Southern calamari
Excellent
Prime. Drift the weed edges casting jigs, or a baited jig under a float from the piers.
Rockingham Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
Cockburn Sound and the Shoalwater islands: the Rockingham beaches and jetties, Garden Island and Penguin Island, with whiting, herring, squid, crabs and the pink snapper spawning closure.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Next tide
High 7:30 pm model
Air / High
18 °C / 21 °C
Wind
SSW 27 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Rockingham is fishing in its best temperature window, with the bite spread across the day. Today brings clear skies, wind SSW around 27 km/h, steady pressure near 1018 hPa and a high of 21 °C. Tides: high 7:30 pm, low 5:50 am: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. Water sits around 19 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 11:20 PM-1:20 AM and 10:56 AM-12:56 PM: the windows to build the day around.
King George whiting
Good
Peak season. Berley lightly, fish the sand holes on the making tide, and stay mobile: whiting are where the bait is, not where they were last week.
West Australian dhufish
Closed today
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.
Tailor
Fair
Rock ledges and beach gutters on the rising tide; metals cast and retrieved fast, or a whole pilchard drifted through the wash.
Blue swimmer crab
Closed today
Reopens 1 Dec 2026. All waters, including rivers, estuaries, man-made waterways and Cockburn Sound, from the Swan and Canning rivers to Rich Road, Minninup Beach (15 km south of Bunbury) are closed to all crab fishing from 1 September to 30 November.
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: 11:20 PM-1:20 AM, 10:56 AM-12:56 PM, 4:18 AM-5:18 AM. Warmer at 26 °C. 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 Rockingham today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:12), sunset (18:49), 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 11:20 PM-1:20 AM and 10:56 AM-12:56 PM; minor 4:18 AM-5:18 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
LOW5:50 am-0.28 m
HIGH7:30 pm0.33 m
Tue
LOW6:30 am-0.31 m
HIGH8:30 pm0.32 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp18 °C
High / Low21 °C / 12 °C
WindSSW 27 km/h, gusts 60 km/h
Pressure1018.2 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain1% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset05:12 / 18:49
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~19 °C est.
Why the tide matters here: tides and fishing in Australia.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Rockingham
The best day on Rockingham this week looks like Tuesday 10 Nov, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today.
Best day this week: Tuesday, 10 Nov — good at 4/5, rising pressure behind a front, typically the slowest.
Today, 9 Nov — Fair
A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
- Solunar majors
- 11:20 PM-1:20 AM and 10:56 AM-12:56 PM
- Minor period
- 4:18 AM-5:18 AM
- Sun
- 05:12 to 18:49
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Overcast, 31 km/h
- Rain chance
- 0%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Rockingham: 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.
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. Prime. Knife jigs and big plastics worked over the reef edges and the bait schools.
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. Peak season. Berley lightly, fish the sand holes on the making tide, and stay mobile: whiting are where the bait is, not where they were last week.
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. Prime. Drift the weed edges casting jigs, or a baited jig under a float from the piers.
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.
Blue swimmer crab
December to May in the Perth and South West estuaries; closed 1 September to 30 November from the Swan River to Minninup Beach
Closed now Reopens 1 Dec 2026. All waters, including rivers, estuaries, man-made waterways and Cockburn Sound, from the Swan and Canning rivers to Rich Road, Minninup Beach (15 km south of Bunbury) are closed to all crab fishing from 1 September to 30 November. Rule as read from DPIRD Western Australia on 2026-09-29.
Blue manna crab to West Australians: it lives in sheltered estuaries and inshore bays, hides under the sand by day and moves about at night. DPIRD sets a 127 mm minimum across the carapace spikes, and undersize crabs and egg-carrying (berried) females must go straight back.
When to come: the Rockingham 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
Blue swimmer crab
SlowPeak
Water temperature through the year
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 19 °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 Rockingham 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. Southern calamari led the card at excellent. High of 22 °C, wind to 31 km/h.
Sat, Nov 7
2/5 Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing. Southern calamari led the card at excellent. High of 22 °C, wind to 23 km/h.
Fri, Nov 6
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Samson fish led the card at excellent. High of 28 °C, wind to 23 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 at Rockingham is not among Western Australia’s licensed activities; fishing from a powered boat needs the Recreational Fishing from Boat Licence and the crab rules apply; our Western Australia page has the fees.
About this water
Rockingham is a coastal town in Western Australia, Australia, covered from the Western Australia reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Rockingham: the full guide
Rockingham and the sound
Rockingham is the city on Cockburn Sound south of Fremantle, with the foreshore and the Palm Beach jetty on the sound, the naval base on Garden Island across the water, the Shoalwater islands and Penguin Island to the south, the Point Peron platforms and the beaches of Safety Bay and Warnbro Sound beyond. It is a sound-and-islands city, and the report on this page is scored for the city’s coordinates. Perth and Mandurah have their own pages.
Species and seasons
Whiting fish the sound’s sand and the beaches all year and are the city’s fish; herring and garfish fish the jetty and the foreshore; squid work the jetty weed and the lights; pink snapper gather to spawn in the sound, and DPIRD closes Cockburn and Warnbro sounds to them from 1 August to 31 January; tailor run the beaches in the cooler months; skippy and sweep fill Point Peron; yellowtail kingfish come to the sound in summer; and the Shoalwater islands have marine park sanctuary zones. Blue swimmer crabs are back on the menu: the sound reopened to recreational crabbing in December 2024 after a decade closed, with a closed season from 1 September to 30 November.
Where to fish it
Palm Beach jetty on the Rockingham foreshore is the walk-on mark for herring, squid and whiting, fished at night under the lights, and the sound’s sand from the foreshore to Point Peron is the whiting and crab water for wading and small boats; the Point Peron platforms are the skippy and sweep rocks, and the Safety Bay and Warnbro beaches south of the point are the tailor and whiting sand. The ramps are on the sound at the foreshore and Point Peron.
Reading this report here
The sound is sheltered from the south-westerly by Garden Island and the open beaches to the south are not, so the wind row decides which; the summer sea breeze comes in most afternoons. The tide panel is a modelled curve for the coordinates of Rockingham, labelled as a model, small on this coast. Pressure and sky build the score at Rockingham; the planner shows the day.
Licence, access and rules
Line fishing from the shore at Rockingham is not among Western Australia’s licensed activities; fishing from a powered boat needs the Recreational Fishing from Boat Licence and the crab rules apply; our Western Australia page has the fees. The jetty, the foreshore and the beaches are public, with ramps on the sound; the Cockburn Sound pink snapper closure, the Shoalwater Islands Marine Park zoning, the DPIRD limits and the West Coast demersal closure are in the sources.
Common questions
Can I catch pink snapper in Cockburn Sound?
Not from 1 August to 31 January, when DPIRD’s spawning closure covers Cockburn and Warnbro sounds. Outside it, only from land: boat fishing for demersals such as snapper is closed in the West Coast bioregion until spring 2027.
Do I need a licence in Rockingham?
No licence for shore fishing in Rockingham; a powered boat needs the Recreational Fishing from Boat Licence.
Is fishing good at Rockingham 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
- 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.