Lake Burrendong Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The big Macquarie River storage near Wellington: golden perch on the points, cod in the timber, and a level that swings with the irrigation year.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Level
331.01 m442,050 ML
Air / High
17 °C / 26 °C
Wind
ENE 4 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 421078, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Lake Burrendong is in its cool-water rhythm: slower presentations and the warmest hours of the day. The gauge reads 331.01 m, easing 0.11 over the week. Today brings clear skies, wind ENE around 3 km/h, steady pressure near 1027 hPa and a high of 26 °C. Water sits around 13 °C for the season (estimated). With the full moon, the solunar majors run 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM: the windows to build the day around.
Murray cod
Slow
Slow it down: heavier spinnerbaits, slow-rolled swimbaits and bait on the bottom next to the deep snags.
Tie on: Blade or vibe, slow hops · Lightly weighted plastic · Whole pilchard or squid on the bottom · Suspending hardbody. Prime windows: 10:25 AM-12:25 PM, 10:25 PM-12:25 AM, 4:55 AM-5:55 AM. Similar at 26 °C. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.
Before you go
New South Wales requires a fishing licence for most fishing, from A$7.00. New South Wales fishing licence: cost, rules and where to buy →
Chasing murray cod here? Check the size and bag limits with DPIRD NSW before you keep anything; the Murray cod page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Lake Burrendong today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:49), sunset (18:01), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM; minor 4:55 AM-5:55 AM. Full Moon, 99% lit.
Water and weather
Live readings from Bureau of Meteorology station 421078 (BURRENDONG DAM).
Storage level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station 421078. Latest reading 2026-09-24 20:46.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp17 °C
High / Low26 °C / 11 °C
WindENE 4 km/h, gusts 8 km/h
Pressure1027.2 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain9% cloud, 2%
Sunrise / Sunset05:49 / 18:01
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~13 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Lake Burrendong
The best day on Lake Burrendong this week looks like Sunday 27 Sept, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today. Every day is scored by the same engine as the report above: pressure trend first, then wind, sky and season. Pick a species and the plan for that day changes with it.
Best day this week: Sunday, 27 Sept — good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
Today, 25 Sept — Fair
A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
- Solunar majors
- 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM
- Minor period
- 4:55 AM-5:55 AM
- Sun
- 05:49 to 18:01
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Partly cloudy, 11 km/h
- Rain chance
- 2%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Lake Burrendong: seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
Murray cod
December to August; closed September to November
Closed now Reopens 1 Dec 2026. Closed 1 September to 30 November in all waters except Blowering and Copeton dams. Rule as read from DPIRD NSW on 2026-09-23.
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. Slow it down: heavier spinnerbaits, slow-rolled swimbaits and bait on the bottom next to the deep snags.
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. Slower. Work the deeper timber and the drop-offs with vibes and bait.
When to come: the Lake Burrendong 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 13 °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 Burrendong today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataThu, Sep 24
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Golden perch led the card at fair. High of 26 °C, wind to 13 km/h.
Wed, Sep 23
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Golden perch led the card at fair. High of 24 °C, wind to 16 km/h.
Tue, Sep 22
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Golden perch led the card at fair. High of 22 °C, wind to 19 km/h.
Before you go
Licence
NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, from A$7.00, the same for residents and visitors. Details and where to buy →
Regulations
Size and bag limits, closed seasons and marine park zones are set by DPIRD NSW and change: confirm the current rules on the agency page linked from the New South Wales licence page before you keep anything.
Access
The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, from A$7 for three days, is required; see the New South Wales licence page here.
About this water
Lake Burrendong is a lake in New South Wales, Australia, covered from the New South Wales reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Lake Burrendong: the full guide
The lake
Lake Burrendong sits on the Macquarie River south-east of Wellington, one of the largest storages in New South Wales, with three long arms up the Macquarie, the Cudgegong and Meroo Creek, a sports and recreation centre and caravan park at the dam, and camping along the shores. It fills in wet years to flood hundreds of kilometres of shoreline and draws down through summer to reveal a bathtub ring of red soil and dead timber, and the fishing follows that cycle. The Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at the dam supplies the level and the 30-day chart on this page.
Species and seasons
Golden perch are the everyday fish, on the points, the timber and the rock walls from spring through autumn, trolled and cast with lipless crankbaits and spinnerbaits and fished with shrimp and yabbies; Murray cod hold in the timber and the walls and are closed from 1 September to 30 November, which the chip on the species card computes each day; silver perch are stocked and Burrendong is on the DPIRD list of impoundments where they may be kept; eel-tailed catfish feed in the warm months; and redfin fill the bays in winter. Carp are everywhere and the release rules apply.
Reading the report
The chart is the first thing to read at Burrendong: a rising lake in winter and spring floods new ground and the perch move onto it, a falling lake in summer stacks them on the drop-offs. The wind row decides which arm is fishable, because the main basin is open water. Pressure matters for the cod in summer, when a falling barometer before a storm is the bite, and the planner picks the day.
Licence, access and rules
The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, from A$7 for three days, is required; see the New South Wales licence page here. The sport and recreation centre, the caravan park and the foreshore camping have ramps; DPIRD publishes the limits, the cod closure and the stocked impoundment list, linked in the sources.
Common questions
Can I keep silver perch at Burrendong?
Yes: it is on the DPIRD list of impoundments where stocked silver perch may be kept, within the limits the agency publishes.
When is cod season at Burrendong?
Open from 1 December to 31 August; closed 1 September to 30 November under the New South Wales rule, computed for this year on the species card.
Is fishing good at Lake Burrendong 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
- Storage and river readings
- Bureau of Meteorology, Water Data Online, station 421078 — BURRENDONG DAM
- Open-Meteo forecast model
- https://open-meteo.com/
- Moon and solunar windows
- Calculated on this site
- 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.