Bream
Good
Prime bream weather. Cast small vibes, crankbaits and 2 to 3 inch plastics at every piece of structure on the rising tide.
Fitzroy River Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
The small south-west river through Heywood: an estuary of about 16 kilometres with black bream, estuary perch and a public ramp at the mouth.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Water temp
~22 °C est.
Air / High
17 °C / 22 °C
Wind
NNE 15 km/h
Sources: Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Fitzroy River is fishing in its best temperature window, with the bite spread across the day. Today brings a mixed sky, wind NNE around 14 km/h, steady pressure near 1014 hPa and a high of 22 °C. Water sits around 22 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 11:40 PM-1:40 AM and 12:09 PM-2:09 PM: the windows to build the day around.
Flathead
Good
The best of it. Drift the sand and weed edges, bounce plastics or a strip of bait along the bottom, and cover ground until you find the school.
Mulloway
Fair
Fish the deep holes and the rock walls through a tide change after dark; live mullet, yellowtail or a large soft plastic worked slowly.
Tailor
Fair
Rock ledges and beach gutters on the rising tide; metals cast and retrieved fast, or a whole pilchard drifted through the wash.
Tie on: Soft plastic on a 1/4 oz jighead · Small hardbody, shallow diver · Squid jig, size 3.0 · Fresh pipi or worm on a small hook. Prime windows: 11:40 PM-1:40 AM, 12:09 PM-2:09 PM, 5:18 AM-6:18 AM. Similar at 24 °C. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.
Before you go
Victoria requires a fishing licence for most fishing, from A$10.00. Victoria fishing licence: cost, rules and where to buy →
Chasing bream here? Check the size and bag limits with VFA before you keep anything; the Bream page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Fitzroy River today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (06:17), sunset (20:16), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 11:40 PM-1:40 AM and 12:09 PM-2:09 PM; minor 5:18 AM-6:18 AM. New Moon, 0% lit.
Water and weather
Conditions here are modelled from weather, season and the nearest stations.
No live gauge on this water
Water readings appear when a Bureau of Meteorology station covers it. Until then the seasonal curve below is the estimate.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp17 °C
High / Low22 °C / 6 °C
WindNNE 15 km/h, gusts 27 km/h
Pressure1014.4 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain33% cloud, 6%
Sunrise / Sunset06:17 / 20:16
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~22 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Fitzroy River
The best day on Fitzroy River this week looks like Thursday 12 Nov, at 5 out of 5, against 3 today.
Best day this week: Thursday, 12 Nov — excellent at 5/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
Today, 9 Nov — Fair
A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
- Solunar majors
- 11:40 PM-1:40 AM and 12:09 PM-2:09 PM
- Minor period
- 5:18 AM-6:18 AM
- Sun
- 06:17 to 20:16
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Overcast, 14 km/h
- Rain chance
- 6%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Fitzroy River: seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
Bream
Year-round; summer and autumn in the estuaries, winter at the mouths
Yellowfin bream on the east coast, black bream in the southern estuaries. Structure fish: rock walls, jetty piles, oyster racks, snags and pontoons. Prime bream weather. Cast small vibes, crankbaits and 2 to 3 inch plastics at every piece of structure on the rising tide.
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. The best of it. Drift the sand and weed edges, bounce plastics or a strip of bait along the bottom, and cover ground until you find the school.
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. Fish the deep holes and the rock walls through a tide change after dark; live mullet, yellowtail or a large soft plastic worked slowly.
Tailor
Autumn and winter on the east coast; the run reaches K'gari (Fraser Island) in late winter, where the east beach from Waddy Point to Indian Head is closed to all fin fish from 1 August to 29 September
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. Rock ledges and beach gutters on the rising tide; metals cast and retrieved fast, or a whole pilchard drifted through the wash.
When to come: the Fitzroy River 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
Bream
Flathead
Mulloway
Tailor
SlowPeak
Water temperature through the year
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 22 °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 Fitzroy River today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataSun, Nov 8
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Bream led the card at excellent. High of 14 °C, wind to 19 km/h.
Sat, Nov 7
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Bream led the card at excellent. High of 13 °C, wind to 24 km/h.
Fri, Nov 6
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Bream led the card at good. High of 19 °C, wind to 27 km/h.
Before you go
Licence
Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence (RFL), from A$10.00, 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 VFA and change: confirm the current rules on the agency page linked from the Victoria licence page before you keep anything.
Access
The Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence applies unless you are exempt; our Victoria page has the fees.
About this water
Fitzroy River is a river in Victoria, Australia, covered from the Victoria reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Fitzroy River: the full guide
The river
The Fitzroy River of Victoria is one of the small coastal rivers of the Portland district, grouped by the VFA with the Surrey, the Shaw and the Moyne; it is not to be confused with the big Fitzroy of Queensland or the one in the Kimberley. It flows through stony rises, swamps and farmland past Heywood to the coast, and the VFA angling guide notes that public vehicle access to the riverbank is limited to Heywood, the Princes Highway bridge and the public boat ramp at the mouth. The estuary extends about 16 kilometres and offers boat and bank fishing all year; access at Wrights Bridge crosses private property, so permission is needed there. The report on this page is scored for coordinates on the estuary at Tyrendarra, and its weather reads for the whole lower river.
Species and seasons
The VFA lists black bream to about 800 grams and estuary perch to a kilogram as the estuary’s main angling fish, with flounder, yellow-eye mullet, sea mullet and Australian salmon, and reports of brown trout at some times of year. Bream hold around the snags, the reed edges and the deeper bends and are caught all year; estuary perch come on at dusk and after dark. Shrimp, crabs, sandworms, minnows, whitebait and clickers are the popular baits. The freshwater river above the estuary holds eels, blackfish and small native fish rather than angling species.
Reading this report for the Fitzroy
The estuary is narrow and sheltered, so the wind matters little except at the mouth, where the coast is open to Bass Strait swell. The tide panel, a modelled curve for these coordinates labelled as a model, is for the direction of the run in the estuary. The river’s level after rain matters most, because a fresh colours the water and moves the bream down towards the sea. Pressure and sky build the score, and the planner shows which evening to take for the perch.
Licence and access
The Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence applies unless you are exempt; our Victoria page has the fees. Use the public access points the VFA lists, Heywood, the Princes Highway bridge and the ramp at the mouth, and ask before crossing private land; the VFA limits are on the page in the sources.
Common questions
Is this the same Fitzroy as Queensland’s?
No. This is the small Fitzroy of Victoria’s south-west, through Heywood; the Queensland Fitzroy at Rockhampton has its own page.
Where can I get to the Fitzroy estuary?
Public vehicle access is at Heywood, the Princes Highway bridge and the public boat ramp at the mouth; other access crosses private land and needs permission.
Is fishing good at Fitzroy River 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
- 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.