Carcoar Dam Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Belubula River storage below Blayney: a small central west lake of golden perch, cod and the odd trout, with a foreshore camp and a Bureau gauge.
2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Level
846.79 m34,619 ML
Air / High
14 °C / 22 °C
Wind
NE 11 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 412106, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Carcoar Dam has cool water and fish holding a little deeper and slower. The gauge reads 846.79 m. Today brings clear skies, wind NE around 11 km/h, rising pressure near 1028 hPa and a high of 22 °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 23 °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 Carcoar Dam 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 412106 (CARCOAR DAM).
Storage level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station 412106. Latest reading 2026-09-24 09:00.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp14 °C
High / Low22 °C / 12 °C
WindNE 11 km/h, gusts 20 km/h
Pressure1027.6 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain5% cloud, 4%
Sunrise / Sunset05:49 / 18:01
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~13 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Carcoar Dam
The best day on Carcoar Dam this week looks like Wednesday 30 Sept, at 4 out of 5, against 2 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: Wednesday, 30 Sept — good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
Today, 25 Sept — Tough
Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
- 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
- Clear, 18 km/h
- Rain chance
- 4%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Carcoar Dam: 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 Carcoar Dam 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 Carcoar Dam 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 22 °C, wind to 18 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 19 °C, wind to 23 km/h.
Tue, Sep 22
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Golden perch led the card at good. High of 17 °C, wind to 24 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
A NSW Recreational Fishing Fee receipt, from A$7 for three days, covers the lake; the New South Wales licence page lists the fees.
About this water
Carcoar Dam is a lake in New South Wales, Australia, covered from the New South Wales reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Carcoar Dam: the full guide
The lake
Carcoar Dam is a modest storage on the Belubula River between Blayney and Carcoar in the central west of New South Wales, a lake of open grazing shores, a few timbered bays and a foreshore camping area with a ramp, quieter than Wyangala to its south and closer to Orange and Bathurst than either. Water NSW manages it for the irrigators downstream and the level moves with the season, which is why the Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at the dam is worth reading before the drive, and the reading and its time are on this page.
Species and seasons
Golden perch are stocked and are the fish most people come for, on the points and the drop-offs from spring to autumn; Murray cod are stocked too and fish the timber and the wall in the warm months, closed from September to November under the New South Wales rule computed on the species card; rainbow trout have been stocked in some years and show up in the cool months along the edges; redfin are numerous and fill the winter; and carp are present with the DPIRD release rules. Yabbies are a net fishery in the shallows.
Reading the report
Carcoar is a tableland lake, cold in winter and warm in summer, and the water temperature estimate on this page, labelled as one, decides whether the day belongs to the redfin and the trout or to the perch and the cod. The 30-day chart shows the draw-down that concentrates the fish on the points. The wind crosses the lake unhindered and a westerly is the one to watch.
Licence, access and rules
A NSW Recreational Fishing Fee receipt, from A$7 for three days, covers the lake; the New South Wales licence page lists the fees. The foreshore camping area and the ramp are open; DPIRD’s limits, the cod closure and the trout rules are on the pages in the sources.
Where to fish it
The foreshore near the camping area gives bank access to the deeper water along the old river channel, which is where the perch hold when the lake is down; the timbered bays on the western side fish best from a boat or a kayak in spring when the water is up in the scrub. The wall end drops away fastest and is the winter redfin spot, and the arms upstream shallow out into flats that warm first in October.
Common questions
Is Carcoar Dam good for fishing?
For golden perch and cod in the warm months and redfin in winter, yes; it is a small stocked lake with foreshore camping, quieter than Wyangala.
Do I need a fishing licence at Carcoar Dam?
Yes. The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee applies, from A$7 for three days.
Is fishing good at Carcoar Dam right now?
Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Nearby waters
Where this page's numbers come from
- Storage and river readings
- Bureau of Meteorology, Water Data Online, station 412106 — CARCOAR 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.