Best time to fish in Portsmith
Today, Thursday, October 29, 2026 · local time (GMT+10) · Queensland, Australia Today, Thu, Oct 29 · GMT+10- High tides
- 11:27 am and 10:43 pm
- Major periods
- 1:16–3:16 am and 1:48–3:48 pm
- Solunar activity
- Medium
- Sun
- 5:41 am–6:21 pm
Today, Thursday, October 29, the best time to fish in Portsmith is 5:50 pm to 6:40 pm, with the 5:45 pm low tide, sunset and some swell. It's an average day (6/10). The best day this week is Tuesday, November 3, at 7/10.
Your day in Portsmith at a glance
The strip runs from midnight to midnight, local time. Night in gray, daylight in yellow; the blue curve is the tide; below, the solunar periods and the best windows.
Fishing forecast for the next 7 days
| Day | Rating | Best times | High tides | Moon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Today | 6average day | 5:50–6:40 pm10:30 am–12:30 pm | ▲ 11:27 am ▲ 10:43 pm | Waning gibbous |
| Fri 30 | 5average day | 5:20–6:10 am2:50–4:50 pm | ▲ 12:49 pm | Waning gibbous |
| Sat 31 | 4fair day | 4:00–6:00 pm1:50–3:00 pm | ▲ 12:15 am ▲ 2:51 pm | Waning gibbous |
| Sun 1 | 6average day | 5:20–6:10 am5:50–6:40 pm | ▲ 3:30 am ▲ 4:07 pm | Waning gibbous |
| Mon 2 | 7good day | 5:20–6:10 am5:50–6:50 pm | ▲ 4:41 am ▲ 4:58 pm | Last quarter |
| Tue 3 | 7good day | 5:20–6:30 am5:50–6:50 pm | ▲ 5:28 am ▲ 5:39 pm | Waning crescent |
| Wed 4 | 6average day | 5:20–6:10 am5:50–6:50 pm | ▲ 6:09 am ▲ 6:15 pm | Waning crescent |
Each day's rating comes from the tide, the solunar periods, the light and, when we have the forecast, the weather.
What can you catch in Portsmith?
Sport fishing species with the most records within about 19 mi of Portsmith: barramundi, leopard coral grouper, bluefin trevally, mangrove red snapper and cobia. October is one of the months when these are seen most: giant trevally.
- Barramundi Lates calcarifer · fish · 57 records Photo: Mitch Ames · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Too few sightings to tell the months
- Leopard coral grouper Plectropomus leopardus · fish · 17 records Photo: portioid · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- JanJ
- FebF
- MarM
- AprA
- MayM
- JunJ
- JulJ
- AugA
- SepS
- OctO
- NovN
- DecD
- Bluefin trevally Caranx melampygus · fish · 16 records Photo: Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- JanJ
- FebF
- MarM
- AprA
- MayM
- JunJ
- JulJ
- AugA
- SepS
- OctO
- NovN
- DecD
- Mangrove red snapper Lutjanus argentimaculatus · fish · 7 records Photo: Jean-Lou Justine · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Too few sightings to tell the months
- Cobia Rachycentron canadum · fish · 6 records Photo: Wikimedia Commons · public domain
Too few sightings to tell the months
- Giant trevally Caranx ignobilis · fish · 5 records Photo: Dr. Dwayne Meadows, NOAA/NMFS/OPR · public domain · Wikimedia Commons
- JanJ
- FebF
- MarM
- AprA
- MayM
- JunJ
- JulJ
- AugA
- SepS
- OctO
- NovN
- DecD
- Japanese amberjack Seriola quinqueradiata · fish · 5 records Photo: E-190's · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Too few sightings to tell the months
- Striped mullet Mugil cephalus · fish · 4 records Photo: Roberto Pillon · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Too few sightings to tell the months
These are sightings and catches recorded since 1970 (reports from divers and anglers, scientific surveys and museum collections), not a promise that you will catch them. The months come from sightings only, adjusted for how many there are each month; hatched months have too few to tell.
Source: GBIF.org, which also gathers OBIS data. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY 4.0, from 1,130 datasets (retrieved October 24, 2026). Where the data comes from
Photos: each species' image on Wikidata (Wikimedia Commons) or, if there isn't one, one from GBIF; only licences that allow this use, each with its author and licence.
