Golden perch
Excellent
Prime. Hop soft plastics and vibes around the timber, or fish shrimp and worms on the bottom.
Castlereagh River at Coonamble Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Castlereagh at Coonamble: golden perch and Murray cod in a sandy plains river that can shrink to waterholes, with a Bureau gauge at the town.
2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Level
0.49 m
Air / High
14 °C / 23 °C
Wind
SW 6 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 420022, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Castlereagh River at Coonamble sits in the warm band: moving baits, moving tides and fish on the edges. The gauge reads 0.49 m, up 0.06 over the week. Today brings clear skies, wind SW around 6 km/h, rising pressure near 1017 hPa and a high of 23 °C. Water sits around 19 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 11:10 PM-1:10 AM and 11:37 AM-1:37 PM: the windows to build the day around.
Murray cod
Closed today
Reopens 1 Dec 2026. Closed 1 September to 30 November in all waters except Blowering and Copeton dams.
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: 11:10 PM-1:10 AM, 11:37 AM-1:37 PM, 5:03 AM-6:03 AM. Warmer at 28 °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 Castlereagh River at Coonamble today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (06:00), sunset (19:33), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 11:10 PM-1:10 AM and 11:37 AM-1:37 PM; minor 5:03 AM-6:03 AM. New Moon, 0% lit.
Water and weather
Live readings from Bureau of Meteorology station 420022 (CASTLEREAGH@COONA#3).
River level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station 420022. Latest reading 2026-11-07 22:45.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp14 °C
High / Low23 °C / 7 °C
WindSW 6 km/h, gusts 11 km/h
Pressure1016.9 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset06:00 / 19:33
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~19 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Castlereagh River at Coonamble
The best day on Castlereagh River at Coonamble this week looks like Friday 13 Nov, at 5 out of 5, against 2 today.
Best day this week: Friday, 13 Nov — excellent at 5/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
Today, 9 Nov — Tough
Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
- Solunar majors
- 11:10 PM-1:10 AM and 11:37 AM-1:37 PM
- Minor period
- 5:03 AM-6:03 AM
- Sun
- 06:00 to 19:33
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Clear, 14 km/h
- Rain chance
- 0%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Castlereagh River at Coonamble: 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. 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.
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 Castlereagh River at Coonamble 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 Castlereagh River at Coonamble today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataSun, Nov 8
2/5 Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing. Golden perch led the card at excellent. High of 21 °C, wind to 23 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 27 °C, wind to 21 km/h.
Fri, Nov 6
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 26 °C, wind to 13 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 applies at Coonamble, from A$7 for three days; our New South Wales page has the fees.
About this water
Castlereagh River at Coonamble is a river in New South Wales, Australia, covered from the New South Wales reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Castlereagh River at Coonamble: the full guide
The Castlereagh at Coonamble
Coonamble is the north-western town on the Castlereagh River, a sandy-bedded river that can shrink to waterholes in long droughts and fills with floods, winding under red gums toward the Macquarie. The Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at Coonamble, station 420022, supplies the river level and the 30-day chart on this page. The Castlereagh at Gungalman, downstream, has its own page.
Species and seasons
Golden perch are the fish most anglers take from the Castlereagh, in the waterholes and the flowing river after rain; Murray cod hold in the deeper holes, and carp are common. In western rivers such as this, catfish have been closed to take for years. The spring cod closure, 1 September to 30 November, covers the Castlereagh, and the species card computes it.
Where to fish it
The riverbank reserves in Coonamble give access to the Castlereagh’s waterholes, and the crossings along the river road reach the pools beyond the town when the river is running.
Planning a visit
Coonamble has supplies and accommodation. Check whether the river is flowing before planning a trip: in dry times it shrinks to a string of holes, and the fish in them are few and wary.
The river through the year
At Coonamble the Castlereagh runs after good rain in its upper catchment, and in long droughts it can dry to a sandy bed with scattered waterholes. When it runs, it can rise fast and spread across the flats around the town. Golden perch feed on those flows in the warm months, and cod hold in the deeper holes. A flow arriving after a dry spell is the moment to fish, and the chart shows whether it is coming. The waterholes near the town are the first places to try, with shrimp or a worm fished on the bottom.
Reading this report here
The chart tells you whether the Castlereagh is running; after rain upstream a flow comes down and the yellowbelly bite. The water temperature estimate, labelled as one, is hot in summer; pressure and sky build the score at Coonamble.
Licence, access and rules
The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee applies at Coonamble, from A$7 for three days; our New South Wales page has the fees. The DPIRD guide is in the sources for the full rules.
Common questions
Does the Castlereagh run all year?
No. It is a sandy river that runs after rain and can shrink to waterholes in dry times; the chart shows its state.
What can I catch at Coonamble?
Golden perch in the waterholes, and Murray cod where the holes are deep.
Do I need a licence at Coonamble?
Yes: the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee applies at Coonamble, from A$7 for three days.
Is fishing good at Castlereagh River at Coonamble 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 420022 — CASTLEREAGH@COONA#3
- 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.