Golden perch
Excellent
Prime. Hop soft plastics and vibes around the timber, or fish shrimp and worms on the bottom.
Lake Tuggeranong Fishing Report
Updated Tue, 10 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
The town lake of Canberra’s south, stocked by the ACT Government with golden perch and Murray cod, fished from public paths with no licence and read by the Bureau at the dam.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Water temp
~19 °C est.
Air / High
8 °C / 22 °C
Wind
NE 1 km/h
Sources: Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Lake Tuggeranong has the water in the comfortable band where most of its fish feed through the day. Today brings clear skies, wind NE around 2 km/h, steady pressure near 1020 hPa and a high of 22 °C. Water sits around 19 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 11:59 PM-1:59 AM and 12:26 PM-2:26 PM: the windows to build the day around.
Murray cod
Closed today
Reopens 1 Dec 2026. Murray cod may not be targeted from September to November; the ACT open season runs 1 December to 31 August, 55 to 75 cm, two a day outside the Murrumbidgee.
Tie on: Soft plastic on a 1/4 oz jighead · Small hardbody, shallow diver · Squid jig, size 3.0 · Fresh pipi or worm on a small hook. Prime windows: 11:59 PM-1:59 AM, 12:26 PM-2:26 PM, 5:29 AM-6:29 AM. Similar at 24 °C with a rain chance. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.
Before you go
Australian Capital Territory has no general fishing licence, but rules and permits apply. Australian Capital Territory fishing licence: cost, rules and where to buy →
Chasing murray cod here? Check the size and bag limits with ACT Government before you keep anything; the Murray cod page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Lake Tuggeranong today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:52), sunset (19:42), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 11:59 PM-1:59 AM and 12:26 PM-2:26 PM; minor 5:29 AM-6:29 AM. New Moon, 1% lit.
Water and weather
Bureau of Meteorology station 410784 (Lake Tuggeranong Dam) has sent no reading in the last 30 days, so conditions here are modelled from weather, season and the nearest stations.
No recent gauge reading
Readings come back here when station 410784 reports again. Until then the seasonal curve below is the estimate.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp8 °C
High / Low22 °C / 5 °C
WindNE 1 km/h, gusts 4 km/h
Pressure1020.3 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain7% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset05:52 / 19:42
MoonNew Moon, 1%
Water temp (seasonal)~19 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Lake Tuggeranong
The best day on Lake Tuggeranong this week looks like Friday 13 Nov, at 5 out of 5, against 3 today.
Best day this week: Friday, 13 Nov — excellent at 5/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
Today, 10 Nov — Fair
A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
- Solunar majors
- 11:59 PM-1:59 AM and 12:26 PM-2:26 PM
- Minor period
- 5:29 AM-6:29 AM
- Sun
- 05:52 to 19:42
- Moon
- New Moon, 1% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 19 km/h
- Rain chance
- 0%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Lake Tuggeranong: seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
Murray cod
Closed 1 September to 30 November in NSW, Victoria and the ACT, and 1 August to 31 October in Queensland; check the exempt lakes
Closed now Reopens 1 Dec 2026. Murray cod may not be targeted from September to November; the ACT open season runs 1 December to 31 August, 55 to 75 cm, two a day outside the Murrumbidgee. Rule as read from ACT Government on 2026-09-27.
The giant of the inland rivers and the big lakes (Hume, Mulwala, Eildon). A snag fish that eats big lures, and a species with a closed season across the Murray-Darling.
Golden perch
Best: November to April
Yellowbelly. The bread-and-butter native of the Murray-Darling lakes and rivers; loves warm water, structure and a lure worked slowly past its nose. Prime. Hop soft plastics and vibes around the timber, or fish shrimp and worms on the bottom.
When to come: the Lake Tuggeranong calendar
Activity by species and month for the southern year, and how the water warms and cools. Tap any cell.
Species activity by month
1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted. January is midsummer here.
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Murray cod
Golden perch
SlowPeak
Water temperature through the year
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 19 °C (estimated, not a reading).
