What are the inner-gulf pink snapper rules?

Three areas carry a pink snapper closed season: Northern Bernier Island 1 June to 31 August, the Eastern Gulf 1 May to 31 July, and Freycinet Estuary 15 August to 30 September. Denham Sound has no seasonal closure. The rules apply when landing fish at the Denham ramp even if caught outside the inner gulfs. Check the DPIRD page or ask at the Fisheries office on Knight Terrace before a trip.

Is Shark Bay in the West Coast or Gascoyne Bioregion?

Gascoyne Coast Bioregion. The West Coast Bioregion's boat-based demersal closure, which reaches north to 27°S beyond Kalbarri, does not apply here, though the inner-gulf snapper has its own strict regime. Different rules, different limits, different paperwork — read the Gascoyne guide rather than the West Coast one.

Are there crocodiles in Shark Bay?

No. Saltwater crocodile range in WA starts roughly around Onslow and extends north — Shark Bay is well south of that. Sharks are the relevant apex predator here, and tigers in particular are common.

How long is the drive from Perth?

Around 9 hours via the Brand Highway and North West Coastal, then the Denham–Hamelin Road off to the west. Most anglers stay at least four nights given the distance and the size of the bay.

Bite Compass

Bite Forecast

Denham (Shark Bay)

Tue 06 Oct 2026 · Australia/Perth

Forecast updated 7:58am AWST

Save

Change spot

←

6 Oct

tap to pick date

→

Today Tomorrow Sat 17 Oct

📍 Denham (Shark Bay)

waning crescent · 28%

Weather: Unavailable Swell: 0.2 m @ 9 s SW Water: 21.8 °C Faces south-west · Offshore: N, NE, E · Onshore: S, SW, W

★★★☆☆

Medium Fish Activity

▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 6:30 pm

Solunar Between windows

Time of day Dusk

Tide Moving

Moon waning crescent all day

Water temp 21.8 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Day timeline

Major Minor Tide Twilight

First light 5:37 am Last light 6:50 pm

High 7:10 am Low 3:15 pm High 10:00 pm

Drag or use arrow keys to explore

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

6:00 pm → 10:00 pm

Good

5:00 am → 10:00 am

Good

3:00 am → 4:00 am

First light

5:37 am

Last light

6:50 pm

Sunrise

6:00 am

Sunset

6:27 pm

Moonrise

3:06 am

Moonset

2:15 pm

High tide

7:10 am

Low tide

3:15 pm

High tide

10:00 pm

Hourly Swell

Steady ~0.3 m SW

12am

0.2 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Calm

1am

0.2 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Calm

chop

2am

0.2 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Calm

chop

3am

0.2 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Calm

4am

0.2 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Calm

5am

0.2 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Calm

6am

0.2 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Calm

7am

0.2 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Calm

chop

8am

0.2 m

@ 7 s

↙︎

Calm

chop

9am

0.2 m

@ 7 s

↙︎

Calm

chop

10am

0.2 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Calm

chop

11am

0.2 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Calm

12pm

0.2 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Calm

1pm

0.3 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Calm

2pm

0.3 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Calm

3pm

0.3 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Calm

4pm

0.2 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Calm

5pm

0.2 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Calm

6pm

0.2 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Calm

7pm

0.2 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Calm

chop

8pm

0.2 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Calm

chop

9pm

0.2 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Calm

chop

10pm

0.2 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Calm

11pm

0.3 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Calm

Water Temp (°C)

↗ warming — up 0.5° over the last 3 days

Sat

3 Oct

21.3°

Sun

4 Oct

21.5°

Mon

5 Oct

21.6°

Tue

6 Oct

21.8°

Wed

7 Oct

21.9°

Thu

8 Oct

21.9°

Fri

9 Oct

21.7°

Sat

10 Oct

21.7°

Sun

11 Oct

21.7°

Mon

12 Oct

21.6°

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Current wind summary unavailable — see the wind chart above the map.

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

6:00 pm → 10:00 pm

Good

5:00 am → 10:00 am

Good

3:00 am → 4:00 am

First light

5:37 am

Last light

6:50 pm

Sunrise

6:00 am

Sunset

6:27 pm

Moonrise

3:06 am

Moonset

2:15 pm

High tide

7:10 am

Low tide

3:15 pm

High tide

10:00 pm

Nearby spots

Species at this spot

Keep tabs on Denham (Shark Bay)

Get an email when the bite score here hits High, and stop refreshing this page. Free account, takes a minute.

Alert me when it's High Save this spot

Weekly Bite Forecast

Denham (Shark Bay) + nearby Perth spots. Thursday 6pm — top windows, conditions, what's biting.

Free. Unsubscribe any time.