When is the salmon run at Cheynes Beach?

March to May, with Easter the traditional peak. The schools migrate westward along the south coast, so Cheynes — east of Albany — sees fish earlier than the beaches further west, and big schools bailing baitfish in the shallows have been close to an annual event in recent years. Watch run reports from late February if you're planning around it.

Do you need a 4WD at Cheynes Beach?

Not strictly — 2WD reaches the caravan park and Tourist Rocks, which covers a rock platform and the western beach corner. The full experience is the 15km beach drive chasing schools, and that's committed soft-sand 4WD work, hardest out toward Bluff Creek at the eastern end. Drop pressures and carry recovery gear.

What can you catch at Cheynes Beach outside salmon season?

Plenty — herring, skippy and tarwhine off the beach year-round, King George whiting over the sand and weed edges, flathead in the gutters, snook in the calmer corners and squid on the jigs. The salmon run is the famous six weeks, but the other ten and a half months are a quietly good mixed fishery.

Are there sharks at Cheynes Beach?

Yes — tagged white sharks are recorded around Bald Island at the southern end, and the standard advice for fishers here is to favour beach fishing over the rocks and to dispose of fish waste responsibly rather than leaving frames in the water. Check SharkSmart before a session, especially if beach-launching a boat or wading with a full bait bag.

What gear do you need for the Cheynes Beach salmon run?

A 10–12ft surf rod with a 4000–6000 reel, around 30lb braid and 40lb leader, casting 40g metals like the Halco Twisty, or stickbaits and poppers when the schools push into the shallows. Bait fishers use fresh mulies on gang hooks with a star sinker. Salmon must be 300mm and the daily bag is four per fisher — check DPIRD's current guide before the trip.

Bite Compass

Bite Forecast

Cheynes Beach (Waychinicup)

Fri 09 Oct 2026 · Australia/Perth

Forecast updated 9:48pm AWST

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9 Oct

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📍 Cheynes Beach (Waychinicup)

waning crescent · 5%

Weather: Rainy Wind: W 275° · 30 km/h Swell: 2.1 m @ 9 s SW Water: 17.8 °C Pressure: 1006.2 hPa → steady Faces north-east · Offshore: S, SW, W · Onshore: N, NE, E · Forecast wind: offshore

★★★☆☆

Medium Fish Activity

▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 5:00 am

Solunar Minor window

Time of day Dawn

Tide Turning

Wind NW 17 km/h

Moon waning crescent all day

Water temp 17.8 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Day Timeline

Major Minor Tide Twilight

First light 5:07 am Last light 6:40 pm

Low 4:24 am High 10:30 am Low 4:00 pm High 10:24 pm

Drag or use arrow keys to explore

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

4:00 am → 6:30 am

2h 30m

Good

6:00 pm → 8:00 pm

Good

10:00 pm → 12:00 am

Good

10:30 am → 11:30 am

First light

5:07 am

Last light

6:40 pm

Sunrise

5:32 am

Sunset

6:15 pm

Moonrise

4:32 am

Moonset

4:57 pm

Low tide

4:24 am

High tide

10:30 am

Low tide

4:00 pm

High tide

10:24 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

☁️

9°

↖︎

306°

15 km/h

1am

☀️

9°

↖︎

311°

17 km/h

2am

☀️

9°

←︎

289°

19 km/h

3am

☀️

9°

←︎

290°

19 km/h

4am

☁️

9°

↖︎

293°

18 km/h

5am

☁️

10°

↖︎

297°

17 km/h

6am

☁️

10°

↖︎

299°

18 km/h

7am

☁️

12°

←︎

292°

19 km/h

8am

☁️

13°

↖︎

295°

20 km/h

9am

☁️

14°

←︎

289°

23 km/h

10am

☁️

16°

←︎

276°

30 km/h

11am

🌧️

16°

←︎

277°

26 km/h

12pm

🌧️

17°

←︎

275°

30 km/h

1pm

🌧️

17°

←︎

275°

26 km/h

2pm

🌧️

18°

←︎

276°

26 km/h

3pm

☀️

18°

←︎

278°

27 km/h

4pm

☁️

18°

←︎

273°

26 km/h

5pm

☁️

17°

←︎

270°

24 km/h

6pm

☁️

17°

←︎

273°

19 km/h

7pm

☁️

16°

←︎

258°

15 km/h

8pm

☁️

15°

←︎

267°

16 km/h

9pm

☁️

15°

←︎

268°

18 km/h

10pm

☁️

14°

←︎

271°

16 km/h

11pm

🌧️

14°

←︎

283°

14 km/h

Hourly Swell

Steady ~2.5 m S

12am

2.2 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Solid

1am

2.2 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Solid

2am

2.2 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Solid

3am

2.3 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Solid

4am

2.3 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Solid

5am

2.4 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Solid

6am

2.3 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Solid

7am

2.2 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Solid

8am

2.1 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Solid

9am

2.1 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Solid

10am

2.1 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Solid

11am

2.1 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Solid

12pm

2.1 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Solid

1pm

2.0 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Solid

2pm

2.0 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Solid

3pm

2.1 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Solid

4pm

2.2 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Solid

5pm

2.2 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Solid

6pm

2.3 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Solid

7pm

2.4 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Solid

8pm

2.4 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Solid

9pm

2.5 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Solid

10pm

2.5 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Solid

11pm

2.5 m

@ 10 s

↓︎

Solid

Water Temp (°C)

↗ warming — up 0.4° over the last 3 days

Tue

6 Oct

17.4°

Wed

7 Oct

17.7°

Thu

8 Oct

17.8°

Fri

9 Oct

17.8°

Sat

10 Oct

17.8°

Sun

11 Oct

17.8°

Mon

12 Oct

17.8°

Tue

13 Oct

17.8°

Wed

14 Oct

17.7°

Thu

15 Oct

17.8°

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 30 km/h W (275°).

Wind map data: ECMWF HRES (operational), updated every 6 hours. Not for navigation.

Open in the full fishing map →

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

4:00 am → 6:30 am

2h 30m

Good

6:00 pm → 8:00 pm

Good

10:00 pm → 12:00 am

Good

10:30 am → 11:30 am

First light

5:07 am

Last light

6:40 pm

Sunrise

5:32 am

Sunset

6:15 pm

Moonrise

4:32 am

Moonset

4:57 pm

Low tide

4:24 am

High tide

10:30 am

Low tide

4:00 pm

High tide

10:24 pm

Nearby Spots

Species at This Spot

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