Is the Nornalup Inlet really that good for bream?

Yes. Nornalup has a long-standing reputation as one of the better black-bream estuaries in Western Australia, with quality fish around Newdegate Island, the Frankland River mouth and the deeper snag lines. Light gear, small presentations and clean casts to structure are the local approach.

Can I drive a boat through the bar to the open sea?

Sometimes, depending on swell, recent storms and the current shape of the bar. The opening is shallow and shifts, and it is not a casual passage — locals who know the bar pick their windows carefully and most visitors fish the inlets instead. If you have not crossed it before, treat the bar as a hazard rather than an option.

Does the West Coast demersal closure apply at Walpole?

No. Walpole sits in the South Coast Bioregion, which has its own bag and size structure for demersal scalefish and is not subject to the West Coast boat-based closure that runs to spring 2027. Verify the current South Coast Bioregion rules with DPIRD before targeting any demersal species.

When do salmon hit Mandalay Beach?

The autumn migration window through this part of the south coast is best from February to May, and salmon are about in smaller numbers the rest of the year. Time the run with a settled forecast — Mandalay is fully exposed and washes out in any sizeable swell, so the fishable days inside the run are the ones that matter.

Bite Compass

Bite Forecast

Walpole / Nornalup Inlet (Coalmine Beach / Mandalay Beach)

Sun 11 Oct 2026 · Australia/Perth

Forecast updated Sun 11 Oct, 10:11pm AWST

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📍 Walpole / Nornalup Inlet (Coalmine Beach / Mandalay Beach)

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Weather: Cloudy Wind: S 202° · 7 km/h Swell: 3.8 m @ 10 s SW Water: 17.6 °C Pressure: 1020.0 hPa ↑ rising Sheltered water: wind direction matters less here

★★★☆☆

Medium Fish Activity

▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 7:00 pm

Solunar Minor window

Time of day Dusk

Tide Moving

Wind SW 7 km/h

Moon new all day

Water temp 17.6 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Day timeline

Major Minor Tide Twilight

First light 5:11 am Last light 6:49 pm

Low 5:18 am High 10:30 am Low 3:00 pm High 10:10 pm

Drag or use arrow keys to explore

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

6:00 pm → 8:00 pm

Good

4:30 am → 6:30 am

Good

12:00 am → 1:30 am

1h 30m

Good

10:30 am → 1:00 pm

2h 30m

First light

5:11 am

Last light

6:49 pm

Sunrise

5:36 am

Sunset

6:24 pm

Moonrise

5:32 am

Moonset

7:10 pm

Low tide

5:18 am

High tide

10:30 am

Low tide

3:00 pm

High tide

10:10 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

🌧️

10°

↙︎

216°

24 km/h

1am

☁️

11°

↙︎

215°

23 km/h

2am

☀️

11°

↙︎

215°

23 km/h

3am

☀️

11°

↙︎

213°

21 km/h

4am

☀️

10°

↙︎

212°

20 km/h

5am

☀️

10°

↙︎

210°

18 km/h

6am

☀️

10°

↙︎

209°

17 km/h

7am

☀️

11°

↙︎

207°

17 km/h

8am

☁️

12°

↙︎

210°

17 km/h

9am

☁️

13°

↙︎

212°

16 km/h

10am

☁️

13°

↙︎

213°

16 km/h

11am

☁️

13°

↙︎

214°

14 km/h

12pm

☁️

13°

↙︎

214°

14 km/h

1pm

☁️

13°

↙︎

215°

13 km/h

2pm

☁️

13°

↙︎

216°

12 km/h

3pm

☁️

13°

↙︎

215°

12 km/h

4pm

☁️

12°

↙︎

212°

11 km/h

5pm

☁️

12°

↙︎

211°

9 km/h

6pm

☁️

12°

↙︎

213°

7 km/h

7pm

☁️

11°

↙︎

212°

7 km/h

8pm

☁️

11°

↙︎

207°

7 km/h

9pm

☁️

11°

↙︎

204°

7 km/h

10pm

☁️

11°

↓︎

202°

7 km/h

11pm

☁️

11°

↓︎

196°

7 km/h

Hourly Swell

Easing 4.7 → 3.8 m SW

12am

4.7 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Huge

ground

1am

4.7 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Huge

ground

2am

4.7 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Huge

ground

3am

4.7 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Huge

ground

4am

4.8 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Huge

ground

5am

4.8 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Huge

ground

6am

4.8 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Huge

ground

7am

4.7 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Huge

ground

8am

4.7 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Huge

ground

9am

4.6 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Huge

ground

10am

4.5 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Huge

ground

11am

4.5 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Huge

ground

12pm

4.4 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Huge

ground

1pm

4.3 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Huge

ground

2pm

4.2 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Huge

ground

3pm

4.1 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Huge

ground

4pm

4.0 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Huge

ground

5pm

3.9 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Heavy

ground

6pm

3.9 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Heavy

ground

7pm

3.9 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Heavy

ground

8pm

3.9 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Heavy

ground

9pm

3.8 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Heavy

ground

10pm

3.8 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Heavy

ground

11pm

3.8 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Heavy

ground

Water Temp (°C)

→ steady around 17.6°

Thu

8 Oct

17.9°

Fri

9 Oct

17.7°

Sat

10 Oct

17.6°

Sun

11 Oct

17.6°

Mon

12 Oct

17.6°

Tue

13 Oct

17.6°

Wed

14 Oct

17.6°

Thu

15 Oct

17.7°

Fri

16 Oct

17.8°

Sat

17 Oct

17.9°

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 7 km/h S (202°).

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

6:00 pm → 8:00 pm

Good

4:30 am → 6:30 am

Good

12:00 am → 1:30 am

1h 30m

Good

10:30 am → 1:00 pm

2h 30m

First light

5:11 am

Last light

6:49 pm

Sunrise

5:36 am

Sunset

6:24 pm

Moonrise

5:32 am

Moonset

7:10 pm

Low tide

5:18 am

High tide

10:30 am

Low tide

3:00 pm

High tide

10:10 pm

Nearby spots

Peaceful Bay 19.6 km

Species at this spot

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