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)

Sun 27 Sep 2026 · Australia/Perth

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📍 Murchison River (Kalbarri)

full · 100%

Weather: Rainy Wind: S 181° · 8 km/h Swell: 2.3 m @ 10 s SW Water: 20.2 °C Pressure: 1018.2 hPa ↓ falling

★★★★☆

High Fish Activity

▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 6:30 pm

Solunar Minor window

Time of day Dusk

Tide Moving

Wind S 18 km/h

Moon full all day

Water temp 20.2 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Day timeline

Major Minor Tide Twilight

First light 5:44 am Last light 6:44 pm

Low 4:00 am High 10:30 am Low 2:20 pm High 9:30 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

5:00 am → 7:30 am

2h 30m

Good

10:00 am → 12:30 pm

2h 30m

Good

1:30 pm → 2:30 pm

First light

5:44 am

Last light

6:44 pm

Sunrise

6:07 am

Sunset

6:21 pm

Moonrise

7:04 pm

Moonset

6:06 am

Low tide

4:00 am

High tide

10:30 am

Low tide

2:20 pm

High tide

9:30 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

🌧️

15°

↙︎

231°

7 km/h

1am

🌧️

15°

↙︎

219°

6 km/h

2am

🌧️

15°

↓︎

202°

5 km/h

3am

☀️

15°

↓︎

180°

4 km/h

4am

☀️

15°

↘︎

149°

4 km/h

5am

☀️

15°

↘︎

126°

5 km/h

6am

☀️

16°

↘︎

114°

6 km/h

7am

☀️

16°

→︎

108°

7 km/h

8am

☀️

16°

→︎

109°

8 km/h

9am

🌧️

17°

↘︎

118°

7 km/h

10am

🌧️

18°

↘︎

136°

6 km/h

11am

🌧️

19°

↓︎

162°

7 km/h

12pm

🌧️

20°

↓︎

181°

8 km/h

1pm

🌧️

21°

↓︎

192°

10 km/h

2pm

🌧️

21°

↓︎

195°

12 km/h

3pm

☀️

21°

↓︎

193°

13 km/h

4pm

☀️

20°

↓︎

187°

15 km/h

5pm

☀️

19°

↓︎

181°

16 km/h

6pm

☀️

18°

↓︎

176°

18 km/h

7pm

☀️

17°

↓︎

171°

19 km/h

8pm

☀️

17°

↓︎

168°

20 km/h

9pm

☀️

16°

↓︎

165°

19 km/h

10pm

☀️

15°

↓︎

162°

18 km/h

11pm

☀️

15°

↘︎

157°

17 km/h

Hourly Swell

Easing 2.5 → 2.2 m SW

12am

2.5 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Solid

ground

1am

2.5 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Solid

ground

2am

2.5 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Solid

ground

3am

2.5 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Solid

ground

4am

2.5 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Solid

ground

5am

2.5 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Solid

ground

6am

2.4 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Solid

7am

2.2 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Solid

8am

2.1 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Solid

9am

2.2 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Solid

10am

2.2 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Solid

11am

2.2 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Solid

12pm

2.3 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Solid

1pm

2.3 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Solid

2pm

2.3 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Solid

3pm

2.3 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Solid

4pm

2.3 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Solid

5pm

2.3 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Solid

6pm

2.3 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Solid

7pm

2.3 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Solid

8pm

2.3 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Solid

9pm

2.2 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Solid

10pm

2.2 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Solid

11pm

2.2 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Solid

Water Temp (°C)

→ steady around 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

—

Thu

1 Oct

—

Fri

2 Oct

—

Sat

3 Oct

—

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 8 km/h S (181°).

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 pm → 8:00 pm

2h 30m

Good

5:00 am → 7:30 am

2h 30m

Good

10:00 am → 12:30 pm

2h 30m

Good

1:30 pm → 2:30 pm

First light

5:44 am

Last light

6:44 pm

Sunrise

6:07 am

Sunset

6:21 pm

Moonrise

7:04 pm

Moonset

6:06 am

Low tide

4:00 am

High tide

10:30 am

Low tide

2:20 pm

High tide

9:30 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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