Southern calamari
Excellent
Spring and autumn are the seasons: the weed beds on the rising tide, slow sinking jigs.
Perth Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
A capital with a river through its middle, a string of surf beaches, Rottnest on the horizon and a boat fishery that starts at the harbour mouth.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Next tide
Low 2:50 pm model
Air / High
14 °C / 22 °C
Wind
SE 15 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Perth is in its cool-water rhythm: slower presentations and the warmest hours of the day. Today brings a mixed sky, wind SE around 16 km/h, steady pressure near 1026 hPa and a high of 22 °C. Tides: high 8:30 am and 8:10 pm, low 1:45 am and 2:50 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.
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.
West Australian dhufish
Good
A good time on the mid-depth reef on the calm days; jigs and baits, slow.
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 18 °C with likely rain: fish ahead of the front. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.
Before you go
Western Australia requires a fishing licence for most fishing, from A$40.00. Western Australia fishing licence: cost, rules and where to buy →
Chasing west australian dhufish here? Check the size and bag limits with DPIRD WA before you keep anything; the West Australian dhufish page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Perth today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (06:02), sunset (18:14), 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
LOW1:45 am0.04 m
HIGH8:30 am0.24 m
LOW2:50 pm-0.08 m
HIGH8:10 pm0.07 m
Sat
LOW2:15 am-0.14 m
HIGH9:30 am0.10 m
LOW2:30 pm-0.09 m
HIGH9:30 pm0.19 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp14 °C
High / Low22 °C / 13 °C
WindSE 15 km/h, gusts 35 km/h
Pressure1025.5 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain52% cloud, 61%
Sunrise / Sunset06:02 / 18:14
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 Perth
The best day on Perth 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
- 06:02 to 18:14
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 21 km/h
- Rain chance
- 61%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Perth: seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
West Australian dhufish
Year-round demersal fishery with a closed season on the West Coast; check DPIRD
Closed Boat-based fishing for demersal scalefish in the West Coast bioregion is closed until spring 2027; DPIRD has published no reopening date. Land-based line fishing is allowed, except spearfishing for dhufish. Rule as read from DPIRD WA on 2026-09-23.
WA's prize demersal. Lives on limestone reef and lumps in 20 to 100 metres from Kalbarri to Augusta; slow-growing and tightly managed. A good time on the mid-depth reef on the calm days; jigs and baits, slow.
Samson fish
Best: summer and autumn off WA
The big amberjack of the west: bruising fights on jigs over the deep reef and around the offshore aggregations in summer. Fewer fish, deeper; jig the wrecks and the deeper lumps on the calm days.
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
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.
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 Perth 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
West Australian dhufish
Samson fish
King George whiting
Southern calamari
Tailor
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 Perth 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. Southern calamari led the card at excellent. High of 19 °C, wind to 14 km/h.
Wed, Sep 23
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Southern calamari led the card at excellent. High of 19 °C, wind to 14 km/h.
Tue, Sep 22
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Southern calamari led the card at excellent. High of 19 °C, wind to 14 km/h.
Before you go
Licence
Western Australian recreational fishing licences, from A$40.00, 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 DPIRD WA and change: confirm the current rules on the agency page linked from the Western Australia licence page before you keep anything.
Access
Line fishing from the shore is not on Western Australia’s list of licensed activities, but fishing from a boat needs the A$40 boat licence and rock lobster, abalone and marron each need their own; our Western Australia licence page has the fees as read from DPIRD.
About this water
Perth is a coastal town in Western Australia, Australia, covered from the Western Australia reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Perth: the full guide
The shape of Perth fishing
Perth fishes three ways at once. The Swan and Canning rivers run through the city and give it a bream and flathead fishery from the suburbs, with the Canning Bridge and the river’s lower reaches the places locals name first. The metropolitan coast from Two Rocks to Rockingham is a run of beaches, groynes and reef with Cottesloe, Scarborough and Trigg the shore marks and the Fremantle moles the classic rock platform. And offshore, past the reef line, is the demersal fishery for dhufish, pink snapper and baldchin groper that gives Western Australia its boat licence and its closed seasons. What makes Perth different from the east coast is the sea breeze: the Fremantle Doctor arrives most summer afternoons and ends the shore fishing, so the day here is a morning.
Species by season
Herring and tailor are the everyday shore fish, with tailor best from the beaches and groynes at dusk in the warmer months and herring around the jetties year-round. Australian salmon run the beaches in autumn and winter, some years in enormous schools within casting distance. Whiting fish over the sand inside the reef, squid over the weed off the groynes and in Cockburn Sound, and the river turns up bream, flathead, and mulloway for those who fish it at night on a rising tide after rain. Dhufish and pink snapper are boat fish, with dhufish under a West Coast demersal closure the DPIRD rules site publishes; check it before planning a trip around them, because the report scores species by season and conditions, not by whether the season is open.
Reading this report for Perth
The wind row in the report is the sea breeze: a south-westerly that builds after lunch is the pattern, and a morning with an easterly or a light offshore is the one to fish the beaches and the reef. Pressure and sky feed the score; the tide here is small and the tide panel is a modelled curve for these coordinates, useful for the direction of the flow at the river mouth and around the groynes rather than for exact times. The seven-day planner picks the day with the best combination, which on this coast usually means the calmest morning.
Licences and access
Line fishing from the shore is not on Western Australia’s list of licensed activities, but fishing from a boat needs the A$40 boat licence and rock lobster, abalone and marron each need their own; our Western Australia licence page has the fees as read from DPIRD. Access is easy and public: the beaches, groynes and river foreshores are open, the Fremantle moles are walk-on, and the Hillarys, Ocean Reef, Woodman Point and Fremantle ramps serve the boat grounds. Rottnest and the Perth Canyon are day trips for the offshore crews.
Common questions
Do I need a fishing licence in Perth?
Not for line fishing from the shore, which is not among the licensed activities DPIRD lists; fishing from a boat needs the boat licence, and rock lobster, abalone and marron have their own. See our Western Australia licence page.
Where can I fish from the shore in Perth?
The metropolitan beaches and groynes from Two Rocks to Rockingham, the Fremantle moles, the jetties at Hillarys and Woodman Point, and the Swan and Canning river foreshores.
When are the salmon in Perth?
Australian salmon run the Perth beaches in the cooler months, autumn into winter; the species card on this page rates them by the month and today’s conditions.
Is fishing good at Perth 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.