Pindari Dam Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Severn River storage near Inverell: a cod and golden perch lake with camping at the wall and a level the Bureau reads every day.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Level
492.83 m126,146 ML
Air / High
14 °C / 25 °C
Wind
ENE 6 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 416030, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Pindari Dam is in its cool-water rhythm: slower presentations and the warmest hours of the day. The gauge reads 492.83 m, easing 0.55 over the week. Today brings clear skies, wind ENE around 6 km/h, steady pressure near 1030 hPa and a high of 25 °C. Water sits around 13 °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.
Murray cod
Slow
Slow it down: heavier spinnerbaits, slow-rolled swimbaits and bait on the bottom next to the deep 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 25 °C with a rain chance. 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 Pindari Dam today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:41), 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 416030 (PINDARI DAM).
Storage level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station 416030. Latest reading 2026-09-24 22:30.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp14 °C
High / Low25 °C / 11 °C
WindENE 6 km/h, gusts 14 km/h
Pressure1030.2 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 34%
Sunrise / Sunset05:41 / 17:52
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~13 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Pindari Dam
Today is the pick of the week on Pindari Dam, at 3 out of 5. 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: today, 25 Sept — fair at 3/5, steady pressure, neither help nor hindrance.
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
- 05:41 to 17:52
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Overcast, 14 km/h
- Rain chance
- 34%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Pindari Dam: seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
Murray cod
December to August; closed September to November
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. Slow it down: heavier spinnerbaits, slow-rolled swimbaits and bait on the bottom next to the deep snags.
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 Pindari 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
Murray cod
Golden perch
SlowPeak
Water temperature through the year
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 13 °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 Pindari 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. Golden perch led the card at fair. High of 24 °C, wind to 11 km/h.
Wed, Sep 23
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Golden perch led the card at fair. High of 24 °C, wind to 21 km/h.
Tue, Sep 22
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Golden perch led the card at fair. High of 28 °C, wind to 19 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; see the New South Wales licence page.
About this water
Pindari Dam is a lake in New South Wales, Australia, covered from the New South Wales reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Pindari Dam: the full guide
The lake
Pindari Dam holds the Severn River south-east of Inverell in the northern tablelands of New South Wales, a long storage in granite country with a camping and picnic area at the dam and long, quiet arms upstream, enlarged in the 1990s and run by Water NSW for the Border Rivers irrigators. The level falls through summer and rises with the winter rain, and the Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at the dam is the source of the reading and the 30-day chart on this page.
Species and seasons
Murray cod and golden perch are stocked and are the fishery, the cod in the timber and along the rock walls from December to August and closed from September to November under the New South Wales rule the species card computes, the perch on the points and the drop-offs from spring to autumn; silver perch may be kept because Pindari is on the DPIRD exempt list; eel-tailed catfish feed in summer; and redfin school in the bays in winter. Carp are present.
Reading the report
The chart is the number to read: Pindari draws down hard in a dry summer and the fish go to the old river channel and the deep timber, and a rise after rain brings the perch onto the new ground. The wind funnels along the arms and the open water near the wall gets rough in a westerly. The water temperature estimate, marked as such, sets the band for cod and perch.
Licence, access and rules
The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, from A$7 for three days, applies; see the New South Wales licence page. The camping area and the ramp at the dam are open; DPIRD publishes the limits, the cod closure and the exempt impoundment list, linked in the sources.
Where to fish it
The camping area gives bank access near the wall, where the deep water holds the fish in a dry summer, and the ramp launches onto the main basin; the granite rock walls and the drowned timber in the arms upstream are the cod and perch structure, best reached by boat, and the points along the eastern shore fish from spring when the water is up. A kayak reaches the timber that a boat cannot.
Common questions
When can I fish for cod at Pindari?
From 1 December to 31 August; the New South Wales closure runs 1 September to 30 November and the species card computes it for this year.
Is there camping at Pindari Dam?
Yes, at the camping and picnic area beside the dam wall, with the boat ramp.
Is fishing good at Pindari Dam 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 416030 — PINDARI 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.