Golden perch
Excellent
Prime. Hop soft plastics and vibes around the timber, or fish shrimp and worms on the bottom.
Lachlan River at Forbes Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Lachlan at Forbes: cod and golden perch in a warm, slow central-west river below Wyangala’s releases, with the Bureau’s gauge at the town.
2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Level
0.66 m
Air / High
17 °C / 23 °C
Wind
W 3 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 412004, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Lachlan River at Forbes sits in the warm band: moving baits, moving tides and fish on the edges. The gauge reads 0.66 m, holding steady. Today brings clear skies, wind W around 3 km/h, rising pressure near 1017 hPa and a high of 23 °C. Water sits around 19 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 11:15 PM-1:15 AM and 11:42 AM-1:42 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: 11:15 PM-1:15 AM, 11:42 AM-1:42 PM, 5:04 AM-6:04 AM. Warmer at 31 °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 Forbes today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (06:01), sunset (19:42), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 11:15 PM-1:15 AM and 11:42 AM-1:42 PM; minor 5:04 AM-6:04 AM. New Moon, 0% lit.
Water and weather
Live readings from Bureau of Meteorology station 412004 (LACHLAN FORBES CTTNS).
River level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station 412004. Latest reading 2026-11-07 22:45.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp17 °C
High / Low23 °C / 8 °C
WindW 3 km/h, gusts 5 km/h
Pressure1017.2 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain1% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset06:01 / 19:42
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~19 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Lachlan River at Forbes
The best day on Lachlan River at Forbes 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
- 11:15 PM-1:15 AM and 11:42 AM-1:42 PM
- Minor period
- 5:04 AM-6:04 AM
- Sun
- 06:01 to 19:42
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Clear, 16 km/h
- Rain chance
- 0%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Lachlan River at Forbes: 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 Forbes 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 Forbes 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 21 °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 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 25 °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
Fishing here needs the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, from A$7 for three days, with the full price list on our New South Wales licence page.
About this water
Lachlan River at Forbes 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 Forbes: the full guide
The reach
The Lachlan at Forbes is a warm, slow river of the central west, carrying water released from Wyangala Dam far upstream and running on toward Condobolin and Lake Cargelligo. It is Murray-Darling water, so the inland rules apply: the cod closure, and protection for silver perch and freshwater catfish in the river. The Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at Forbes supplies the river level and the 30-day chart.
Species and seasons
Murray cod and golden perch are the target fish; cod close from 1 September to 30 November under the NSW rule computed on the species card, and golden perch are the fish most anglers catch from spring to autumn. Freshwater catfish are closed to take in rivers west of the Great Dividing Range, silver perch in all rivers, and trout cod and Macquarie perch in all waters, so they go back.
Where to fish it
Snags and deep outside bends are the cod water, while golden perch move along the edges and into flooded ground on a rise. Night fishing with bait along the timber is a dependable summer approach, and a kayak or small boat lets you work more bends in a session than the bank allows.
Reading the report
The chart follows the Wyangala releases with a delay; a rise after rain or a big release brings perch on, while a low, warm river in a dry summer fishes best at dawn and dusk. The water temperature estimate, labelled as one, gives the cod band from about November to April; pressure counts before a summer storm.
Licence, access and rules
Fishing here needs the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, from A$7 for three days, with the full price list on our New South Wales licence page. DPIRD’s species closures and its list of closed water below weirs and dams are in the sources.
The weirs downstream
Downstream, the Lachlan’s weirs carry closed zones worth knowing before a trip west: DPIRD prohibits all fishing within 50 metres upstream and downstream of the weir face at Lake Cargelligo, within 100 metres downstream of Brewster Weir and of its outlet regulator, and within 100 metres downstream of Willandra Weir. Lake Cargelligo has its own page.
Common questions
What must I release in the Lachlan at Forbes?
Freshwater catfish, silver perch, trout cod and Macquarie perch are closed to take here, and Murray cod from 1 September to 30 November.
Do I need a licence at Forbes?
Yes: the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, from A$7 for three days.
Is fishing good at Lachlan River at Forbes 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 412004 — LACHLAN FORBES CTTNS
- 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.