When does the Margaret River sandbar open?

The bar usually breaks with sustained winter rainfall — typically June or July through to spring — and closes again as summer flow drops. The mouth fishery for mulloway and tailor is most consistent when the bar is open and the tidal exchange is running. Check the state of the bar before committing; the lower river above a closed bar still fishes well for black bream.

Can I catch black bream in Margaret River?

Yes — the lower brackish river above the bar holds bream year-round, with the better sessions on small soft plastics, hardbody minnows or prawn baits worked along snags and rocky banks at dawn and dusk. Late summer and autumn before the bar opens are the prime months. The river fishes catch-and-release-friendly; bream stocks here aren't large.

Is fishing safe at Surfers Point?

The rock platforms at Surfers Point and Riverlea are honest exposed-coast ledges — fishable in moderate swell with grippy footwear, dangerous in heavy swell. The wider Margaret River region has a known white shark population and a history of incidents. Check Sharksmart and the swell forecast before each session, never fish low ledges in big seas, and never alone after dark.

How long is the drive from Perth?

Around 3.5 hours via the Forrest Highway, Bussell Highway and Caves Road into Prevelly. Multi-day trips are the norm; combining Margaret River Mouth with Gracetown to the north and Hamelin Bay or Augusta to the south covers the south-west coast's main land-based fisheries in a single weekend.

Bite Compass

Bite Forecast

Margaret River Mouth (Prevelly)

Thu 15 Oct 2026 · Australia/Perth

Forecast updated 10:01am AWST

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15 Oct

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Today Tomorrow Sat 17 Oct

📍 Margaret River Mouth (Prevelly)

waxing crescent · 15%

Weather: Rainy Wind: W 276° · 15 km/h Swell: 1.7 m @ 6 s W Water: 18.2 °C Pressure: 1013.4 hPa → steady Faces west · Offshore: NE, E, SE · Onshore: SW, W, NW · Forecast wind: onshore

★★★☆☆

Medium Fish Activity

▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 5:30 am

Solunar Between windows

Time of day Dawn

Tide Moving

Wind SW 16 km/h

Moon waxing crescent all day

Water temp 18.2 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Day timeline

Major Minor Tide Twilight

First light 5:13 am Last light 6:58 pm

Low 11:00 am High 10:30 pm

Drag or use arrow keys to explore

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

3:30 am → 6:30 am

Good

6:00 pm → 8:00 pm

Good

3:00 pm → 5:00 pm

First light

5:13 am

Last light

6:58 pm

Sunrise

5:38 am

Sunset

6:33 pm

Moonrise

8:04 am

Moonset

11:16 pm

Low tide

11:00 am

High tide

10:30 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

🌧️

17°

↖︎

310°

32 km/h

1am

🌧️

17°

←︎

263°

22 km/h

2am

☀️

16°

↙︎

243°

20 km/h

3am

☀️

15°

↙︎

238°

18 km/h

4am

☁️

15°

↙︎

237°

16 km/h

5am

☁️

15°

↙︎

240°

16 km/h

6am

☁️

14°

↙︎

242°

16 km/h

7am

🌧️

15°

↙︎

238°

16 km/h

8am

☀️

16°

↙︎

240°

18 km/h

9am

☁️

17°

↙︎

247°

15 km/h

10am

☁️

18°

←︎

257°

16 km/h

11am

☁️

18°

←︎

266°

15 km/h

12pm

🌧️

17°

←︎

276°

15 km/h

1pm

🌧️

17°

←︎

274°

16 km/h

2pm

🌧️

18°

←︎

276°

16 km/h

3pm

🌧️

17°

←︎

276°

16 km/h

4pm

☁️

17°

←︎

281°

16 km/h

5pm

☀️

17°

←︎

285°

14 km/h

6pm

☁️

16°

←︎

289°

11 km/h

7pm

☁️

16°

↖︎

297°

11 km/h

8pm

☁️

16°

↖︎

297°

12 km/h

9pm

☁️

16°

↖︎

299°

12 km/h

10pm

☁️

16°

↖︎

303°

12 km/h

11pm

☁️

16°

↖︎

309°

13 km/h

Hourly Swell

Building 1.0 → 1.4 m W

12am

1.0 m

@ 8 s

←︎

Moderate

chop

1am

1.1 m

@ 6 s

←︎

Moderate

chop

2am

1.3 m

@ 5 s

↖︎

Moderate

chop

3am

1.3 m

@ 4 s

↖︎

Moderate

chop

4am

1.3 m

@ 5 s

↖︎

Moderate

chop

5am

1.3 m

@ 5 s

↖︎

Moderate

chop

6am

1.3 m

@ 5 s

←︎

Moderate

chop

7am

1.4 m

@ 5 s

←︎

Moderate

chop

8am

1.5 m

@ 5 s

←︎

Moderate

chop

9am

1.5 m

@ 6 s

←︎

Moderate

chop

10am

1.6 m

@ 6 s

←︎

Moderate

chop

11am

1.7 m

@ 6 s

←︎

Moderate

chop

12pm

1.7 m

@ 6 s

←︎

Moderate

chop

1pm

1.6 m

@ 6 s

←︎

Moderate

chop

2pm

1.6 m

@ 6 s

←︎

Moderate

chop

3pm

1.7 m

@ 6 s

←︎

Moderate

chop

4pm

1.7 m

@ 6 s

←︎

Moderate

chop

5pm

1.8 m

@ 6 s

←︎

Moderate

chop

6pm

1.8 m

@ 6 s

←︎

Moderate

chop

7pm

1.8 m

@ 6 s

←︎

Moderate

chop

8pm

1.8 m

@ 7 s

←︎

Moderate

chop

9pm

1.7 m

@ 7 s

←︎

Moderate

chop

10pm

1.6 m

@ 7 s

↙︎

Moderate

chop

11pm

1.4 m

@ 7 s

↙︎

Moderate

chop

Water Temp (°C)

→ steady around 18.2°

Mon

12 Oct

18.0°

Tue

13 Oct

18.1°

Wed

14 Oct

18.0°

Thu

15 Oct

18.2°

Fri

16 Oct

18.2°

Sat

17 Oct

18.3°

Sun

18 Oct

18.3°

Mon

19 Oct

18.3°

Tue

20 Oct

18.3°

Wed

21 Oct

18.2°

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 15 km/h W (276°).

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

3:30 am → 6:30 am

Good

6:00 pm → 8:00 pm

Good

3:00 pm → 5:00 pm

First light

5:13 am

Last light

6:58 pm

Sunrise

5:38 am

Sunset

6:33 pm

Moonrise

8:04 am

Moonset

11:16 pm

Low tide

11:00 am

High tide

10:30 pm

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