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 by boat at all, not even catch-and-release. 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 24 Sep 2026 · Australia/Perth

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24 Sep

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Today Tomorrow Sat 26 Sep

📍 Murchison River (Kalbarri)

waxing gibbous · 93%

Weather: Sunny Wind: SW 209° · 18 km/h Swell: 1.1 m @ 10 s SW Water: 20.3 °C Pressure: 1018.3 hPa ↓ falling

★★★☆☆

Medium Fish Activity

▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 6:00 am

Solunar Between windows

Time of day Dawn

Tide Slack

Wind SE 12 km/h

Moon waxing gibbous all day

Water temp 20.3 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Day timeline

Major Minor Tide Twilight

First light 5:48 am Last light 6:43 pm

High 8:00 am Low 2:42 pm High 9:18 pm

Drag or use arrow keys to explore

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

5:30 am → 7:00 am

1h 30m

Good

10:00 pm → 12:00 am

Good

6:00 pm → 7:30 pm

1h 30m

Good

3:30 pm → 4:30 pm

First light

5:48 am

Last light

6:43 pm

Sunrise

6:10 am

Sunset

6:20 pm

Moonrise

4:07 pm

Moonset

4:33 am

High tide

8:00 am

Low tide

2:42 pm

High tide

9:18 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

☀️

16°

↘︎

154°

14 km/h

1am

☀️

15°

↘︎

153°

14 km/h

2am

☀️

15°

↘︎

152°

13 km/h

3am

☀️

14°

↘︎

145°

13 km/h

4am

☀️

14°

↘︎

135°

12 km/h

5am

☀️

14°

↘︎

128°

12 km/h

6am

☀️

14°

↘︎

127°

12 km/h

7am

☀️

16°

↘︎

129°

12 km/h

8am

☀️

17°

↘︎

138°

11 km/h

9am

☀️

19°

↓︎

158°

10 km/h

10am

☀️

21°

↓︎

186°

11 km/h

11am

☀️

22°

↓︎

202°

14 km/h

12pm

☀️

23°

↙︎

209°

18 km/h

1pm

☀️

23°

↙︎

212°

21 km/h

2pm

☀️

22°

↙︎

212°

23 km/h

3pm

☀️

22°

↙︎

208°

24 km/h

4pm

☀️

21°

↓︎

201°

24 km/h

5pm

☀️

20°

↓︎

195°

24 km/h

6pm

☀️

19°

↓︎

192°

23 km/h

7pm

☀️

18°

↓︎

190°

21 km/h

8pm

☀️

17°

↓︎

189°

20 km/h

9pm

☀️

17°

↓︎

188°

20 km/h

10pm

☀️

17°

↓︎

188°

20 km/h

11pm

☀️

17°

↓︎

187°

20 km/h

Hourly Swell

Steady ~1.1 m SW

12am

1.2 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

1am

1.2 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

2am

1.2 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

3am

1.1 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

4am

1.1 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

5am

1.1 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

6am

1.1 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

7am

1.1 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

8am

1.1 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

9am

1.1 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

10am

1.1 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

11am

1.1 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

12pm

1.1 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

1pm

1.1 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

2pm

1.1 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

3pm

1.1 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

4pm

1.1 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

5pm

1.1 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

6pm

1.1 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

7pm

1.1 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

8pm

1.1 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

9pm

1.1 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

10pm

1.1 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

11pm

1.1 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

Water Temp (°C)

→ steady around 20.3°

Mon

21 Sep

20.2°

Tue

22 Sep

20.2°

Wed

23 Sep

20.2°

Thu

24 Sep

20.3°

Fri

25 Sep

20.3°

Sat

26 Sep

20.2°

Sun

27 Sep

20.2°

Mon

28 Sep

20.1°

Tue

29 Sep

—

Wed

30 Sep

—

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 18 km/h SW (209°).

Wind map data: ECMWF HRES (operational), updated every 6 hours. Not for navigation.

Open in the full fishing map (beta) →

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

5:30 am → 7:00 am

1h 30m

Good

10:00 pm → 12:00 am

Good

6:00 pm → 7:30 pm

1h 30m

Good

3:30 pm → 4:30 pm

First light

5:48 am

Last light

6:43 pm

Sunrise

6:10 am

Sunset

6:20 pm

Moonrise

4:07 pm

Moonset

4:33 am

High tide

8:00 am

Low tide

2:42 pm

High tide

9:18 pm

Nearby spots

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

Species at this spot

Weekly Bite Forecast

Murchison River (Kalbarri) + nearby Perth spots. Thursday 6pm — top windows, conditions, what's biting.

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