No licence: the Fisheries Act rules apply. Read from ACT Government on 2026-09-23.
Recreational fishing in the public waters of the Australian Capital Territory needs no licence; the rules of the ACT Fisheries Act apply, and the public waters are divided into open waters, trout waters and prohibited waters on the directorate’s map. Googong Reservoir, managed by the ACT, is in New South Wales and needs the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee.
Read on the ACT Government page on 23 September 2026 in a browser, after the page had blocked automated reading earlier the same day.
Seven fish species are totally protected in the ACT and must be returned immediately; the page lists them with the recreational and pest species.
Banned methods and baits: fish eggs, live fin fish, frogs and tadpoles as bait; gaffs, spears, spear guns, bows, poisons, explosives and firearms; digging for worms on river banks or in reserves; moving fish between waters; filleting beside the water; selling the catch; green prawns as bait because of white spot disease.
Rods: up to four rods or handlines and one landing net in or beside open waters, of which no more than two rigged for bait; penalties of up to A$5,000 under the Fisheries Act.
The Australian Capital Territory is the third jurisdiction on this site, with South Australia and the Northern Territory, where nobody sells a fishing licence: the ACT Government’s recreational fishing page, read in a browser on 23 September 2026 after it had refused automated reading earlier that day, says plainly that no licence is needed for recreational fishing in the public waters of the ACT, and that the Fisheries Act is what applies instead. That Act, its regulation and three declarations, on fishing closures, fishing gear and recreational fishing, are the documents behind the page, and the page links them all. What the territory manages is small but distinct: the urban lakes of Canberra, Burley Griffin, Ginninderra and Tuggeranong among them, the Cotter and the Murrumbidgee where they run inside the territory, and the trout streams of Namadgi in the mountains.
The page divides the public waters into three kinds on a map. Open waters, which are every public water not otherwise classified, are open all year; trout waters have their own season and rules, and the ACT’s trout streams follow a closure like the New South Wales one across the border; prohibited waters are closed to fishing altogether, and the map shows which. The map also marks Googong Reservoir separately, because although the ACT Parks and Conservation Service manages it, the reservoir lies in New South Wales and the NSW Fisheries Management Act and the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee apply on its banks, which the ACT page says in as many words and our New South Wales page covers.
Without a licence, the rules do the work. Seven species are totally protected and must go back immediately, and the page lists them alongside the recreational species and the pests. Bait rules ban fish eggs, live fin fish, frogs and tadpoles, and green prawns, the last because white spot disease could reach the local crayfish. Gear rules ban gaffs, spears and spear guns, bows and arrows, poisons, explosives and firearms, and allow up to four rods or handlines and one landing net in or beside open waters, with no more than two of the rods rigged for bait. Digging for worms along river banks and in nature reserves is illegal, so is moving fish from one water to another or stocking without a permit, filleting or beheading a fish beside the water, and selling a recreational catch. Penalties reach A$5,000 under the Fisheries Act, and illegal fishing is reported to Access Canberra.
Bag limits, minimum sizes and the exact trout waters season are in the directorate’s brochure and its declarations, linked in the sources block, and this site has not transcribed them: the ACT is one hub and one reservoir on this site, Googong, and Googong runs on the New South Wales rules, which the site does carry as computed seasons. When an ACT water inside the territory enters the site, the trout waters rule will be read from the declaration and validated against two years before it appears, as every season rule here is. Until then, the honest summary is the one the directorate gives: no licence, a map, and a short list of things not to do.
No. The ACT Government’s recreational fishing page, read on 23 September 2026, says no licence is needed for recreational fishing in the public waters of the ACT; the Fisheries Act rules apply.
Googong Reservoir is in New South Wales even though the ACT manages it, so the NSW rules and the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee apply there, as the ACT page itself says; see our NSW fishing licence page.
Use fish eggs, live fin fish, frogs, tadpoles or green prawns as bait; use gaffs, spears, bows, poisons, explosives or firearms; dig for worms on the banks; move fish between waters; fillet beside the water; sell the catch; or keep any of the seven protected species. Penalties run to A$5,000.
On the directorate’s recreational fishing map, which divides the public waters into open waters, open all year, trout waters and prohibited waters; the map and the Recreational Fishing in the ACT brochure are linked below.
Every Australian Capital Territory water on this site carries a daily report and links back to this page. The Australian Capital Territory hub has today's verdicts side by side; all Australia waters are filterable by type and species.