Australian Fishing Depth Charts
Interactive bathymetric charts covering the entire Australian coastline — from estuary sandbars to the continental shelf. Depth contours, spot soundings, structure detection and target-depth shading, built specifically for Australian fishos and free to explore.
What the charts show
Depth contours from real survey data
Contours at 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 m and beyond, drawn from ETOPO 2022 and SRTM15+ global bathymetry at 15 arc-second resolution — roughly 450 m between soundings anywhere on the Australian coast.
Spot soundings in metres
Numeric depth labels across the chart, the same way a paper nav chart reads. Values under 20 m resolve to a tenth of a metre so you can pick the difference between a 4.2 m flat and a 4.8 m gutter.
Drop-off and ledge detection
The chart engine measures the depth gradient across every cell of the grid and marks the sharpest breaks — channel edges, reef drop-offs and ledges where pelagics and demersals hold.
Humps and holes finder
Banks and humps that rise above the surrounding bottom are flagged in yellow; holes and gutters that sit deeper are flagged in blue. These are the classic ambush points for flathead, snapper and mulloway.
Target-depth shading
Set the depth band your target species is holding in — say 8 to 15 m for inshore snapper — and the chart highlights matching water while dimming everything else. It's the fastest way to narrow a big coastline down to fishable water.
Depth probe and measure tools
Tap anywhere for an exact sounding at that point, or lay down a run line and measure it in nautical miles and kilometres before you leave the ramp.
How to actually fish with them
Finding snapper ground in the shallows
Pink snapper in southern Australia spend much of the year scattered across broken 10–20 m ground. Turn on target-depth shading for that band, then look inside the highlighted area for drop-off markers and humps. A 2 m rise inside the right depth band is exactly the kind of structure that holds fish — and it's invisible on a plain satellite map.
Reading an estuary mouth
At river and estuary mouths, the 2 m and 5 m contours tell you where the sandbars sit and where the deeper channel runs. Fish the contour that tightens against the bar on a run-in tide — that's where bait gets funnelled. The contour labels show the depth along each line so you don't need to tap every point.
Offshore reef and shelf edges
Beyond the 50 m line, drop-off detection finds the shelf edge and isolated pinnacles. Holes flagged in blue on an otherwise flat bottom are worth marking — pearl perch, bass groper and hapuku hold in exactly that kind of country along the continental shelf.
Squid and whiting on the flats
Set the depth band to 1–4 m and the whole flat lights up. Look for the blue hole markers inside the band: slightly deeper gutters across a shallow flat are where king george whiting and squid concentrate, especially around seagrass edges in South Australian and Victorian bays.
Where the depth data comes from
Soundings are sampled from the ETOPO 2022 global relief model and the SRTM15+ ocean bathymetry dataset, both at 15 arc-second resolution, with GEBCO's global gridded bathymetry as the visual base layer. These are the same public survey datasets that commercial chart products build on. The chart engine — contouring, sounding labels, drop-off detection, hump and hole finding — runs live in your browser on that data, so the chart redraws at full resolution wherever you pan, with no pre-baked tiles to go stale.
These charts are a fishing and planning tool, not a navigation aid. Always carry official hydrographic charts and follow the safety rules for your state — start with our fishing guides and the regulations summary on every fishing spot page.
Depth chart FAQ
Are the depth charts free to use?
The depth chart landing page and an overview of every feature are free. The live interactive chart — contours, soundings, structure detection and target-depth shading — is part of Local Knowledge Pro, which includes a 7-day free trial.
Where does the depth data come from?
Soundings are sampled from the ETOPO 2022 global relief model and the SRTM15+ ocean bathymetry dataset at 15 arc-second resolution, with GEBCO gridded bathymetry as the visual base layer.
How accurate are the depths?
Resolution is roughly 450 m between soundings anywhere on the Australian coast. That is accurate enough to find drop-offs, banks, holes and channel edges, but it is a fishing and planning tool, not a navigation aid.
Can I use these charts for navigation?
No. Always carry official hydrographic charts and follow the boating safety rules for your state. These charts are for fishing planning only.
Do the charts cover the whole of Australia?
Yes — every state and territory coastline, from estuary sandbars and shallow flats through to the continental shelf edge.
See it live
The full chart — contours, soundings, structure markers, target-depth shading, depth probe and measure tools — is part of Local Knowledge Pro, together with the fish finder that scores every spot for your target species. There's a 7-day free trial.
Start the free trial