
Australian bass
Prime. Cast spinnerbaits, small hardbodies and surface lures tight to structure in the rivers; sound up the schools in the dams.
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Colo at Upper Colo, where the Wollemi gorge opens: Australian bass in a wild sandstone river, with a Bureau gauge at the bridge.
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 212290, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Colo River at Upper Colo sits in the warm band: moving baits, moving tides and fish on the edges. The gauge reads 0.89 m, holding steady. Today brings a mixed sky, wind NNW around 2 km/h, rising pressure near 1020 hPa and a high of 22 °C. Water sits around 21 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 11:55 PM-1:55 AM and 11:31 AM-1:31 PM: the windows to build the day around.

Prime. Cast spinnerbaits, small hardbodies and surface lures tight to structure in the rivers; sound up the schools in the 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: 11:55 PM-1:55 AM, 11:31 AM-1:31 PM, 4:52 AM-5:52 AM. Warmer at 28 °C. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.
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 australian bass here? Check the size and bag limits with DPIRD NSW before you keep anything; the Australian bass page has the seasons and the tactics.
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:50), sunset (19:31), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Solunar majors 11:55 PM-1:55 AM and 11:31 AM-1:31 PM; minor 4:52 AM-5:52 AM. New Moon, 0% lit.
Live readings from Bureau of Meteorology station 212290 (COLO R @ UPPER COLO).
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station 212290. Latest reading 2026-11-07 22:45.
Latest readings
The best day on Colo River at Upper Colo this week looks like Thursday 12 Nov, at 5 out of 5, against 4 today.
Best day this week: Thursday, 12 Nov — excellent at 5/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
The species that matter on Colo River at Upper Colo: seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Open now Closes 1 May 2027. Closed 1 May to 31 August in all rivers except rivers above impoundments; dams are not closed. Rule as read from DPIRD NSW on 2026-09-23.
The native sportfish of the east-coast rivers and the stocked dams. Surface lures in summer, deep in winter, and a river closed season for spawning. Prime. Cast spinnerbaits, small hardbodies and surface lures tight to structure in the rivers; sound up the schools in the dams.
Activity by species and month for the southern year, and how the water warms and cools. Tap any cell.
1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted. January is midsummer here.
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 21 °C (estimated, not a reading).
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.
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Australian bass led the card at excellent. High of 18 °C, wind to 19 km/h.
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Australian bass led the card at excellent. High of 31 °C, wind to 23 km/h.
5/5 Excellent. Go now. Everything lines up: pressure, wind and light are in your favor. Australian bass led the card at excellent. High of 29 °C, wind to 11 km/h.
NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, from A$7.00, the same for residents and visitors. Details and where to buy →
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.
The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee applies on the Colo, from A$7 for three days; our New South Wales page has the fees.
Colo River at Upper Colo is a river in New South Wales, Australia, covered from the New South Wales reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Upper Colo is the small settlement where the Colo River comes out of its long sandstone gorge through Wollemi National Park, north-west of Sydney, and runs between sandy beaches and casuarinas toward the Hawkesbury. The Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at Upper Colo, station 212290, supplies the river level and the 30-day chart on this page. The Hawkesbury has its own pages.
Australian bass are the fish of the Colo, holding in the deep sandstone pools and along the casuarina banks, taken on surface lures and small hardbodies from spring to autumn. On the Colo the bass closure runs from 1 May to 31 August, and the species card computes it.
The bridge at Upper Colo and the reserves along the lower river give access, and the gorge upstream is reached on foot or by canoe inside Wollemi National Park, which is World Heritage-listed and has its own rules. NPWS runs the Colo Meroo campground in the park.
Windsor has supplies. For the gorge, plan properly: it is remote wilderness with no easy exits, and NPWS says the park may close at times for poor weather or fire danger, so check its alerts first.
The Colo drains the sandstone wilderness of Wollemi, and after heavy rain it rises quickly and runs brown through its gorge before falling back slowly over days. Its bass move down to brackish water in the Hawkesbury to spawn in winter, which is why New South Wales closes them in rivers over those months, and they come back upstream in spring. Through summer and autumn they feed in the deep pools and along the casuarinas, most of all on warm evenings.
The chart shows the Colo rising after rain in the Wollemi; the gorge floods fast and a high river is dangerous. The water temperature estimate, labelled as one, is warm through the bass season; pressure and sky build the score at Upper Colo.
The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee applies on the Colo, from A$7 for three days; our New South Wales page has the fees. Wollemi National Park’s alerts and the DPIRD rules are in the sources.
Australian bass in the sandstone pools.
The Colo gorge is inside the park; check the NPWS alerts and follow the park’s rules for access and camping.
Yes. The Colo is covered by the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, from A$7 for three days.
Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
Pablo Ruiz QuinteroReadings 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.