, low 12:23 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 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.
Mulloway
Fair
The estuary fish move to the deeper reaches. Long, quiet sessions on the bottom with fresh bait across the top of the tide.
Yellowtail kingfish
Slow
The fish thin out as the current cools; jig the deeper offshore marks and work the harbours on the warmer afternoons.
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 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 tailor here? Check the size and bag limits with IFS Tasmania before you keep anything; the Tailor page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for St Helens today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:52), sunset (18:06), 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
HIGH6:36 am0.28 m
LOW12:23 pm-0.36 m
HIGH6:25 pm0.41 m
Sat
LOW12:55 am-0.57 m
HIGH7:10 am0.33 m
LOW1:08 pm-0.45 m
HIGH7:10 pm0.37 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp12 °C
High / Low21 °C / 12 °C
WindSE 6 km/h, gusts 17 km/h
Pressure1022.4 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain98% cloud, 27%
Sunrise / Sunset05:52 / 18:06
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~17 °C est.
Why the tide matters here: tides and fishing in Australia.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish St Helens
The best day on St Helens this week looks like Saturday 26 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: Saturday, 26 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
- 05:52 to 18:06
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 19 km/h
- Rain chance
- 27%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on St Helens: seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
Tailor
Autumn and winter on the east coast; August to September on Fraser Island
The surf and rock fish of the east coast, running north in autumn and winter. Fast, toothy and best at dawn, dusk and into the dark. The main run. Fish the gutters and headlands into the evening; ganged pilchards, metals, and a wire-free trace only if you accept the bite-offs.
Mulloway
Best: summer and autumn, especially after rain
Jewfish. The big silver prize of the estuaries, breakwalls and surf beaches: nocturnal, tide-driven and unforgiving of noise. The estuary fish move to the deeper reaches. Long, quiet sessions on the bottom with fresh bait across the top of the tide.
Yellowtail kingfish
Best: December to April
The hardest-pulling fish within reach of the shore. Headlands, harbour markers, offshore reefs and the warm current in summer. The fish thin out as the current cools; jig the deeper offshore marks and work the harbours on the warmer afternoons.
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.
When to come: the St Helens 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
Tailor
Mulloway
Yellowtail kingfish
Australian salmon
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 St Helens 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. Tailor led the card at excellent. High of 20 °C, wind to 16 km/h.
Wed, Sep 23
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Tailor led the card at excellent. High of 18 °C, wind to 16 km/h.
Tue, Sep 22
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Tailor led the card at excellent. High of 15 °C, wind to 14 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 bay and the sea needs no general licence in Tasmania; the inland angling licence covers the rivers and lakes; our Tasmania licence page has the fees and the split.
About this water
St Helens is a coastal town in Tasmania, Australia, covered from the Tasmania reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing St Helens: the full guide
St Helens and Georges Bay
St Helens is the fishing town of Tasmania’s north-east coast, on Georges Bay, a large, shallow, sheltered inlet that opens to the sea between two breakwaters at the Barway, with the white beaches and orange granite of the Bay of Fires running north from Binalong Bay and the surf beaches south toward Scamander. The bay is the fishery for most people: flats, channels, oyster leases and the wharves of the town; the barway and the beaches outside give the ocean species; and the offshore grounds give the reef and game fish for the boats in the warmer months. The report on this page is scored for the town’s coordinates.
Species and seasons
Flathead are the bay’s fish, on the sand of the channels and the flats from spring through autumn; bream work the leases, the rock walls and the upper bay all year with the biggest in the cooler months; squid fish the weed and the wharf lights in spring and autumn; and Australian salmon run the barway and the beaches in the cooler months and are the everyday fish of the ocean side. Silver trevally, garfish and whiting fish the bay and the wharves, tailor come through the barway in summer, and the offshore grounds give striped trumpeter, morwong and, in summer, tuna and kingfish for the boats.
Reading this report here
Georges Bay fishes in most weather and the wind row decides between the bay and the beaches: an easterly or a big swell closes the barway and the ocean side, a westerly flattens them. Pressure and sky build the score and the planner shows the day; the tide panel is a modelled curve for these coordinates, labelled as a model, and the barway and the channels run on the tide, so use the curve for the direction and the Bureau of Meteorology for the times.
Licences, access and rules
Line fishing in the bay and the sea needs no general licence in Tasmania; the inland angling licence covers the rivers and lakes; our Tasmania licence page has the fees and the split. The wharves, the foreshore, the barway walls and the beaches are public, with ramps in the town and at Binalong Bay; the sea fishing rules from NRE Tasmania are on the page in the sources.
Common questions
Do I need a licence to fish at St Helens?
Not in Georges Bay or the sea; the inland angling licence covers rivers and lakes. See our Tasmania licence page.
What can I catch in Georges Bay?
Flathead on the sand, bream on the leases and walls, squid under the lights, silver trevally, garfish and whiting, with salmon at the barway.
Is fishing good at St Helens 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.