Australian bass
Fair
Dam fish school deep; vertical jig plastics and blades over them. Rivers slow, and closed in NSW from June.
Hunter River at Singleton Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Hunter at Singleton: bass, cod and perch in the river through the coal town, with the Bureau’s gauge at the bridge.
2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Level
0.56 m
Air / High
19 °C / 30 °C
Wind
SSW 2 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 210001, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Hunter River at Singleton rewards patience today, with cool water and short feeding windows. The gauge reads 0.56 m, up 0.15 over the week. Today brings clear skies, wind SSW around 2 km/h, rising pressure near 1027 hPa and a high of 31 °C. Water sits around 16 °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.
Bream
Fair
Slow the retrieve right down: blades and lightly weighted plastics along the deeper rock walls and drop-offs, or unweighted bait drifted into the 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 32 °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 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.
Fishing times for Hunter River at Singleton 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 210001 (HUNTER @ SINGLETON).
River level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station 210001. Latest reading 2026-09-23 22:00.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp19 °C
High / Low30 °C / 13 °C
WindSSW 2 km/h, gusts 6 km/h
Pressure1026.8 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain2% cloud, 37%
Sunrise / Sunset05:41 / 17:53
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~16 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Hunter River at Singleton
The best day on Hunter River at Singleton this week looks like Thursday 1 Oct, at 4 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: Thursday, 1 Oct — good at 4/5, rising pressure behind a front, typically the slowest.
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, 14 km/h
- Rain chance
- 37%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Hunter River at Singleton: seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
Australian bass
September to April in the rivers; closed June to August in NSW rivers
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. Dam fish school deep; vertical jig plastics and blades over them. Rivers slow, and closed in NSW from June.
Bream
Year-round; summer and autumn in the estuaries, winter at the mouths
Yellowfin bream on the east coast, black bream in the southern estuaries. Structure fish: rock walls, jetty piles, oyster racks, snags and pontoons. Slow the retrieve right down: blades and lightly weighted plastics along the deeper rock walls and drop-offs, or unweighted bait drifted into the snags.
When to come: the Hunter River at Singleton 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
Australian bass
Bream
SlowPeak
Water temperature through the year
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 16 °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 Hunter River at Singleton 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. Australian bass led the card at fair. High of 26 °C, wind to 10 km/h.
Wed, Sep 23
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Australian bass 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. Australian bass led the card at fair. High of 19 °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, from A$7 for three days, applies; our New South Wales licence page has the fees.
About this water
Hunter River at Singleton is a river in New South Wales, Australia, covered from the New South Wales reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Hunter River at Singleton: the full guide
The reach
The Hunter at Singleton is the river of the upper valley as it leaves the horse studs and the coal country and runs under the New England Highway bridge past the town’s river parks, sand bars and willows toward Branxton and Maitland. It is a mixed fishery of bass, stocked cod and golden perch in the one river, and the Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at Singleton supplies the river level and the 30-day chart on this page.
Species and seasons
Australian bass are the river’s native sportfish, in the snags and the deep bends from spring to autumn on surface lures at dusk and plastics by day, and closed in the river from 1 May to 31 August under the New South Wales rule computed on the species card; Murray cod and golden perch, stocked into the Hunter, fish the same water in the warm months, the cod closed from September to November; eel-tailed catfish feed in summer; and carp are present under the DPIRD rules. Glenbawn, the bass lake upstream, has its own page.
Where to fish it
The river parks and the highway bridge give bank access at the town, the sand bars fish at dusk when the river is low, and a kayak covers the bends upstream toward Muswellbrook and downstream toward Branxton; the deep outside bends and the timber are the bass and cod water. The Glenbawn releases keep the upper river running in summer.
Reading the report
The chart follows the Glenbawn releases and the valley rain, and a fresh after rain colours the river and moves the bass; a low, clear summer river fishes at dusk and after dark. The water temperature estimate, labelled as one, gives the bass band from October to April; the valley funnels the wind along the river; pressure counts on the summer evenings and the planner picks the night.
Licence, access and rules
The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, from A$7 for three days, applies; our New South Wales licence page has the fees. The parks and the bridge are public; DPIRD’s limits, the bass river closure and the cod closure are in the sources.
Common questions
Is bass closed in the Hunter River?
Yes, from 1 May to 31 August in the river under the New South Wales rule, computed on the species card; the dams are not closed.
Do I need a licence at Singleton?
Yes: the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, from A$7 for three days.
Is fishing good at Hunter River at Singleton 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 210001 — HUNTER @ SINGLETON
- 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.