Golden perch
Excellent
Prime. Hop soft plastics and vibes around the timber, or fish shrimp and worms on the bottom.
Darling River at Menindee Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Darling, Baaka, at Menindee town, between the lakes: Murray cod and golden perch in the river below the Menindee Lakes, with a Bureau gauge.
4/5
Good. Solid day ahead.Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
Level
3.29 m
Air / High
23 °C / 28 °C
Wind
ENE 9 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 425001, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Darling River at Menindee has the water in the comfortable band where most of its fish feed through the day. The gauge reads 3.29 m, holding steady. Today brings cloud cover, wind ENE around 10 km/h, rising pressure near 1014 hPa and a high of 28 °C. Water sits around 19 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 11:38 PM-1:38 AM and 12:05 PM-2:05 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: 11:38 PM-1:38 AM, 12:05 PM-2:05 PM, 5:29 AM-6:29 AM. Warmer at 37 °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 Darling River at Menindee today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (06:25), sunset (20:02), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 11:38 PM-1:38 AM and 12:05 PM-2:05 PM; minor 5:29 AM-6:29 AM. New Moon, 0% lit.
Water and weather
Live readings from Bureau of Meteorology station 425001 (DARLING@MENINDEE TWN).
River level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station 425001. Latest reading 2026-11-07 23:00.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp23 °C
High / Low28 °C / 12 °C
WindENE 9 km/h, gusts 23 km/h
Pressure1014.3 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain63% cloud, 31%
Sunrise / Sunset06:25 / 20:02
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~19 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Darling River at Menindee
Today is the pick of the week on Darling River at Menindee, at 4 out of 5.
Best day this week: today, 9 Nov — good at 4/5, rising pressure behind a front, typically the slowest.
Today, 9 Nov — Good
Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
- Solunar majors
- 11:38 PM-1:38 AM and 12:05 PM-2:05 PM
- Minor period
- 5:29 AM-6:29 AM
- Sun
- 06:25 to 20:02
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 16 km/h
- Rain chance
- 31%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Darling River at Menindee: 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 Darling River at Menindee 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 Darling River at Menindee 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 24 °C, wind to 21 km/h.
Sat, Nov 7
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Golden perch led the card at excellent. High of 23 °C, wind to 26 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 30 °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 is required at Menindee, from A$7 for three days; our New South Wales page has the fees.
About this water
Darling River at Menindee is a river in New South Wales, Australia, covered from the New South Wales reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Darling River at Menindee: the full guide
The Darling at Menindee
Menindee is the town on the Darling River, the Baaka, beside the Menindee Lakes, the chain of storages that holds the river’s floods, and the river runs past the town between the weirs and on toward Pooncarie. Kinchega National Park, beside the town, protects a stretch of the river. The Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at Menindee town, station 425001, supplies the river level and the 30-day chart on this page. Lake Menindee has its own page.
Species and seasons
Murray cod and golden perch are the fish of the Darling at Menindee, cod on the snags and in the deep holes, yellowbelly on shrimp and worms through the warm months; carp are abundant. Freshwater catfish are closed all year in the rivers west of the Divide. The cod closure, 1 September to 30 November, covers the river here as it does all New South Wales rivers; the species card computes it.
Where to fish it
The riverbank in Menindee and the reaches below the weirs give access to the Darling, and the Darling River campground in Kinchega National Park has 34 sites beside the river. NPWS warns that rain can close the park roads for days, so campers should be ready to move or wait. The lakes are a separate fishery on their own page.
Planning a visit
NPWS puts Kinchega an hour from Broken Hill by sealed road. Bring cod gear and bait, drinking water and firewood if you camp in the park, and check the releases from the lakes, which change the river quickly.
The river through the year
The river at Menindee suffered mass fish deaths in March 2023; the NSW Government attributes them to hypoxia from blackwater, a heavy load of algae and a large biomass of fish after three wet years. Releases from the lakes set the flow past the town, and the chart shows them; a steady release through the warm months is when cod and yellowbelly feed.
Reading this report here
The chart matters here, because the Darling below Menindee follows what the lakes release; a steady flow fishes more predictably than a sudden change. The water temperature estimate, labelled as one, is hot in summer; pressure and sky build the score at Menindee.
Licence, access and rules
The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee is required at Menindee, from A$7 for three days; our New South Wales page has the fees. Kinchega National Park has its own rules, and the DPIRD rules are listed in the sources.
Common questions
Is this page about the river or the lakes?
The river at Menindee town; Lake Menindee has its own page.
What can I catch in the river at Menindee?
Murray cod and golden perch; carp are abundant and catfish must go back.
Do I need a licence at Menindee?
Yes, the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee is required at Menindee, from A$7 for three days.
Is fishing good at Darling River at Menindee right now?
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.
Nearby waters
Where this page's numbers come from
- Storage and river readings
- Bureau of Meteorology, Water Data Online, station 425001 — DARLING@MENINDEE TWN
- 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.