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 08 Oct 2026 · Australia/Perth

Forecast updated Mon 12 Oct, 10:36am AWST

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8 Oct

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Today Tomorrow Sat 17 Oct

📍 Margaret River Mouth (Prevelly)

waning crescent · 11%

Weather: Rainy Wind: W 278° · 32 km/h Swell: 2.5 m @ 11 s SW Water: 18.3 °C Pressure: 1009.0 hPa ↓ falling Faces west · Offshore: NE, E, SE · Onshore: SW, W, NW · Forecast wind: onshore

★★☆☆☆

Low Fish Activity

▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 10:00 pm

Solunar Major window

Time of day Night

Tide Turning

Wind SW 24 km/h

Moon waning crescent all day

Water temp 18.3 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Day timeline

Major Minor Tide Twilight

First light 5:23 am Last light 6:52 pm

Low 2:00 am High 8:15 am Low 3:30 pm High 9:30 pm

Drag or use arrow keys to explore

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

9:30 pm → 11:00 pm

1h 30m

Good

5:30 am → 6:00 am

30m

First light

5:23 am

Last light

6:52 pm

Sunrise

5:48 am

Sunset

6:27 pm

Moonrise

4:19 am

Moonset

4:08 pm

Low tide

2:00 am

High tide

8:15 am

Low tide

3:30 pm

High tide

9:30 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

🌧️

14°

↙︎

243°

18 km/h

1am

🌧️

14°

↙︎

242°

19 km/h

2am

🌧️

14°

↙︎

241°

25 km/h

3am

🌧️

13°

↙︎

237°

27 km/h

4am

🌧️

13°

↙︎

241°

27 km/h

5am

☁️

13°

↙︎

243°

28 km/h

6am

☁️

13°

←︎

251°

28 km/h

7am

🌧️

13°

↙︎

247°

27 km/h

8am

☁️

14°

←︎

255°

29 km/h

9am

🌧️

13°

←︎

261°

28 km/h

10am

🌧️

14°

←︎

265°

29 km/h

11am

☁️

15°

←︎

272°

30 km/h

12pm

🌧️

14°

←︎

278°

32 km/h

1pm

🌧️

14°

←︎

278°

37 km/h

2pm

🌧️

14°

←︎

265°

39 km/h

3pm

🌧️

13°

←︎

251°

36 km/h

4pm

🌧️

14°

↙︎

233°

30 km/h

5pm

🌧️

14°

↙︎

229°

30 km/h

6pm

☀️

14°

↙︎

225°

29 km/h

7pm

☀️

14°

↙︎

225°

27 km/h

8pm

☀️

14°

↙︎

226°

27 km/h

9pm

☀️

14°

↙︎

230°

25 km/h

10pm

☁️

14°

↙︎

235°

24 km/h

11pm

☀️

14°

↙︎

237°

23 km/h

Hourly Swell

Building 2.4 → 4.4 m SW

12am

2.4 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Solid

ground

1am

2.3 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Solid

ground

2am

2.3 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Solid

ground

3am

2.4 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Solid

ground

4am

2.5 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Solid

ground

5am

2.5 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Solid

ground

6am

2.5 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Solid

ground

7am

2.4 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Solid

ground

8am

2.4 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Solid

9am

2.4 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Solid

10am

2.4 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Solid

ground

11am

2.4 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Solid

ground

12pm

2.5 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Solid

ground

1pm

2.5 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Solid

ground

2pm

2.5 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Solid

ground

3pm

2.8 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Solid

ground

4pm

3.1 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Heavy

ground

5pm

3.4 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Heavy

ground

6pm

3.7 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Heavy

ground

7pm

4.0 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Huge

ground

8pm

4.3 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Huge

ground

9pm

4.4 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Huge

ground

10pm

4.4 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Huge

ground

11pm

4.4 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Huge

ground

Water Temp (°C)

→ steady around 18.3°

Mon

5 Oct

18.3°

Tue

6 Oct

18.4°

Wed

7 Oct

18.4°

Thu

8 Oct

18.3°

Fri

9 Oct

18.2°

Sat

10 Oct

18.2°

Sun

11 Oct

18.1°

Mon

12 Oct

18.0°

Tue

13 Oct

18.1°

Wed

14 Oct

18.0°

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 32 km/h W (278°).

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

9:30 pm → 11:00 pm

1h 30m

Good

5:30 am → 6:00 am

30m

First light

5:23 am

Last light

6:52 pm

Sunrise

5:48 am

Sunset

6:27 pm

Moonrise

4:19 am

Moonset

4:08 pm

Low tide

2:00 am

High tide

8:15 am

Low tide

3:30 pm

High tide

9:30 pm

Nearby spots

Species at this spot

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