Where are the Shoalwater Islands Marine Park sanctuary zones?

Several sanctuary zones near Penguin Island and parts of the reef system are no-take. Boundaries are marked but verify with the official DBCA Marine Park Visitor Guide before fishing. The marine park is well-mapped; check current rules before each session.

Can I walk across the sandbar to Penguin Island?

No. Parks and Wildlife advice is do not walk or wade across the sandbar — strong rips and currents can occur, water depth and conditions change rapidly, and people have drowned attempting it. The ferry is the only sanctioned crossing and it has been running only intermittently since the island jetty went out of service. Penguins on the island are protected; don't approach or feed them.

What's the best lure for flathead at Shoalwater?

2–3 inch paddle-tail soft plastics in natural colours on 1/8 oz jigheads, worked slowly along the sand edges where the sandbar drops off. Late spring through summer is the prime window. Early morning on a moving tide produces best.

Is Shoalwater good for kids?

Yes — sealed foreshore amenities, calm shallow water in the marine park, and a productive light-tackle fishery. Adult supervision around the sandbar wade and tide changes is sensible. The Penguin Island ferry is no longer a dependable add-on for a family day — check the operator before planning around it, and treat the sandbar crossing as off limits regardless of the tide.

Bite Compass

Bite Forecast

Shoalwater Beach

Fri 04 Sep 2026 · Australia/Perth

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4 Sep

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Today Tomorrow Sat 5 Sep

📍 Shoalwater Beach

last quarter · 53%

Weather: Rainy Wind: W 280° · 16 km/h Swell: 1.7 m @ 10 s SW Water: 17.6 °C Pressure: 1014.1 hPa → steady

★★★★☆

High Fish Activity

▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 6:00 am

Solunar Major window

Time of day Dawn

Tide Moving

Wind NW 15 km/h

Moon last quarter all day

Water temp 17.6 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

5:00 am → 7:30 am

2h 30m

Good

5:00 pm → 7:30 pm

2h 30m

Good

1:00 am → 1:30 am

30m

First light

6:06 am

Last light

6:26 pm

Sunrise

6:30 am

Sunset

6:02 pm

Moonrise

12:38 am

Moonset

10:31 am

High tide

12:30 am

Low tide

1:30 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

🌧️

15°

↖︎

300°

12 km/h

1am

🌧️

15°

↖︎

298°

12 km/h

2am

🌧️

15°

↖︎

299°

13 km/h

3am

🌧️

15°

↖︎

302°

13 km/h

4am

🌧️

15°

↖︎

307°

14 km/h

5am

🌧️

15°

↖︎

312°

14 km/h

6am

🌧️

15°

↖︎

317°

15 km/h

7am

🌧️

15°

↖︎

320°

16 km/h

8am

🌧️

15°

↖︎

319°

16 km/h

9am

🌧️

15°

↖︎

314°

16 km/h

10am

🌧️

15°

↖︎

304°

15 km/h

11am

🌧️

15°

←︎

292°

16 km/h

12pm

🌧️

14°

←︎

280°

16 km/h

1pm

🌧️

14°

←︎

273°

16 km/h

2pm

🌧️

14°

←︎

267°

16 km/h

3pm

🌧️

14°

←︎

266°

14 km/h

4pm

🌧️

13°

←︎

268°

10 km/h

5pm

🌧️

13°

←︎

278°

5 km/h

6pm

🌧️

13°

↑︎

340°

2 km/h

7pm

🌧️

12°

↗︎

47°

4 km/h

8pm

🌧️

12°

↗︎

58°

7 km/h

9pm

🌧️

11°

↗︎

61°

8 km/h

10pm

🌧️

11°

↗︎

62°

8 km/h

11pm

🌧️

10°

↗︎

61°

7 km/h

Hourly Swell

Steady ~1.6 m SW

12am

1.8 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Moderate

1am

1.8 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Moderate

2am

1.8 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Moderate

3am

1.8 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Moderate

4am

1.7 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Moderate

5am

1.7 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Moderate

6am

1.7 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Moderate

7am

1.7 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Moderate

8am

1.7 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Moderate

9am

1.7 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

10am

1.7 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

11am

1.7 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

12pm

1.7 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

1pm

1.7 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

2pm

1.7 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

3pm

1.7 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

4pm

1.7 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

5pm

1.7 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

6pm

1.7 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

7pm

1.7 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

8pm

1.7 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

9pm

1.7 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

10pm

1.6 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

11pm

1.6 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

Water Temp (°C)

→ steady around 17.6°

Tue

1 Sep

17.4°

Wed

2 Sep

17.4°

Thu

3 Sep

17.6°

Fri

4 Sep

17.6°

Sat

5 Sep

17.7°

Sun

6 Sep

17.6°

Mon

7 Sep

—

Tue

8 Sep

—

Wed

9 Sep

—

Thu

10 Sep

—

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 16 km/h W (280°).

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

5:00 am → 7:30 am

2h 30m

Good

5:00 pm → 7:30 pm

2h 30m

Good

1:00 am → 1:30 am

30m

First light

6:06 am

Last light

6:26 pm

Sunrise

6:30 am

Sunset

6:02 pm

Moonrise

12:38 am

Moonset

10:31 am

High tide

12:30 am

Low tide

1:30 pm

Nearby spots

Species at this spot

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Shoalwater Beach + nearby Perth spots. Thursday 6pm — top windows, conditions, what's biting.

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