Australian bass
Excellent
Prime. Cast spinnerbaits, small hardbodies and surface lures tight to structure in the rivers; sound up the schools in the dams.
Lostock Dam Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
The small Paterson River storage north of Gresford: a quiet stocked bass lake with a speed limit, a caravan park below the wall and a Bureau gauge.
2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Level
155.42 m19,867 ML
Air / High
12 °C / 20 °C
Wind
NE 6 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 210102, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Lostock Dam sits in the warm band: moving baits, moving tides and fish on the edges. The gauge reads 155.42 m, holding steady. Today brings clear skies, wind NE around 6 km/h, rising pressure near 1020 hPa and a high of 20 °C. Water sits around 21 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 11:52 PM-1:52 AM and 11:28 AM-1:28 PM: the windows to build the day around.
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: 11:52 PM-1:52 AM, 11:28 AM-1:28 PM, 4:52 AM-5:52 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 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 (05:50), sunset (19:26), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 11:52 PM-1:52 AM and 11:28 AM-1:28 PM; minor 4:52 AM-5:52 AM. New Moon, 0% 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 2026-11-06 09:00.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp12 °C
High / Low20 °C / 9 °C
WindNE 6 km/h, gusts 14 km/h
Pressure1020.1 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain8% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset05:50 / 19:26
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~21 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Lostock Dam
The best day on Lostock Dam 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
- 11:52 PM-1:52 AM and 11:28 AM-1:28 PM
- Minor period
- 4:52 AM-5:52 AM
- Sun
- 05:50 to 19:26
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Overcast, 16 km/h
- Rain chance
- 0%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
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 1 May to 31 August in NSW rivers, and dams stay open
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. Prime. Cast spinnerbaits, small hardbodies and surface lures tight to structure in the rivers; sound up the schools in the dams.
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
SlowPeak
Water temperature through the year
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 21 °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 dataSun, Nov 8
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Australian bass led the card at excellent. High of 18 °C, wind to 18 km/h.
Sat, Nov 7
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Australian bass led the card at excellent. High of 29 °C, wind to 18 km/h.
Fri, Nov 6
5/5 Excellent. Go now. Everything lines up: pressure, wind and light are in your favor. Australian bass led the card at excellent. High of 26 °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
The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, from A$7 for three days, applies; the New South Wales licence page has the details.
Storage levels
Compare it with every other storage in the state on New South Wales dam levels today.
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, a major tributary of the Hunter, about 65 kilometres north of Singleton and north-west of Maitland. WaterNSW lists it at 20 gigalitres and 2 square kilometres, behind a wall 38 metres high and 701 metres long, supplying irrigation, environmental flows, stock, industry and household water in the Paterson Valley, with views across the lake to the Mount Royal Range. A speed limit on the water rules out skiing and fast power boating, which keeps it quiet. The Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at the dam supplies the reading and the 30-day chart on this page.
Species and seasons
WaterNSW lists the lake as stocked with Australian bass, with catfish, eels and carp also caught, and DPIRD’s stocking plan shows 20,000 bass released in 2025/26 with the same number proposed for 2026/27. Bass fish the edges and the timber in the warm months, taking surface lures at dusk and plastics by day, and school deeper through winter; in the dam they have no closed season, unlike the river below it, where the bass closure runs from 1 May to 31 August. Golden perch are not on DPIRD’s stocking list for Lostock, so treat bass as the fishery. Silver perch may not be taken here, because Lostock is not on the DPIRD list of dams where they may be kept, and carp must not be returned alive.
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 Lostock caravan park, with powered and unpowered sites, sits on the banks of the Paterson just downstream of the wall, the boat ramp is near the wall, and the foreshores suit picnics and walking; WaterNSW closes its recreation areas on total fire ban days. DPIRD’s limits and the bass rules are linked in the sources.
Where to fish it
A kayak or a small boat from the ramp near the wall reaches the timbered edges 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 deeper water towards the dam, and a boat with a sounder finds it.
Common questions
Is Lostock Dam worth fishing?
For stocked Australian bass in a quiet valley with a speed limit on the water and a caravan park below the wall, yes.
Can I keep silver perch at Lostock?
No. Lostock is not on DPIRD’s list of impoundments where silver perch may be taken, so any silver perch must be released.
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
- 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.