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.
Mitchell River Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The river of the silt jetties: from Bairnsdale down to Lake King through the longest river delta of its kind, bream water from end to end.
2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Water temp
~18 °C est.
Air / High
14 °C / 25 °C
Wind
SW 1 km/h
Sources: Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Mitchell River has cool water and fish holding a little deeper and slower. Today brings clear skies, wind SW around 2 km/h, rising pressure near 1024 hPa and a high of 26 °C. Water sits around 18 °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.
Bream
Fair
Slow the retrieve right down: blades and lightly weighted plastics along the deeper rock walls and drop-offs, or unweighted bait drifted into the snags.
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.
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.
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
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 Mitchell River today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:56), sunset (18:09), the moon and today's score. 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
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 temp14 °C
High / Low25 °C / 13 °C
WindSW 1 km/h, gusts 8 km/h
Pressure1024.4 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain15% cloud, 76%
Sunrise / Sunset05:56 / 18:09
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~18 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Mitchell River
The best day on Mitchell River this week looks like Saturday 26 Sept, at 3 out of 5, against 2 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 — fair at 3/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
Today, 25 Sept — Tough
Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
- Solunar majors
- 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM
- Minor period
- 4:55 AM-5:55 AM
- Sun
- 05:56 to 18:09
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 14 km/h
- Rain chance
- 76%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Mitchell 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. Slow the retrieve right down: blades and lightly weighted plastics along the deeper rock walls and drop-offs, or unweighted bait drifted into the snags.
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.
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.
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.
When to come: the Mitchell 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 18 °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 Mitchell River 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 23 °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. Tailor led the card at excellent. High of 20 °C, wind to 13 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 14 °C, wind to 14 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 Mitchell is a Victorian water and the state’s Recreational Fishing Licence applies unless you are exempt; the fees are on our Victoria page.
About this water
Mitchell River is a river in Victoria, Australia, covered from the Victoria reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Mitchell River: the full guide
The river
The Mitchell River rises in the Victorian Alps and runs through Bairnsdale to enter Lake King at the Mitchell River silt jetties, the long fingers of sediment that reach out into the Gippsland Lakes and are the second longest of their kind in the world. The lower river, from Bairnsdale to the jetties, is tidal, slow and lined with snags, willows and the banks of the old river road, and it is a bream fishery of state reputation, fished from the bank along the silt jetties and the town, and from boats and kayaks along the reaches. Above Bairnsdale the river is faster and holds bass and, in the gorge, trout. The lakes it feeds have their own page.
Species and seasons
Bream are the river’s fish, all year in the lower reaches and along the silt jetties, with the biggest in the cooler months and a spring run up the river to spawn; estuary perch hold in the same water and feed at dusk; Australian bass fish the middle river through the warmer months; and flathead, tailor and salmon push up from the lake in summer. Higher up, brown trout in the cold water of the gorge, with the Victorian trout rules to check. Carp are in the river too, and the VFA’s rules on returning them apply.
Reading this report for the Mitchell
The lower river is sheltered and the wind matters mainly at the silt jetties, which are open to the lake; the tide panel, a modelled curve for these coordinates labelled as a model, is for the direction of the slight, delayed run in the tidal reaches, and the river’s level after rain matters more than either: a fresh colours the water and moves the bream. The barometer and the cloud cover fill in the score, and the planner picks the day.
Licence and access
The Mitchell is a Victorian water and the state’s Recreational Fishing Licence applies unless you are exempt; the fees are on our Victoria page. The silt jetties road, the Bairnsdale foreshore and the reserves along the river are public, with ramps at Bairnsdale and Eagle Point; the VFA limits are on the page in the sources.
Common questions
What are the silt jetties?
The long fingers of river sediment that carry the Mitchell out into Lake King; a road runs along them and they are the river’s best-known bream bank.
Do I need a licence on the Mitchell River?
Yes, unless you are exempt: the Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence covers the river from Bairnsdale to the lakes.
Is fishing good at Mitchell River right now?
Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
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
- 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.