Brisbane Bite Times & Fishing Forecast

Brisbane Fishing Times, Planned Before You Go

Bite Compass is a free fishing almanac, and this is its Queensland edition. Instead of juggling a tide chart, a wind app and a moon calendar, you get the best fishing times for Brisbane, Moreton Bay, the Gold and Sunshine Coasts and the coast north to Yeppoon in one place — every spot scored hour by hour for the next seven days, so you can pick the session before the afternoon storm picks it for you.

Today's Brisbane Bite Times and Feeding Windows

The spot score combines light, tides, wind, suitable water-temperature inputs and lunar windows on the local Brisbane clock — which, usefully, never changes for daylight saving. Solunar windows receive less weight than dawn and dusk in the generic model; species forecasts use their own behavior profiles. Open any spot to compare its activity through the day, and use these estimates alongside current conditions and local knowledge.

Jetty, Rock Wall and Beach Conditions at a Glance

A good feeding window still needs fishable conditions. Every forecast factors in live tides, wind speed and direction, swell and water temperature, then weighs them against moon phase and light. Queensland adds its own quirks: the south-east trade wind that sets in for weeks at a time, the bars at the Seaway, Jumpinpin and Wide Bay that turn on the run-out, and tides that grow from a metre or so on the Gold Coast to several metres at Gladstone and Yeppoon. On exposed rocks and the ocean walls a lifejacket is strongly recommended (AS 4758, Level 50S or better for adults).

Where the Fish Are Biting in Queensland

South-east Queensland is estuary and sandbank country. Bream, whiting and flathead carry the year from the Gold Coast canals to the Pumicestone Passage, tailor run the beaches and walls in the cooler months, and summer brings mangrove jack to the rock bars and mackerel into casting range off the jetties and headlands. Further north the Fraser Coast and the Capricorn Coast add trevally, queenfish, grunter and threadfin, and the rivers belong to barramundi — closed on the east coast from 1 November to 31 January, no take and no possession of a fish caught then. From the Boyne River and Gladstone north it is crocodile country: stay back from the water's edge and never wade. Snapper and pearl perch are closed from 15 July to 15 August, female mud crabs and blue swimmers always go back, and the marine park green zones in Moreton Bay, Great Sandy and the Great Barrier Reef parks are no-take, full stop. The good news for visitors: there is no recreational fishing licence for Queensland's tidal waters.

How the Bite Forecast Works

Each spot page scores the day out of 100 from solunar feeding windows, tide movement, wind and water temperature, then shows the hours worth fishing. Read how the score is built.