Lake Keepit Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Namoi River storage near Gunnedah: golden perch water first, cod in the timber, and a level that empties and refills with the north-west seasons.
2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Level
324.83 m251,064 ML
Air / High
18 °C / 26 °C
Wind
ENE 7 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 419041, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Lake Keepit rewards patience today, with cool water and short feeding windows. The gauge reads 324.83 m, easing 0.24 over the week. Today brings clear skies, wind ENE around 6 km/h, rising pressure near 1028 hPa and a high of 26 °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 26 °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 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 Lake Keepit today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:44), sunset (17:55), 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 419041 (KEEPIT DAM).
Storage level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station 419041. Latest reading 2026-09-24 22:30.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp18 °C
High / Low26 °C / 14 °C
WindENE 7 km/h, gusts 10 km/h
Pressure1027.9 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain3% cloud, 8%
Sunrise / Sunset05:44 / 17:55
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~13 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Lake Keepit
The best day on Lake Keepit this week looks like Sunday 27 Sept, 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: Sunday, 27 Sept — good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
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
- 05:44 to 17:55
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Clear, 14 km/h
- Rain chance
- 8%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Lake Keepit: 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 Lake Keepit 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 Lake Keepit 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 26 °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 27 °C, wind to 16 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 28 °C, wind to 19 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
Fishing Keepit needs the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, from A$7 for three days, listed on the New South Wales licence page.
About this water
Lake Keepit is a lake in New South Wales, Australia, covered from the New South Wales reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Lake Keepit: the full guide
The lake
Lake Keepit is the Namoi River storage between Gunnedah and Manilla in the north-west of New South Wales, a broad lake with a state park, a caravan park, camping and ramps at the dam end and long open shores that a dry year can shrink to a fraction of the full lake. Water NSW runs it for the Namoi irrigators, so the summer draw-down is steep; the Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at the dam supplies the level and the 30-day chart on this page with the time of the reading.
Species and seasons
Golden perch are the fish, stocked in numbers and on the points, the timber and the rock walls from spring to autumn; Murray cod are there for the warm months, closed 1 September to 30 November under the New South Wales rule computed on the species card; silver perch may be kept because Keepit is on the DPIRD exempt impoundment list; catfish feed in summer; and the bays hold redfin in winter. Carp are abundant and the release rules apply.
Reading the report
Level is everything at Keepit: the chart tells you whether the lake is a broad shallow basin with the perch on the flooded grass or a narrow channel with the fish on the old river bed. A westerly across the open basin is rough; the wind row decides the launch. The water temperature estimate places the day in the warm band the perch feed in, and pressure matters for the summer cod.
Licence, access and rules
Fishing Keepit needs the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, from A$7 for three days, listed on the New South Wales licence page. Lake Keepit State Park has the ramps and camping; DPIRD’s limits, the cod closure and the stocked impoundment list are in the sources.
Where to fish it
The state park end has the ramps and the deeper water near the wall, which is where the fish concentrate in a low summer; the timbered arms toward Manilla and the rocky points along the eastern shore are the spring and autumn perch water when the lake is up. Bank fishing is easiest from the park foreshore and the caravan park, and a kayak opens the timber that a bigger boat cannot reach.
Common questions
What fish are in Lake Keepit?
Golden perch first, Murray cod outside the September to November closure, silver perch under the impoundment rules, catfish and redfin.
Do I need a licence at Lake Keepit?
Yes: the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, from A$7 for three days.
Is fishing good at Lake Keepit 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 419041 — KEEPIT 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.