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)

Mon 20 Jul 2026 · Australia/Perth

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20 Jul

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Today Tomorrow Sat 25 Jul

📍 Cheynes Beach (Waychinicup)

waxing crescent · 29%

Weather: Sunny Wind: NW 298° · 13 km/h Swell: 1.5 m @ 9 s S Water: 18.1 °C

★★★☆☆

Medium Fish Activity

▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 5:30 pm

Solunar Major window

Time of day Dusk

Tide Turning

Wind NW 11 km/h

Moon waxing crescent all day

Water temp 18.1 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

4:30 pm → 7:00 pm

2h 30m

Good

6:30 am → 7:30 am

Good

11:00 am → 11:30 am

30m

First light

6:42 am

Last light

5:43 pm

Sunrise

7:09 am

Sunset

5:16 pm

Moonrise

10:32 am

Moonset

—

High tide

1:00 am

Low tide

5:00 am

High tide

11:00 am

Low tide

6:00 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

☀️

7°

↖︎

317°

10 km/h

1am

☀️

7°

↖︎

317°

10 km/h

2am

☀️

7°

↖︎

315°

9 km/h

3am

☀️

6°

↖︎

318°

10 km/h

4am

☀️

6°

↖︎

321°

10 km/h

5am

☀️

6°

↖︎

325°

10 km/h

6am

☁️

6°

↖︎

327°

11 km/h

7am

☁️

6°

↖︎

327°

11 km/h

8am

☀️

7°

↖︎

322°

12 km/h

9am

☀️

10°

↖︎

320°

11 km/h

10am

☀️

13°

↖︎

308°

9 km/h

11am

☀️

15°

↖︎

302°

11 km/h

12pm

☀️

16°

↖︎

298°

13 km/h

1pm

☁️

16°

↖︎

295°

14 km/h

2pm

☀️

16°

←︎

290°

14 km/h

3pm

☀️

16°

←︎

288°

17 km/h

4pm

☁️

16°

↖︎

296°

12 km/h

5pm

☁️

14°

↖︎

326°

11 km/h

6pm

☁️

12°

↖︎

317°

14 km/h

7pm

☀️

11°

↖︎

317°

13 km/h

8pm

☀️

11°

↖︎

330°

13 km/h

9pm

☀️

11°

↖︎

319°

15 km/h

10pm

☀️

10°

↖︎

315°

15 km/h

11pm

☀️

10°

↖︎

316°

15 km/h

Water Temp (°C)

→ steady around 18.1°

Fri

17 Jul

18.1°

Sat

18 Jul

18.1°

Sun

19 Jul

18.1°

Mon

20 Jul

18.1°

Tue

21 Jul

18.0°

Wed

22 Jul

18.0°

Thu

23 Jul

17.9°

Fri

24 Jul

17.9°

Sat

25 Jul

17.9°

Sun

26 Jul

17.9°

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 13 km/h NW (298°).

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

Open in the full fishing map (beta) →

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

4:30 pm → 7:00 pm

2h 30m

Good

6:30 am → 7:30 am

Good

11:00 am → 11:30 am

30m

First light

6:42 am

Last light

5:43 pm

Sunrise

7:09 am

Sunset

5:16 pm

Moonrise

10:32 am

Moonset

—

High tide

1:00 am

Low tide

5:00 am

High tide

11:00 am

Low tide

6:00 pm

Species at this spot

Weekly Bite Forecast

Cheynes Beach (Waychinicup) + nearby Perth spots. Thursday 6pm — top windows, conditions, what's biting.

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