Piers, ramps and tackle shops nearby
Map: OpenFreeMap · © OpenMapTiles · © OpenStreetMap contributors
- Sailfish Quay 1.8 mi
- Old Captain Cook Highway 5.2 mi
- Boat ramp 0.8 mi
- Boat ramp 0.9 mi
- Boat ramp 3.4 mi
- Cairns Marlin Marina 1.7 mi
- Spear N Tackle 0.5 mi
- Tackle World Cairns 0.7 mi
- Erskine's Tackle World 1.1 mi
- Cairns Professional Game Fishing Association 1.5 mi
- Queensland Fishing 1.6 mi
- Cairns Boat Hire, Self Drive Fishing & Crocodile Spotting 1.6 mi
Within 9.3 mi. A spot may be missing or closed. Open the map on OpenStreetMap · Missing one? Add it to OpenStreetMap
Spots: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) and Overture Maps.
How we work out the best time
We score every moment of the day, every 10 minutes, with simple rules anglers have used for decades:
- Tide: 2 to 3.5 points in the hour before and the hour after each high and low tide. Spring tides (high coefficient) score more, because the water moves faster.
- Solunar: 2.5 points in the major periods (moon overhead or underfoot) and 1.5 in the minor ones (moonrise and moonset).
- Light: 2 points at dawn and dusk, from first light to the end of the morning golden hour and from the evening golden hour to the end of twilight.
- Weather: falling pressure adds 1 point and rising pressure takes 1 away; wind takes points away from force 4 (about 12 mph), up to 5 points in a gale; waves of 1.6 ft to 4.9 ft add half a point (they stir up the water) and from 8.2 ft they take points away (up to 4).
- Best windows: the stretches of 40 minutes to 3 hours with the most points, at least an hour apart.
- Day's rating out of 10: the best window (up to 5), the moon (up to 2, near new or full moon), the tide coefficient (up to 2) and whether a solunar period lines up with sunrise or sunset (1). Without a tide, we score out of 8 and scale it to 10. Good weather adds up to 1 point and bad weather pulls it down.
Today: best window 3.2 of 5, moon 1 of 2, coefficient 1 of 2 and lineup 0 of 1; the weather adds 0.5.
It's a guide, not a guarantee: fish don't read tide tables. Always check the sea conditions and local fishing rules before you go.
Learn more
Fishing rules in Portsmith
Licenses, size limits, bag limits and closed seasons are set by the authorities and change often. We don't copy them here: check the official website before you go.
Questions about fishing in Portsmith
What's the best time to fish in Portsmith today?
5:50 pm to 6:40 pm, with the 5:45 pm low tide, sunset and some swell. Also 10:30 am to 12:30 pm and 1:50 pm to 3:50 pm. Today's rating: 6/10 (average day).
What about tomorrow? When's the best time to fish in Portsmith?
Tomorrow, Friday, October 30: 5:20 am to 6:10 am, with a rating of 5/10.
Which day this week is best for fishing in Portsmith?
Tuesday, November 3, at 7/10. Its best window is 5:20 am to 6:30 am.
What can you catch in Portsmith?
Sport fishing species with the most records within about 19 mi of Portsmith: barramundi, leopard coral grouper, bluefin trevally, mangrove red snapper and cobia. October is one of the months when these are seen most: giant trevally. These are sightings and catches recorded in GBIF and OBIS, not a promise that you will catch them.
When are the solunar periods in Portsmith today?
Major: 1:16–3:16 am and 1:48–3:48 pm. Minor: 7:24–8:24 am and 9:14–10:14 pm. Solunar activity today: medium.
Does the tide affect fishing in Portsmith?
Yes. Today high tide is at 11:27 am and 10:43 pm and low tide at 4:18 am and 5:45 pm, with a tide coefficient of 62 (small tides). The hours around each tide change tend to fish best, because moving water carries food.
How is the rating worked out?
From the tide, the solunar periods, the light at dawn and dusk, the moon phase and, when we have the forecast, the pressure, the wind and the waves. Each factor gives a fixed number of points and the rating sums them up out of 10.
Does it take the weather into account?
Yes. During today's best window: steady pressure (30.03 inHg), almost no wind and some swell (2.1 ft waves) to stir the water. Strong wind and big waves lower the rating; falling pressure raises it a little.
What are the fishing rules in Portsmith?
Recreational fishing rules in Portsmith (licenses, size limits, bag limits and closed seasons) are set by the authorities: Queensland Department of Primary Industries. They change often: check the official website before you go.
More about Portsmith today
Our own calculation: tide from Cairns (TICON-4), sun and moon with astronomy-engine and, when available, weather and sea from Open-Meteo (ECMWF, NOAA GFS and Copernicus Marine, CC BY 4.0). Slackwater database (https://github.com/openwatersio/slackwater-database). Source: Hart-Davis, M., Dettmering, D., Seitz, F. (2025), TICON-4: TIdal CONstants based on GESLA-4 sea-level records, SEANOE, https://doi.org/10.17882/109129. Licensed CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Modified: see https://github.com/openwatersio/slackwater-database#modifications-to-source-data