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)

Sun 18 Oct 2026 · Australia/Perth

Forecast updated 10:01am AWST

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18 Oct

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Today Tomorrow Sat 17 Oct

📍 Margaret River Mouth (Prevelly)

first quarter · 44%

Weather: Cloudy Wind: SW 229° · 12 km/h Swell: 3.3 m @ 11 s SW Water: 18.3 °C Pressure: 1017.4 hPa → steady Faces west · Offshore: NE, E, SE · Onshore: SW, W, NW · Forecast wind: onshore

★★★★☆

High Fish Activity

▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 6:30 pm

Solunar Major window

Time of day Dusk

Tide Moving

Wind S 8 km/h

Moon first quarter all day

Water temp 18.3 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Day timeline

Major Minor Tide Twilight

First light 5:10 am Last light 7:01 pm

Low 1:00 pm

Drag or use arrow keys to explore

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

5:30 pm → 8:00 pm

2h 30m

Good

4:30 am → 7:30 am

First light

5:10 am

Last light

7:01 pm

Sunrise

5:35 am

Sunset

6:35 pm

Moonrise

10:43 am

Moonset

12:52 am

Low tide

1:00 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

☁️

16°

↙︎

238°

13 km/h

1am

☁️

16°

↙︎

232°

13 km/h

2am

☁️

15°

↙︎

229°

12 km/h

3am

☁️

15°

↙︎

226°

11 km/h

4am

☁️

15°

↙︎

224°

10 km/h

5am

☀️

15°

↙︎

225°

9 km/h

6am

☀️

16°

↙︎

234°

9 km/h

7am

☀️

16°

↙︎

238°

9 km/h

8am

☀️

17°

↙︎

239°

9 km/h

9am

☀️

17°

↙︎

237°

9 km/h

10am

☀️

17°

↙︎

235°

10 km/h

11am

☀️

18°

↙︎

231°

11 km/h

12pm

☁️

18°

↙︎

229°

12 km/h

1pm

☁️

18°

↙︎

227°

13 km/h

2pm

☁️

18°

↙︎

225°

13 km/h

3pm

☁️

17°

↙︎

222°

13 km/h

4pm

☁️

17°

↙︎

217°

11 km/h

5pm

☁️

16°

↙︎

210°

10 km/h

6pm

☁️

15°

↓︎

202°

8 km/h

7pm

☁️

14°

↓︎

193°

7 km/h

8pm

☁️

14°

↓︎

187°

6 km/h

9pm

🌧️

14°

↓︎

186°

5 km/h

10pm

🌧️

14°

↓︎

193°

4 km/h

11pm

🌧️

13°

↙︎

212°

3 km/h

Hourly Swell

Easing 3.6 → 2.9 m SW

12am

3.6 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Heavy

ground

1am

3.5 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Heavy

ground

2am

3.5 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Heavy

ground

3am

3.5 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Heavy

ground

4am

3.5 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Heavy

ground

5am

3.4 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Heavy

ground

6am

3.4 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Heavy

ground

7am

3.4 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Heavy

ground

8am

3.4 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Heavy

ground

9am

3.4 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Heavy

ground

10am

3.4 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Heavy

ground

11am

3.4 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Heavy

ground

12pm

3.3 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Heavy

ground

1pm

3.3 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Heavy

ground

2pm

3.3 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Heavy

ground

3pm

3.2 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Heavy

ground

4pm

3.2 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Heavy

ground

5pm

3.1 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Heavy

ground

6pm

3.1 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Heavy

ground

7pm

3.0 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Heavy

ground

8pm

3.0 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Heavy

ground

9pm

3.0 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Solid

ground

10pm

2.9 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Solid

ground

11pm

2.9 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Solid

ground

Water Temp (°C)

→ steady around 18.3°

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°

Thu

22 Oct

—

Fri

23 Oct

—

Sat

24 Oct

—

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 12 km/h SW (229°).

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

5:30 pm → 8:00 pm

2h 30m

Good

4:30 am → 7:30 am

First light

5:10 am

Last light

7:01 pm

Sunrise

5:35 am

Sunset

6:35 pm

Moonrise

10:43 am

Moonset

12:52 am

Low tide

1:00 pm

Nearby spots

Species at this spot

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