Fishermans Reef Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here, and I've pulled up the goods for this stretch of coast. Let's be straight about it: Fishermans Reef is a very sheltered little spot, and we're looking at a long, quiet stretch ahead. The overall pattern is pretty flat, with only one brief window where things get even a little interesting for seasoned surfers. We've got a big gap of nothingness at the start, followed by most of the forecast period offering hardly a ripple.

The best we've got in this entire 16-day run is on Friday, September 18th. There's a spike of energy early that morning, with a solid 6.9ft swell pushing in from the NNE. The combined energy reading hits 886, so there's some real grunt behind it (moderate-to-strong wave energy). That is the only day worth talking about. However, Fishermans Reef rarely breaks, and this is a very sheltered reef break that needs the perfect direction. The optimum swell direction for this spot is NE, and this is coming from the NNE, so it's not a perfect match. Still, the wind is blowing offshore from the SSW at 22 mph, keeping the surface clean. For a beginner, 6.9ft is way out of your league—this one is purely for the experts, and only if the direction lines up.

Water temp is sitting around 58.5°F at the start, with a tiny anomaly of just 0.4°F, so it’s right about average for the time of year for this reef.

Before that, from Wednesday the 16th right through to Thursday the 17th, it's a total write-off. Swell is tiny, below 3.3ft, and the wind is messy cross-on from the north, making the surface choppy and poor. You'd be better off staying home.

After that Friday morning spike, the swell drops off a cliff. From Friday afternoon all the way to the end of the period on Thursday, October 1st, the swell height barely gets above 1.0ft. Sure, there are some days with clean, glassy conditions—like Saturday, September 26th, and Sunday, September 27th, with light or variable winds giving glassy surfaces—but with a combined energy reading of just 61 or 33, you don't have enough water moving to push a surfboard. The period on those days is long (12 to 16 seconds), but there's no height to work with. There is a little bump on Thursday, October 1st, when the swell climbs to 5.2ft, but the period is a short, weak 6 seconds, and the wind is cross-off, so it's not shaping up. That one's still a zero on the quality scale.

Look, this is an area where if the swell direction isn't bang on and strong, Fishermans Reef just doesn't work. Most of the time, it's a total blank. With no consistent surf on offer, there's nothing to get excited about. We just have to hope the forecasts change.

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