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)

Mon 09 Nov 2026 · Australia/Perth

Forecast updated 6:01am AWST

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9 Nov

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Today Tomorrow Sat 7 Nov

📍 Murchison River (Kalbarri)

new · 1%

Weather: Cloudy Wind: S 189° · 28 km/h Swell: 0.9 m @ 12 s SW Water: 20.9 °C Pressure: 1016.4 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 Minor window

Time of day Dawn

Tide Turning

Wind S 17 km/h

Moon new all day

Water temp 20.9 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Day Timeline

Major Minor Tide Twilight

First light 5:01 am Last light 7:12 pm

Low 5:12 am High 11:45 am High 9:00 pm

Drag or use arrow keys to explore

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

4:30 am → 6:30 am

Good

6:30 pm → 8:00 pm

1h 30m

Good

11:00 am → 1:00 pm

Good

11:30 pm → 12:00 am

30m

First light

5:01 am

Last light

7:12 pm

Sunrise

5:26 am

Sunset

6:48 pm

Moonrise

4:59 am

Moonset

6:56 pm

Low tide

5:12 am

High tide

11:45 am

High tide

9:00 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

☁️

18°

↓︎

176°

25 km/h

1am

☁️

18°

↓︎

175°

25 km/h

2am

☁️

18°

↓︎

175°

24 km/h

3am

☁️

17°

↓︎

174°

22 km/h

4am

☁️

17°

↓︎

170°

18 km/h

5am

☁️

17°

↓︎

168°

17 km/h

6am

☁️

18°

↓︎

166°

19 km/h

7am

☁️

19°

↓︎

166°

22 km/h

8am

☁️

20°

↓︎

168°

25 km/h

9am

☁️

22°

↓︎

175°

25 km/h

10am

☁️

23°

↓︎

183°

24 km/h

11am

☁️

24°

↓︎

189°

25 km/h

12pm

☁️

24°

↓︎

189°

28 km/h

1pm

☀️

23°

↓︎

186°

31 km/h

2pm

☀️

22°

↓︎

184°

33 km/h

3pm

☀️

22°

↓︎

190°

33 km/h

4pm

☀️

21°

↓︎

187°

34 km/h

5pm

☀️

20°

↓︎

183°

34 km/h

6pm

☀️

19°

↓︎

179°

35 km/h

7pm

☀️

18°

↓︎

175°

35 km/h

8pm

☀️

17°

↓︎

172°

35 km/h

9pm

☀️

16°

↓︎

170°

34 km/h

10pm

☀️

16°

↓︎

168°

33 km/h

11pm

☀️

16°

↓︎

167°

32 km/h

Hourly Swell

Steady ~1.0 m S

12am

1.0 m

@ 7 s

↙︎

Slight

chop

1am

1.0 m

@ 6 s

↙︎

Slight

chop

2am

1.0 m

@ 6 s

↙︎

Slight

chop

3am

1.0 m

@ 6 s

↙︎

Slight

chop

4am

0.9 m

@ 7 s

↙︎

Slight

chop

5am

0.9 m

@ 7 s

↙︎

Slight

chop

6am

1.0 m

@ 6 s

↙︎

Moderate

chop

7am

1.1 m

@ 6 s

↙︎

Moderate

chop

8am

1.2 m

@ 6 s

↓︎

Moderate

chop

9am

1.1 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Moderate

chop

10am

0.9 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Slight

ground

11am

0.8 m

@ 12 s

↙︎

Slight

ground

12pm

0.9 m

@ 12 s

↙︎

Slight

ground

1pm

0.9 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Slight

ground

2pm

0.9 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Slight

ground

3pm

0.9 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Slight

ground

4pm

0.9 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Slight

ground

5pm

1.0 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Slight

ground

6pm

1.0 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Slight

ground

7pm

1.0 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Slight

ground

8pm

1.0 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Slight

ground

9pm

1.0 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

10pm

1.0 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Moderate

11pm

1.0 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Moderate

Water Temp (°C)

→ steady around 20.9°

Fri

6 Nov

20.9°

Sat

7 Nov

20.9°

Sun

8 Nov

20.9°

Mon

9 Nov

20.9°

Tue

10 Nov

20.9°

Wed

11 Nov

21.3°

Thu

12 Nov

21.4°

Fri

13 Nov

21.4°

Sat

14 Nov

—

Sun

15 Nov

—

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 28 km/h S (189°).

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

4:30 am → 6:30 am

Good

6:30 pm → 8:00 pm

1h 30m

Good

11:00 am → 1:00 pm

Good

11:30 pm → 12:00 am

30m

First light

5:01 am

Last light

7:12 pm

Sunrise

5:26 am

Sunset

6:48 pm

Moonrise

4:59 am

Moonset

6:56 pm

Low tide

5:12 am

High tide

11:45 am

High tide

9:00 pm

Nearby Spots

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

Species at This Spot

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