Australian bass
Fair
Dam fish school deep; vertical jig plastics and blades over them. Rivers slow, and closed in NSW from June.
Nepean River at Penrith Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Nepean at Penrith: bass in the gorge and the town reach under the Blue Mountains, with the rowing course, the weir and the Bureau’s gauge.
2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Level
0.98 m
Air / High
18 °C / 30 °C
Wind
WNW 4 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 212201, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Nepean River at Penrith is in its cool-water rhythm: slower presentations and the warmest hours of the day. The gauge reads 0.98 m, holding steady. Today brings clear skies, wind WNW around 3 km/h, rising pressure near 1026 hPa and a high of 30 °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.
Bream
Fair
Slow the retrieve right down: blades and lightly weighted plastics along the deeper rock walls and drop-offs, or unweighted bait drifted into the snags.
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 32 °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 Nepean River at Penrith today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:43), sunset (17:55), 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 212201 (NEPEAN R @ PENRITH).
River level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station 212201. Latest reading 2026-09-23 22:15.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp18 °C
High / Low30 °C / 14 °C
WindWNW 4 km/h, gusts 9 km/h
Pressure1026.1 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain1% cloud, 20%
Sunrise / Sunset05:43 / 17:55
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~16 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Nepean River at Penrith
The best day on Nepean River at Penrith this week looks like Monday 28 Sept, 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: Monday, 28 Sept — good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
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
- 05:43 to 17:55
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Overcast, 11 km/h
- Rain chance
- 20%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Nepean River at Penrith: 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
Open now Closes 1 May 2027. Closed 1 May to 31 August in all rivers except rivers above impoundments; dams are not closed. Rule as read from DPIRD NSW on 2026-09-23.
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.
Bream
Year-round; summer and autumn in the estuaries, winter at the mouths
Yellowfin bream on the east coast, black bream in the southern estuaries. Structure fish: rock walls, jetty piles, oyster racks, snags and pontoons. Slow the retrieve right down: blades and lightly weighted plastics along the deeper rock walls and drop-offs, or unweighted bait drifted into the snags.
When to come: the Nepean River at Penrith 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
Bream
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 Nepean River at Penrith 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 26 °C, wind to 8 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 22 °C, wind to 13 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 16 °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; our New South Wales licence page has the fees.
About this water
Nepean River at Penrith is a river in New South Wales, Australia, covered from the New South Wales reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Nepean River at Penrith: the full guide
The reach
The Nepean at Penrith is the river as it leaves the Blue Mountains gorge and runs through the town at the foot of the escarpment, held by the Penrith Weir into a long, calm pool past the rowing course, Tench Reserve and the Great River Walk, with the gorge and the Nepean Lookout upstream and the Hawkesbury junction below. It is Sydney’s bass river, and the Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at Penrith supplies the river level and the 30-day chart on this page.
Species and seasons
Australian bass are the fish, in the gorge pools, the rock walls and the snags of the weir pool from spring to autumn on surface lures at dusk and plastics by day, closed in the river from 1 May to 31 August under the New South Wales rule computed on the species card; estuary perch hold in the weir pool; mullet and bream reach the weir on the tide from below; eel-tailed catfish feed in summer; and carp are numerous under the DPIRD rules.
Where to fish it
Tench Reserve, the Great River Walk and the rowing course banks give bank access to the weir pool, the ramps put a boat or a kayak onto the pool and up into the gorge, and the gorge pools under the escarpment are the wild bass water reached by kayak or the walking track; the weir itself is the bream and mullet spot. Night fishing with surface lures along the walls is the summer method.
Reading the report
The chart shows the weir pool’s steady level and the freshes that come down from the mountains after rain, which colour the river and move the bass; the water temperature estimate, labelled as one, gives the bass band from October to April. The escarpment funnels the wind onto the pool; pressure counts on the summer evenings and the planner picks the night.
Licence, access and rules
The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, from A$7 for three days, applies; our New South Wales licence page has the fees. The reserves, the walk and the ramps are public under the council’s rules; DPIRD’s limits and the bass river closure are in the sources.
Common questions
Is the Nepean at Penrith good for bass?
Yes: the weir pool and the gorge above are Sydney’s bass water, from spring to autumn, closed from 1 May to 31 August under the New South Wales rule.
Do I need a licence at Penrith?
Yes: the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, from A$7 for three days.
Is fishing good at Nepean River at Penrith 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 212201 — NEPEAN R @ PENRITH
- 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.