Australian bass
Fair
Dam fish school deep; vertical jig plastics and blades over them. Rivers slow, and closed in NSW from June.
Tallowa Dam Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Shoalhaven River storage in the gorge above Nowra: bass water of the first rank, reached by a long road to Kangaroo Valley, with a Bureau gauge at the wall.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Level
56.23 m89,356 ML
Air / High
18 °C / 31 °C
Wind
NW 10 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 215212, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Tallowa Dam is in its cool-water rhythm: slower presentations and the warmest hours of the day. The gauge reads 56.23 m, easing 0.08 over the week. Today brings cloud cover, wind NW around 10 km/h, rising pressure near 1026 hPa and a high of 31 °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 32 °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 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 Tallowa Dam today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:44), sunset (17:56), 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 215212 (TALLOWA DAM).
Storage level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station 215212. Latest reading 2026-09-24 21:45.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp18 °C
High / Low31 °C / 15 °C
WindNW 10 km/h, gusts 23 km/h
Pressure1025.7 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain66% cloud, 18%
Sunrise / Sunset05:44 / 17:56
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~16 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Tallowa Dam
The best day on Tallowa Dam 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
- 05:44 to 17:56
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Overcast, 11 km/h
- Rain chance
- 18%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Tallowa 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 Tallowa 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 Tallowa 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 27 °C, wind to 10 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 20 °C, wind to 8 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 10 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 from A$7 for three days; see the New South Wales licence page.
About this water
Tallowa Dam is a lake in New South Wales, Australia, covered from the New South Wales reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Tallowa Dam: the full guide
The lake
Tallowa Dam holds the Shoalhaven River at the foot of its gorge below Kangaroo Valley, a Water NSW storage that pumps water up to Fitzroy Falls for Sydney and lets the river go to Nowra, with a picnic area, a ramp and designated fishing areas at the dam and a lake that runs back up the Shoalhaven and the Kangaroo River into the gorges. It is the Shoalhaven’s bass water, and the Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at the dam supplies the level and the 30-day chart on this page.
Species and seasons
Australian bass are the fishery, wild and stocked, along the rock walls, the timber and the creek mouths of the gorges in the warm months and schooled in the deep water off the points in winter; the dam has no closed season for bass, while the Shoalhaven below and the Kangaroo River above follow the May to August river closure computed on their pages. Estuary perch reach the lake from below, golden perch have been stocked, and carp are present with the release rules; Macquarie perch in the upper river are protected.
Where to fish it
The ramp at the dam launches onto the lower lake, and the fishing is a boat or kayak fishery up the two arms: the Shoalhaven arm into the gorge and the Kangaroo arm toward the valley, both lined with rock and timber where the bass sit tight. Bank access is at the dam picnic area only. The water authority marks exclusion zones near the wall and the pump intake.
Reading the report
The chart shows the pumping draw-down and the freshes that come down the gorge after rain, which colour the lake and move the bass; the water temperature estimate, labelled as one, is the switch between the edge fish of summer and the deep schools of winter. The gorges shelter the water from most wind; pressure counts on the summer evenings and the planner picks the night.
Licence, access and rules
The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee applies from A$7 for three days; see the New South Wales licence page. The picnic area, the ramp and the designated areas are open under the water authority’s rules; DPIRD’s limits, the bass rules and the protection of Macquarie perch are in the sources.
Common questions
Is there a closed season for bass at Tallowa?
Not in the dam; the May to August closure applies to the rivers above and below, computed on their pages. The species card shows the dam open all year with the DPIRD rule.
Can I fish Tallowa from the bank?
Only at the dam picnic area; the lake is a boat and kayak fishery up the Shoalhaven and Kangaroo arms.
Is fishing good at Tallowa 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 215212 — TALLOWA 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.