Bream
Good
Prime bream weather. Cast small vibes, crankbaits and 2 to 3 inch plastics at every piece of structure on the rising tide.
Swan River Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
The river through Perth: bream and flathead from the city reaches to Fremantle, mulloway at night, and blue swimmer crabs outside the spring closure.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Water temp
~22 °C est.
Air / High
18 °C / 21 °C
Wind
SSW 24 km/h
Sources: Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Swan River has the water in the comfortable band where most of its fish feed through the day. Today brings clear skies, wind SSW around 24 km/h, steady pressure near 1018 hPa and a high of 21 °C. Water sits around 22 °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.
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.
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, 4:19 AM-5:19 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 bream here? Check the size and bag limits with DPIRD WA before you keep anything; the Bream page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Swan River today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:13), sunset (18:49), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 11:20 PM-1:20 AM and 10:56 AM-12:56 PM; minor 4:19 AM-5:19 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 temp18 °C
High / Low21 °C / 12 °C
WindSSW 24 km/h, gusts 59 km/h
Pressure1018.1 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset05:13 / 18:49
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~22 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Swan River
The best day on Swan River 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
- 4:19 AM-5:19 AM
- Sun
- 05:13 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 Swan 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.
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 Swan 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
Blue swimmer crab
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 Swan River 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. Bream led the card at good. High of 21 °C, wind to 27 km/h.
Sat, Nov 7
2/5 Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing. Bream led the card at good. High of 22 °C, wind to 21 km/h.
Fri, Nov 6
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Bream led the card at excellent. High of 28 °C, wind to 21 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 bank needs no licence in Western Australia; any fishing from a powered boat, crabbing included, needs the Recreational Fishing from Boat Licence; our Western Australia page has the fees.
About this water
Swan River is a river in Western Australia, Australia, covered from the Western Australia reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Swan River: the full guide
The river
The Swan River is the estuary that runs through the middle of Perth, from the Swan Valley down through the wide reaches of Perth Water and Melville Water, past the Canning junction, to the harbour at Fremantle where it meets the sea. It is a working city river and a fishery from end to end: the walls and jetties of the city foreshores, the flats of Melville Water and the Canning, the bridges, the deep water of Blackwall Reach and the harbour mouth, fished from the banks, the jetties, boats and kayaks. The report on this page is scored for the river’s coordinates near the city.
Species and seasons
Bream are the river’s fish, all year around the bridges, the walls and the snags, often biggest in the cooler months; flathead lie on the sand of the lower reaches and Melville Water in the warmer months; tailor push up the river in summer; and mulloway, kept from 500 millimetres and two a day, are the night fish of Blackwall Reach, the bridges and the harbour, especially after rain. Blue swimmer crabs are the summer and autumn fishery of the lower river: in the Swan and Canning they must measure 127 millimetres across the carapace, the bag is five, and crabbing is closed from 1 September to 30 November across Perth and the South West. Herring and whiting fish the lower reaches and the harbour, and squid hunt the weed near Fremantle.
Reading this report for the river
The river is sheltered from most weather, and the sea breeze matters mainly on the open reaches of Melville Water. The tide is small, but the run through the bridges and the harbour is what the bream and the mulloway follow, so the tide panel, a modelled curve for these coordinates labelled as a model, is for the direction, with the Bureau of Meteorology for the times. Rain matters, because a fresh from upstream colours the river and moves the fish. On the Swan, the barometer and the sky finish the score, and the planner shows which evening to try for mulloway.
Licences and access
Line fishing from the bank needs no licence in Western Australia; any fishing from a powered boat, crabbing included, needs the Recreational Fishing from Boat Licence; our Western Australia page has the fees. DPIRD bans wire traces in all waters of the Swan-Canning estuary. The foreshores, the jetties and the bridges are public, with boat ramps along both shores; the DPIRD crab season and the species limits are on the pages in the sources.
Common questions
When is crab season on the Swan River?
Blue swimmer crabs are closed from 1 September to 30 November across Perth and the South West; outside that, the Swan and Canning limit is five crabs of at least 127 millimetres.
Can I use a wire trace in the Swan River?
No. DPIRD bans wire traces in all waters of the Swan-Canning estuary.
Is fishing good at Swan 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.