Australian bass
Fair
Dam fish school deep; vertical jig plastics and blades over them. Rivers slow, and closed in NSW from June.
Lostock Dam Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The small Paterson River storage above Gresford: a quiet Hunter bass and perch lake with a camping foreshore and a Bureau gauge at the wall.
2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Level
155.52 m20,104 ML
Air / High
15 °C / 28 °C
Wind
NNW 7 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 210102, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Lostock Dam has cool water and fish holding a little deeper and slower. The gauge reads 155.52 m, holding steady. Today brings clear skies, wind NNW around 6 km/h, rising pressure near 1026 hPa and a high of 28 °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.
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 29 °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 Lostock Dam today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:40), sunset (17:52), 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 210102 (LOSTOCK DAM).
Storage level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station 210102. Latest reading 2026-09-24 09:00.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp15 °C
High / Low28 °C / 12 °C
WindNNW 7 km/h, gusts 14 km/h
Pressure1026.4 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain2% cloud, 2%
Sunrise / Sunset05:40 / 17:52
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~16 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Lostock Dam
The best day on Lostock Dam 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
- 05:40 to 17:52
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Partly cloudy, 10 km/h
- Rain chance
- 2%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Lostock Dam: 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
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.
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 Lostock Dam 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
Golden perch
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 Lostock Dam 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 24 °C, wind to 6 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 24 °C, wind to 11 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 18 °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, from A$7 for three days, applies; the New South Wales licence page has the details.
About this water
Lostock Dam is a lake in New South Wales, Australia, covered from the New South Wales reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Lostock Dam: the full guide
The lake
Lostock Dam is a small storage on the Paterson River north of Gresford in the upper Hunter, a lake in a steep, timbered valley with a foreshore camping area, a ramp and a reputation as a quiet alternative to Glenbawn an hour away. Water NSW manages it for the Paterson Valley and the level rises and falls with the river; the Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at the dam supplies the reading and the 30-day chart on this page.
Species and seasons
Australian bass are stocked and fish the edges and the timber in the warm months, surface lures at dusk and plastics by day, and school deeper through winter; golden perch take lures and bait around the points from spring; silver perch are stocked, and the DPIRD exempt list should be checked before keeping one because Lostock is not on the list this site has read; catfish are in the warm shallows; and redfin and carp are present. Bass in the dam have no closed season, unlike the river below.
Reading the report
The valley shelters the lake from most winds, so the wind row matters less here than on the big Hunter lakes; the water temperature estimate, labelled as such, and the 30-day chart decide the day, because a small storage warms and cools fast and rises quickly after rain. Pressure counts for the summer bass, and the planner shows the evening to take.
Licence, access and rules
The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, from A$7 for three days, applies; the New South Wales licence page has the details. The foreshore camping area and the ramp are open; DPIRD’s limits and the bass rules are linked in the sources.
Where to fish it
The foreshore camping area gives bank access to the deeper water near the wall, and a kayak or a small boat from the ramp reaches the timbered arms upstream where the bass hold in summer; the steep banks of the valley mean the fish are close to shore, and a cast along the edge at dusk with a surface lure covers the best water. In winter the school sits in the deep water off the dam and a boat with a sounder finds it.
Common questions
Is Lostock Dam worth fishing?
For bass and golden perch in a quiet valley with camping, yes; it is smaller and less crowded than Glenbawn.
Can I keep silver perch at Lostock?
Only if the dam is on DPIRD’s exempt impoundment list, which this site has not confirmed for Lostock; check the DPIRD page linked in the sources before keeping one.
Is fishing good at Lostock Dam 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 210102 — LOSTOCK 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.