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)

Sat 31 Oct 2026 · Australia/Perth

Forecast updated Sat 31 Oct, 10:03pm AWST

Bite Alert

Change Spot

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31 Oct

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Today Tomorrow Sat 7 Nov

📍 Murchison River (Kalbarri)

waning gibbous · 74%

Weather: Sunny Wind: SW 246° · 7 km/h Swell: 1.5 m @ 7 s W Water: 20.9 °C Pressure: 1016.8 hPa → steady Faces several ways: wind direction isn't scored here

★★★★☆

High Fish Activity

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▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 5:00 am

Solunar Major window

Time of day Dawn

Tide Moving

Wind NW 17 km/h

Moon waning gibbous all day

Water temp 20.9 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Day Timeline

Major Minor Tide Twilight

First light 5:08 am Last light 7:05 pm

Low 9:43 am

Drag or use arrow keys to explore

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

3:30 am → 6:30 am

Good

4:30 pm → 8:30 pm

Good

9:30 am → 10:30 am

First light

5:08 am

Last light

7:05 pm

Sunrise

5:32 am

Sunset

6:41 pm

Moonrise

—

Moonset

9:47 am

Low tide

9:43 am

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

☀️

19°

←︎

289°

17 km/h

1am

☀️

19°

↖︎

314°

15 km/h

2am

☀️

19°

↖︎

324°

14 km/h

3am

☀️

19°

↖︎

326°

15 km/h

4am

☀️

19°

↖︎

331°

15 km/h

5am

☁️

19°

↖︎

333°

17 km/h

6am

🌧️

19°

↖︎

314°

20 km/h

7am

🌧️

19°

↖︎

301°

20 km/h

8am

🌧️

20°

←︎

279°

19 km/h

9am

🌧️

20°

←︎

268°

19 km/h

10am

🌧️

20°

←︎

260°

17 km/h

11am

☁️

22°

←︎

256°

18 km/h

12pm

☀️

22°

←︎

257°

18 km/h

1pm

☀️

22°

←︎

258°

19 km/h

2pm

☀️

22°

←︎

259°

19 km/h

3pm

☀️

22°

←︎

258°

19 km/h

4pm

☀️

21°

←︎

252°

19 km/h

5pm

☀️

20°

↙︎

247°

18 km/h

6pm

☀️

20°

↙︎

243°

16 km/h

7pm

☀️

19°

↙︎

246°

14 km/h

8pm

☀️

18°

↙︎

244°

12 km/h

9pm

☀️

18°

↙︎

244°

9 km/h

10pm

☀️

18°

↙︎

246°

7 km/h

11pm

☀️

17°

←︎

251°

6 km/h

Hourly Swell

Building 0.9 → 1.6 m W

12am

0.9 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Slight

ground

1am

0.9 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Slight

ground

2am

0.9 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Slight

ground

3am

0.9 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Slight

ground

4am

0.9 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Slight

ground

5am

0.9 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Slight

ground

6am

0.9 m

@ 9 s

←︎

Slight

7am

0.9 m

@ 7 s

←︎

Slight

chop

8am

0.9 m

@ 6 s

←︎

Slight

chop

9am

1.0 m

@ 5 s

←︎

Moderate

chop

10am

1.1 m

@ 5 s

←︎

Moderate

chop

11am

1.2 m

@ 5 s

←︎

Moderate

chop

12pm

1.2 m

@ 5 s

←︎

Moderate

chop

1pm

1.2 m

@ 5 s

←︎

Moderate

chop

2pm

1.2 m

@ 5 s

←︎

Moderate

chop

3pm

1.1 m

@ 6 s

←︎

Moderate

chop

4pm

1.1 m

@ 6 s

←︎

Moderate

chop

5pm

1.1 m

@ 7 s

←︎

Moderate

chop

6pm

1.1 m

@ 7 s

←︎

Moderate

chop

7pm

1.1 m

@ 7 s

←︎

Moderate

chop

8pm

1.1 m

@ 7 s

←︎

Moderate

chop

9pm

1.3 m

@ 7 s

←︎

Moderate

chop

10pm

1.5 m

@ 7 s

←︎

Moderate

chop

11pm

1.6 m

@ 8 s

←︎

Moderate

chop

Water Temp (°C)

↗ warming — up 0.8° over the last 3 days

Wed

28 Oct

20.1°

Thu

29 Oct

20.2°

Fri

30 Oct

20.9°

Sat

31 Oct

20.9°

Sun

1 Nov

21.0°

Mon

2 Nov

20.9°

Tue

3 Nov

20.8°

Wed

4 Nov

20.8°

Thu

5 Nov

20.8°

Fri

6 Nov

20.9°

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 7 km/h SW (246°).

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

3:30 am → 6:30 am

Good

4:30 pm → 8:30 pm

Good

9:30 am → 10:30 am

First light

5:08 am

Last light

7:05 pm

Sunrise

5:32 am

Sunset

6:41 pm

Moonrise

—

Moonset

9:47 am

Low tide

9:43 am

Nearby Spots

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

Species at This Spot

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