What can you catch in the Murchison River at Kalbarri?

The estuary holds black bream, yellowfin whiting and small tailor along the foreshore and jetties, with soapy mulloway near the mouth and bigger jewfish pushing upstream at times. Blue swimmer crabs enter the river in summer, and the odd giant herring strays this far south in the warmest months — it sits below its usual Shark Bay-and-north range, so treat it as a bonus rather than a target. Pink snapper come from the ocean rock ledges rather than the river itself; note that Kalbarri sits at the northern edge of the West Coast Bioregion, where boat-based demersal fishing is closed until spring 2027, so pink snapper and other demersals must not be targeted from a private boat at all, not even catch-and-release — only licensed charters holding West Coast demersal quota tags are exempt. Land-based take off the rock ledges continues year-round (bag 2) outside spawning closures. Verify current rules with DPIRD.

Is the Murchison River mouth safe to fish?

The river mouth platform fishes well for mulloway and tailor, but the mouth is exposed to ocean swell and the bar is unpredictable — it can go from calm to dangerous quickly. Check conditions before you fish it and contact Kalbarri Volunteer Marine Rescue on the riverfront if you are unsure. The sheltered town foreshore and jetties are the safer, family-friendly option.

Do I need a boat to fish the Murchison at Kalbarri?

No. The town foreshore, jetties and river-mouth platform all fish well from the bank for bream, whiting, tailor and mulloway, with sealed parking and toilets close by. A boat opens up more of the river and the offshore grounds, but the land-based estuary fishery is one of the most accessible in the Mid West.

Bite Compass

Bite Forecast

Murchison River (Kalbarri)

Thu 12 Nov 2026 · Australia/Perth

Forecast updated 8:04am AWST

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12 Nov

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Today Tomorrow Sat 7 Nov

📍 Murchison River (Kalbarri)

waxing crescent · 6%

Weather: Sunny Wind: SW 211° · 22 km/h Swell: 0.8 m @ 9 s SW Water: 21.3 °C Pressure: 1014.9 hPa → steady Faces several ways: wind direction isn't scored here

★★★☆☆

Medium Fish Activity

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▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 5:00 am

Solunar Between windows

Time of day Dawn

Tide Moving

Wind SW 11 km/h

Moon waxing crescent all day

Water temp 21.3 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Day Timeline

Major Minor Tide Twilight

First light 5:00 am Last light 7:15 pm

Low 7:30 am High 10:20 pm

Drag or use arrow keys to explore

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

1:30 am → 6:00 am

4h 30m

Good

6:30 pm → 8:30 pm

Good

7:00 am → 8:30 am

1h 30m

Good

2:30 pm → 3:30 pm

First light

5:00 am

Last light

7:15 pm

Sunrise

5:24 am

Sunset

6:50 pm

Moonrise

7:09 am

Moonset

9:43 pm

Low tide

7:30 am

High tide

10:20 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

☀️

20°

↙︎

243°

13 km/h

1am

☀️

19°

←︎

249°

13 km/h

2am

☀️

19°

←︎

250°

13 km/h

3am

☀️

20°

←︎

248°

12 km/h

4am

☀️

20°

↙︎

242°

11 km/h

5am

☀️

21°

↙︎

232°

11 km/h

6am

☀️

21°

↙︎

220°

11 km/h

7am

☀️

22°

↙︎

211°

11 km/h

8am

☀️

23°

↙︎

206°

12 km/h

9am

☀️

23°

↙︎

206°

14 km/h

10am

☀️

24°

↙︎

207°

17 km/h

11am

☀️

25°

↙︎

209°

20 km/h

12pm

☀️

25°

↙︎

211°

22 km/h

1pm

☀️

26°

↙︎

211°

24 km/h

2pm

☀️

26°

↙︎

211°

26 km/h

3pm

☀️

25°

↙︎

208°

26 km/h

4pm

☀️

24°

↙︎

205°

26 km/h

5pm

☀️

23°

↓︎

200°

26 km/h

6pm

☀️

21°

↓︎

196°

25 km/h

7pm

☀️

20°

↓︎

191°

24 km/h

8pm

☀️

19°

↓︎

188°

23 km/h

9pm

☀️

19°

↓︎

186°

22 km/h

10pm

☀️

18°

↓︎

184°

20 km/h

11pm

☀️

18°

↓︎

181°

18 km/h

Hourly Swell

Steady ~1.0 m SW

12am

0.9 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Slight

1am

0.9 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Slight

2am

0.9 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Slight

3am

0.9 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Slight

4am

0.9 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Slight

5am

0.9 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Slight

6am

0.8 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Slight

7am

0.8 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Slight

8am

0.8 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Slight

chop

9am

0.8 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Slight

chop

10am

0.8 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Slight

chop

11am

0.8 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Slight

12pm

0.8 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Slight

1pm

0.8 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Slight

2pm

0.8 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Slight

3pm

0.8 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Slight

4pm

0.8 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Slight

ground

5pm

0.8 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Slight

ground

6pm

0.9 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Slight

7pm

0.9 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Slight

8pm

1.0 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Slight

9pm

1.0 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Slight

10pm

1.0 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Slight

11pm

1.0 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Slight

Water Temp (°C)

↗ warming — up 0.4° over the last 3 days

Mon

9 Nov

20.9°

Tue

10 Nov

20.9°

Wed

11 Nov

21.2°

Thu

12 Nov

21.3°

Fri

13 Nov

21.3°

Sat

14 Nov

21.1°

Sun

15 Nov

—

Mon

16 Nov

—

Tue

17 Nov

—

Wed

18 Nov

—

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 22 km/h SW (211°).

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

1:30 am → 6:00 am

4h 30m

Good

6:30 pm → 8:30 pm

Good

7:00 am → 8:30 am

1h 30m

Good

2:30 pm → 3:30 pm

First light

5:00 am

Last light

7:15 pm

Sunrise

5:24 am

Sunset

6:50 pm

Moonrise

7:09 am

Moonset

9:43 pm

Low tide

7:30 am

High tide

10:20 pm

Nearby Spots

Kalbarri (Murchison River Mouth / Wittecarra / Coastal Cliffs) 0.0 km

Species at This Spot

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