Golden perch
Excellent
Prime. Hop soft plastics and vibes around the timber, or fish shrimp and worms on the bottom.
Lachlan River at Cowra Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Lachlan below Wyangala at Cowra: cod and golden perch in dam-fed water, the Wyangala closed zone upstream and the Bureau’s gauge at the town.
2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Level
1.78 m
Air / High
15 °C / 21 °C
Wind
SSW 1 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 412002, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Lachlan River at Cowra is fishing in its best temperature window, with the bite spread across the day. The gauge reads 1.78 m, up 0.06 over the week. Today brings clear skies, wind SSW around 2 km/h, rising pressure near 1018 hPa and a high of 21 °C. Water sits around 19 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 11:12 PM-1:12 AM and 11:40 AM-1:40 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: 11:12 PM-1:12 AM, 11:40 AM-1:40 PM, 4:60 AM-5:60 AM. Warmer at 27 °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 Lachlan River at Cowra today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:58), sunset (19:40), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 11:12 PM-1:12 AM and 11:40 AM-1:40 PM; minor 4:60 AM-5:60 AM. New Moon, 0% lit.
Water and weather
Live readings from Bureau of Meteorology station 412002 (LACHLAN R @ COWRA).
River level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station 412002. Latest reading 2026-11-07 22:45.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp15 °C
High / Low21 °C / 6 °C
WindSSW 1 km/h, gusts 3 km/h
Pressure1017.6 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain1% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset05:58 / 19:40
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~19 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Lachlan River at Cowra
The best day on Lachlan River at Cowra this week looks like Friday 13 Nov, at 5 out of 5, against 2 today.
Best day this week: Friday, 13 Nov — excellent at 5/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
Today, 9 Nov — Tough
Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
- Solunar majors
- 11:12 PM-1:12 AM and 11:40 AM-1:40 PM
- Minor period
- 4:60 AM-5:60 AM
- Sun
- 05:58 to 19:40
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Clear, 18 km/h
- Rain chance
- 0%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Lachlan River at Cowra: 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 Lachlan River at Cowra 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 Lachlan River at Cowra today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataSun, Nov 8
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 19 °C, wind to 16 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 24 °C, wind to 27 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 23 °C, wind to 11 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
A NSW Recreational Fishing Fee receipt is needed, from A$7 for three days; see our New South Wales licence page for longer periods.
About this water
Lachlan River at Cowra is a river in New South Wales, Australia, covered from the New South Wales reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Lachlan River at Cowra: the full guide
The reach
At Cowra the Lachlan carries releases from Wyangala Dam upstream through the town and its farmland in the central west. It is Murray-Darling water with the dam’s influence still strong, so after a big release the river can run cooler than the season suggests. The Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at Cowra supplies the river level and the 30-day chart on this page, and it tracks the Wyangala release closely.
Species and seasons
Murray cod and golden perch are the target fish, with cod closed from 1 September to 30 November under the NSW rule the species card computes. Golden perch take lures and baits through the warm months. Silver perch, freshwater catfish, trout cod and Macquarie perch are closed to take in this river and must be released, so check what you have before it leaves the water.
Where to fish it
Snags, deeper bends and any rock bars are the cod water, and golden perch cruise the edges when the river is warm and steady. A kayak launched in town covers several bends; fish close to timber and give each snag a few casts from different angles. Below the Wyangala wall, all fishing is prohibited for 400 metres downstream from the weir face to the low-level bridge, so the release water directly under the dam is off limits.
Reading the report
The chart follows the Wyangala releases: a high summer irrigation flow keeps the river fast and the cod in slack water, and a low autumn river shows its gravel. The water temperature estimate, labelled as one, cannot account for cold release water, so treat it as a guide only. Pressure matters most before a summer storm; the planner suggests the evening session.
Licence, access and rules
A NSW Recreational Fishing Fee receipt is needed, from A$7 for three days; see our New South Wales licence page for longer periods. DPIRD’s species closures and its general closures page, which sets out the Wyangala zone, are in the sources. Wyangala has its own page for anglers heading upstream to the dam.
Common questions
What can I catch in the Lachlan at Cowra?
Murray cod in season and golden perch in the warm months; silver perch, freshwater catfish, trout cod and Macquarie perch must be released.
Do I need a licence at Cowra?
Yes: the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, from A$7 for three days.
Is fishing good at Lachlan River at Cowra 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 412002 — LACHLAN R @ COWRA
- 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.