Copeton Dam Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The big storage on the Gwydir near Inverell: Murray cod water of reputation, golden perch on the points 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
558.76 m803,310 ML
Air / High
15 °C / 23 °C
Wind
NE 15 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 418035, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Copeton Dam is in its cool-water rhythm: slower presentations and the warmest hours of the day. The gauge reads 558.76 m, easing 0.23 over the week. Today brings clear skies, wind NE around 14 km/h, steady pressure near 1030 hPa and a high of 23 °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 with a rain chance. 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 Copeton Dam today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:42), 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 418035 (COPETON DAM).
Storage level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station 418035. Latest reading 2026-09-24 22:30.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp15 °C
High / Low23 °C / 12 °C
WindNE 15 km/h, gusts 29 km/h
Pressure1030.1 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain1% cloud, 12%
Sunrise / Sunset05:42 / 17:53
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~13 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Copeton Dam
Today is the pick of the week on Copeton Dam, at 3 out of 5. 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: today, 25 Sept — fair at 3/5, steady pressure, neither help nor hindrance.
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
- 05:42 to 17:53
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 16 km/h
- Rain chance
- 12%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Copeton 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
Open all year Copeton Dam is open all year 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 Copeton 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 Copeton 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 14 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 26 °C, wind to 21 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 23 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
Copeton is a New South Wales water and the state’s Recreational Fishing Fee applies, at A$7 for three days and upward; the fees are on our New South Wales licence page.
About this water
Copeton Dam is a lake in New South Wales, Australia, covered from the New South Wales reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Copeton Dam: the full guide
The lake
Copeton Dam is the storage on the Gwydir River south-west of Inverell in the New England region of New South Wales, one of the largest in the state, a broad lake of rocky points, timbered arms and granite country with the Copeton Waters recreation area, its ramps and its camping at the dam end and the Northern Foreshores across the water. It is the Murray cod lake that the north of the state talks about, with golden perch, silver perch, catfish and redfin, and a level that rises through winter and spring and draws down hard through summer for irrigation. The level in the report is read from the Bureau of Meteorology’s Copeton Dam gauge, and the page shows the time of that reading.
Species and seasons
Murray cod are the lake’s fish, among the timber, the rock walls and the points in the warmer months on big lures, surface lures at night and bait, with the closed season from September to November that DPIRD publishes and this site links; golden perch fish the points and the timber from spring to autumn; silver perch are stocked and may be kept under the stocked impoundment rules; eel-tailed catfish feed on the bottom in summer; and redfin school in the bays and are the winter fish. Carp are present, with the DPIRD rules on their release.
Reading this report for Copeton
The level is in the report and the 30-day chart, and it matters because a rising lake floods new ground where the perch and the cod feed and a fast summer draw-down pulls the fish to the points and the deep timber; the wind row decides which arm is fishable, because the lake is big and open enough to chop up in a westerly. Barometer and cloud cover fill in the score, the water temperature is an editorial estimate for a New England storage and is labelled as one, and the planner picks the day.
Licence, access and rules
Copeton is a New South Wales water and the state’s Recreational Fishing Fee applies, at A$7 for three days and upward; the fees are on our New South Wales licence page. Copeton Waters and the Northern Foreshores, with their ramps and camping, are public; the DPIRD limits, the cod closed season and the stocked impoundment rules for silver perch are on the pages in the sources.
Common questions
When is cod season at Copeton?
The cod closed season in New South Wales runs from September to November, as DPIRD publishes it; outside those months the species card on this page rates the day.
Do I need a fishing licence at Copeton?
Yes. The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee applies, from A$7 for three days.
Is fishing good at Copeton Dam 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 418035 — COPETON 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.