Angler reports
Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. Nothing here is copied from a shop or a charter. The water log below tracks each day automatically.
No angler reports yetBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Lake Tuggeranong today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataMon, Nov 9
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Golden perch led the card at excellent. High of 18 °C, wind to 18 km/h.
Sun, Nov 8
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Golden perch led the card at excellent. High of 14 °C, wind to 24 km/h.
Sat, Nov 7
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Golden perch led the card at excellent. High of 19 °C, wind to 24 km/h.
Before you go
Licence
Australian Capital Territory has no general recreational fishing licence; the limits and closures do. Details and where to buy →
Regulations
Size and bag limits, closed seasons and marine park zones are set by ACT Government and change: confirm the current rules on the agency page linked from the Australian Capital Territory licence page before you keep anything.
Access
No licence is needed in the ACT’s public waters.
Storage levels
Compare it with every other storage in the state on Australian Capital Territory dam levels today.
About this water
Lake Tuggeranong is a lake in Australian Capital Territory, Australia, covered from the Australian Capital Territory reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Lake Tuggeranong: the full guide
The lake
Lake Tuggeranong is the urban lake beside the Tuggeranong town centre in Canberra’s south, managed by the ACT Government rather than the National Capital Authority. Like Ginninderra, Gungahlin Pond and Yerrabi Pond, it appears in the territory’s fish stocking plan as a lake that receives Murray cod and golden perch, and the plan’s tables record releases here across the last decade. The Bureau of Meteorology’s station at the dam, 410784, supplies the level and the 30-day chart on this page.
Species and seasons
The ACT sets golden perch at a 30 centimetre minimum with a daily limit of five outside the Murrumbidgee and no closed season. Murray cod must measure 55 to 75 centimetres, two may be kept a day outside the Murrumbidgee, and they are open from 1 December to 31 August only. Carp and redfin are pests with no limits. This site has not yet loaded the ACT rules into the species card’s season chip, so the dates above come straight from the ACT Government page.
Where to fish it
Paths and parkland follow the shore, which makes this an easy lake to fish on foot. Try the edges where depth changes quickly, rock walls, inflows after rain and any submerged structure. For golden perch, a bait on a running sinker or a small vibe hopped along the bottom works through the warm months; for cod, larger lures worked slowly at dusk. A short session at first or last light is often more productive than hours in midday sun.
Reading the report
Smaller urban lakes heat up early in spring and cool early in autumn, so the water temperature row, an estimate, helps time the first good perch sessions of the season. The level changes little from week to week. Blue-green algae warnings are issued for Canberra’s lakes in hot weather and can close them to contact; this page cannot see those, so check the territory’s notices before going.
Licence, access and rules
No licence is needed in the ACT’s public waters. The Fisheries Act still sets the rules: no live finfish, fish eggs, frogs or tadpoles as bait, no gaffs, spears or bows, and no filleting beside the water, with fines up to A$5,000. Seven protected species must be released immediately. Our ACT licence page has more.
The Canberra lakes as a set
Tuggeranong, Ginninderra and Burley Griffin share the same two stocked natives and the same territory rules, though Burley Griffin’s fish population is managed by the National Capital Authority. Having three lakes of different sizes within half an hour of each other means an angler can switch when one is affected by algae or wind. The Murrumbidgee inside the territory is a river fishery where the ACT sets lower limits: one cod and two golden perch a day.
Common questions
Do I need a fishing licence at Lake Tuggeranong?
No. The ACT Government requires no licence in public waters; the Fisheries Act rules, including bait bans and size limits, apply.
When is Murray cod open at Lake Tuggeranong?
From 1 December to 31 August under the ACT rules, with a 55 to 75 cm slot and two a day; cod are closed from September to November.
Is fishing good at Lake Tuggeranong right now?
Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Nearby waters
Where this page's numbers come from
- Open-Meteo forecast model
- https://open-meteo.com/
- Moon and solunar windows
- Calculated on this site
- Pages checked
- The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on How our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.