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)

Sat 17 Oct 2026 · Australia/Perth

Forecast updated 6:00pm AWST

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📍 Cheynes Beach (Waychinicup)

first quarter · 33%

Weather: Cloudy Wind: E 106° · 5 km/h Swell: 0.9 m @ 10 s SW Water: 18.2 °C Pressure: 1014.1 hPa ↓ falling Faces north-east · Offshore: S, SW, W · Onshore: N, NE, E · Forecast wind: onshore

★★★★☆

High Fish Activity

▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 5:00 am

Solunar Major window

Time of day Dawn

Tide Moving

Wind NW 9 km/h

Moon first quarter all day

Water temp 18.2 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Day Timeline

Major Minor Tide Twilight

First light 4:56 am Last light 6:47 pm

Low 3:00 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

5:00 pm → 8:00 pm

First light

4:56 am

Last light

6:47 pm

Sunrise

5:21 am

Sunset

6:22 pm

Moonrise

9:29 am

Moonset

—

Low tide

3:00 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

☀️

14°

↖︎

326°

1 km/h

1am

☀️

13°

↖︎

320°

6 km/h

2am

☁️

12°

↖︎

309°

9 km/h

3am

☁️

12°

↖︎

319°

8 km/h

4am

☁️

12°

↖︎

317°

8 km/h

5am

☁️

11°

↖︎

313°

9 km/h

6am

☀️

12°

↖︎

324°

10 km/h

7am

☀️

15°

↖︎

325°

8 km/h

8am

☀️

18°

↖︎

309°

7 km/h

9am

☀️

20°

↖︎

304°

5 km/h

10am

☁️

22°

↖︎

325°

6 km/h

11am

☁️

22°

↑︎

4°

3 km/h

12pm

☁️

23°

→︎

106°

5 km/h

1pm

☁️

22°

↘︎

117°

10 km/h

2pm

☀️

21°

↘︎

121°

13 km/h

3pm

☀️

20°

↘︎

127°

13 km/h

4pm

☀️

20°

↘︎

123°

9 km/h

5pm

☀️

19°

↘︎

119°

11 km/h

6pm

☀️

17°

→︎

112°

10 km/h

7pm

☀️

15°

→︎

71°

9 km/h

8pm

☀️

15°

↗︎

64°

10 km/h

9pm

☀️

15°

↗︎

58°

10 km/h

10pm

☀️

15°

↗︎

46°

12 km/h

11pm

☀️

15°

↗︎

33°

12 km/h

Hourly Swell

Building 0.6 → 1.1 m SW

12am

0.6 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Slight

1am

0.6 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Slight

ground

2am

0.6 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Slight

ground

3am

0.7 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Slight

ground

4am

0.7 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Slight

ground

5am

0.7 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Slight

6am

0.7 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Slight

7am

0.7 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Slight

8am

0.7 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Slight

9am

0.8 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Slight

10am

0.8 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Slight

11am

0.9 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Slight

12pm

0.9 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Slight

ground

1pm

0.9 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Slight

ground

2pm

1.0 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Slight

ground

3pm

1.0 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

4pm

1.1 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

5pm

1.1 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

6pm

1.1 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

7pm

1.1 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

8pm

1.1 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

9pm

1.1 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

10pm

1.1 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

11pm

1.1 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

Water Temp (°C)

↗ warming — up 0.5° over the last 3 days

Wed

14 Oct

17.7°

Thu

15 Oct

17.8°

Fri

16 Oct

18.1°

Sat

17 Oct

18.2°

Sun

18 Oct

18.0°

Mon

19 Oct

17.9°

Tue

20 Oct

18.0°

Wed

21 Oct

18.0°

Thu

22 Oct

17.8°

Fri

23 Oct

17.9°

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 5 km/h E (106°).

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

5:00 pm → 8:00 pm

First light

4:56 am

Last light

6:47 pm

Sunrise

5:21 am

Sunset

6:22 pm

Moonrise

9:29 am

Moonset

—

Low tide

3:00 pm

Nearby Spots

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