Rainbow trout
Slow
Winter lakes: bait on the bottom in the deeper bays through the middle of the day, or polaroiding the shallows on the bright days in Tasmania.
Lake Jindabyne Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Snowy Mountains lake below Kosciuszko: brown and rainbow trout, a town on its shore and a level that reads from the Bureau every day.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Level
907.48 m276,394 ML
Air / High
10 °C / 23 °C
Wind
NW 8 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 222540, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Lake Jindabyne has cold water and fish that move for very little; fish the sunniest hours. The gauge reads 907.48 m, holding steady. Today brings cloud cover, wind NW around 8 km/h, rising pressure near 1026 hPa and a high of 23 °C. Water sits around 8 °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.
Brown trout
Slow
The lake fishery: bait or slow lures in the deeper bays; the rivers are closed in NSW and Victoria.
Tie on: Bait on the bottom, running sinker · Heavy blade, deep · Slow-rolled swimbait · Live bait, deepest hole. Prime windows: 10:25 AM-12:25 PM, 10:25 PM-12:25 AM, 4:55 AM-5:55 AM. Similar at 21 °C with likely rain: fish ahead of the front. 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 rainbow trout here? Check the size and bag limits with DPIRD NSW before you keep anything; the Rainbow trout page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Lake Jindabyne today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:51), sunset (18:03), 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 222540 (Lake Jindabyne RL).
Storage level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station 222540. Latest reading 2026-09-18 02:00.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp10 °C
High / Low23 °C / 9 °C
WindNW 8 km/h, gusts 20 km/h
Pressure1025.8 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain94% cloud, 20%
Sunrise / Sunset05:51 / 18:03
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~8 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Lake Jindabyne
The best day on Lake Jindabyne this week looks like Monday 28 Sept, at 4 out of 5, against 3 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: Monday, 28 Sept — good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
Today, 25 Sept — Fair
A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
- Solunar majors
- 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM
- Minor period
- 4:55 AM-5:55 AM
- Sun
- 05:51 to 18:03
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Overcast, 16 km/h
- Rain chance
- 20%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Lake Jindabyne: seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
Rainbow trout
Open season from October to June in NSW and Victoria; Tasmania from August
Open all year No closed season in lakes and dams; the winter closure applies to streams only. Rule as read from DPIRD NSW on 2026-09-23.
The stocked lakes of the Snowy Mountains, the Victorian highlands and the Tasmanian central plateau. Closed seasons apply on the rivers: check the state rules. Winter lakes: bait on the bottom in the deeper bays through the middle of the day, or polaroiding the shallows on the bright days in Tasmania.
Brown trout
Open season from October to June in NSW and Victoria; Tasmania from August
Open all year No closed season in lakes and dams; the winter closure applies to streams only. Rule as read from DPIRD NSW on 2026-09-23.
The wild trout of the highland rivers and Tasmania's lakes. Spawns in autumn, hence the closed rivers through winter in NSW and Victoria. The lake fishery: bait or slow lures in the deeper bays; the rivers are closed in NSW and Victoria.
When to come: the Lake Jindabyne 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
Rainbow trout
Brown trout
SlowPeak
Water temperature through the year
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 8 °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 Jindabyne today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataThu, Sep 24
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Rainbow trout led the card at fair. High of 23 °C, wind to 16 km/h.
Wed, Sep 23
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Rainbow trout led the card at fair. High of 17 °C, wind to 11 km/h.
Tue, Sep 22
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Rainbow trout led the card at fair. High of 12 °C, wind to 14 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 applies on the lake, from A$7 for three days; our New South Wales licence page has the fees.
About this water
Lake Jindabyne is a lake in New South Wales, Australia, covered from the New South Wales reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Lake Jindabyne: the full guide
The lake
Lake Jindabyne is the Snowy Mountains Scheme storage on the Snowy River below Kosciuszko, with the town of Jindabyne on its northern shore, the Thredbo and Eucumbene rivers feeding it and the dam wall at its southern end. It is the trout lake with a town on it: shore fishing from the town foreshore, the dam wall, Hatchery Bay and the Thredbo arm, trolling and spinning from small boats, and the river mouths where the browns run in autumn. Eucumbene, the bigger and wilder lake to the north, has its own page. This page reads the storage level from the Bureau of Meteorology’s Water Data Online, with the date and time of the reading.
Species and seasons
Brown trout are the wild fish of the lake, biggest in the cooler months and at night along the edges on bait and slow lures, running the Thredbo and Eucumbene rivers to spawn in autumn; rainbow trout are the stocked fish, most active from spring through autumn and taken trolling, spinning and on the fly along the drop-offs; and Atlantic salmon and brook trout are stocked in small numbers by the hatchery at Gaden. The lake is open all year; the rivers close between the June and October long weekends under the NSW trout rules that DPIRD publishes and this site links.
Reading this report for Jindabyne
The level is in the report and the 30-day chart, and it matters because a rising lake floods the grass where the trout feed and a fast fall pulls them off the edges; the wind row decides which shore to fish, because the lake is open to the west and a westerly makes the town foreshore rough while the Thredbo arm stays sheltered. Pressure and sky build the score, the water temperature is an estimate for a high-country lake and the page says so, and the planner shows which day to take.
Licence, access and rules
The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee applies on the lake, from A$7 for three days; our New South Wales licence page has the fees. The town foreshore, the dam wall, Hatchery Bay and the river mouths are public, with ramps at the town and Hatchery Bay; the DPIRD trout rules, with the general trout waters limits for the lake and the river closed season, are on the page in the sources.
Common questions
Is Lake Jindabyne open all year?
Yes; the lake fishes all year. The Thredbo and Eucumbene rivers close between the June and October long weekends under the NSW trout rules DPIRD publishes.
Do I need a fishing licence at Lake Jindabyne?
Yes. The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee applies, from A$7 for three days.
Is fishing good at Lake Jindabyne right now?
Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Nearby waters
Where this page's numbers come from
- Storage and river readings
- Bureau of Meteorology, Water Data Online, station 222540 — Lake Jindabyne RL
- 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.