Chaffey Dam Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Peel River storage south of Tamworth: golden perch, cod, catfish and a rebuilt wall, with the level read at the dam by the Bureau.
2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Level
524.43 m98,082 ML
Air / High
12 °C / 24 °C
Wind
E 8 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 419069, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Chaffey Dam has cool water and fish holding a little deeper and slower. The gauge reads 524.43 m, holding steady. Today brings clear skies, wind E around 8 km/h, rising pressure near 1029 hPa and a high of 24 °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 24 °C with likely rain: fish ahead of the front. 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 Chaffey Dam today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:41), sunset (17:53), 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 419069 (CHAFFEY DAM).
Storage level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station 419069. Latest reading 2026-09-24 22:30.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp12 °C
High / Low24 °C / 10 °C
WindE 8 km/h, gusts 15 km/h
Pressure1029.1 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain1% cloud, 21%
Sunrise / Sunset05:41 / 17:53
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~13 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Chaffey Dam
The best day on Chaffey Dam this week looks like Saturday 26 Sept, at 3 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: Saturday, 26 Sept — fair at 3/5, steady pressure, neither help nor hindrance.
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
- 05:41 to 17:53
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 10 km/h
- Rain chance
- 21%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Chaffey 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 Chaffey 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 Chaffey 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 23 °C, wind to 10 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 25 °C, wind to 14 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 27 °C, wind to 18 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, from A$7 for three days, and the New South Wales licence page here explains it.
About this water
Chaffey Dam is a lake in New South Wales, Australia, covered from the New South Wales reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Chaffey Dam: the full guide
The lake
Chaffey Dam lies on the Peel River south-east of Tamworth in the New England north-west, a lake that Water NSW enlarged in the 2010s to raise the wall and expand the storage, with a recreation area, camping and a ramp at Bowling Alley Point and gently sloping farmland shores. It supplies Tamworth and the Peel Valley irrigators and draws down through summer; the Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at the dam is the level source on this page, shown with the time of the reading and a 30-day chart.
Species and seasons
Golden perch and Murray cod are stocked by the local group and fish the points, the timber and the wall from spring to autumn, with the cod closed from 1 September to 30 November under the DPIRD rule the species card computes; silver perch may be kept here because Chaffey is on the DPIRD list of exempt impoundments; eel-tailed catfish feed on the bottom in summer; and redfin school in the bays through the cooler months. Carp are present and the release rules apply.
Reading the report
The enlarged lake floods a wide shallow margin when full, and the 30-day chart shows whether that margin is under water, which is where the perch feed in spring; a summer draw-down pulls them to the drop-offs. Wind across the open basin builds a chop from the south, so the wind row decides the launch. The water temperature is an estimate for a north-west tableland storage, marked as one, and the warm band is the perch band.
Licence, access and rules
The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee applies, from A$7 for three days, and the New South Wales licence page here explains it. Bowling Alley Point has the ramp and the camping; DPIRD’s limits, the cod closure and the stocked impoundment list are linked in the sources.
Where to fish it
Bowling Alley Point puts a boat onto the main basin, and the rock walls either side of the dam and the drowned timber in the arms upstream are the perch and cod structure; the shallow margin that the enlarged wall flooded is bank-fishing water in spring, when the perch move onto it, and a wading angler with a lipless crankbait covers it well. The deeper water near the wall holds the fish through the summer draw-down.
Common questions
What can I catch in Chaffey Dam?
Golden perch and Murray cod in the warm months, silver perch under the impoundment rules, catfish in summer and redfin in the cooler months.
Is there camping at Chaffey Dam?
Yes, at the Bowling Alley Point recreation area, which also has the boat ramp.
Is fishing good at Chaffey 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 419069 — CHAFFEY 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.