Rainbow trout
Fair
Winter lakes: bait on the bottom in the deeper bays through the middle of the day, or polaroiding the shallows on the bright days in Tasmania.
Tantangara Reservoir Fishing Report
Updated Sat, 26 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The high Snowy Scheme storage on the upper Murrumbidgee: a wild, windswept trout lake at 1,200 metres, reached by a gravel road, with its level read by the Bureau.
4/5
Good. Solid day ahead.Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
Level
1212.45 m38,942 ML
Air / High
11 °C / 21 °C
Wind
NNE 1 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 410543, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Tantangara Reservoir is a cold-water proposition today: bait on the bottom and a long soak. The gauge reads 1212.45 m. Today brings cloud cover, wind NNE around 2 km/h, falling pressure near 1028 hPa and a high of 21 °C. Water sits around 8 °C for the season (estimated). With the full moon, the solunar majors run 11:16 PM-1:16 AM and 11:16 AM-1:16 PM: the windows to build the day around.
Brown trout
Fair
The lake fishery: bait or slow lures in the deeper bays; the rivers are closed in NSW and Victoria.
Tie on: Bait on the bottom, running sinker · Heavy blade, deep · Slow-rolled swimbait · Live bait, deepest hole. Prime windows: 11:16 PM-1:16 AM, 11:16 AM-1:16 PM, 5:46 AM-6:46 AM. Cooler at 7 °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 rainbow trout here? Check the size and bag limits with DPIRD NSW before you keep anything; the Rainbow trout page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Tantangara Reservoir today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:49), sunset (18:04), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 11:16 PM-1:16 AM and 11:16 AM-1:16 PM; minor 5:46 AM-6:46 AM. Full Moon, 100% lit.
Water and weather
Live readings from Bureau of Meteorology station 410543 (Tantangara Dam RL).
Storage level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station 410543. Latest reading 2026-09-18 02:00.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp11 °C
High / Low21 °C / 7 °C
WindNNE 1 km/h, gusts 15 km/h
Pressure1028.1 hPa, falling
Sky / Rain70% cloud, 55%
Sunrise / Sunset05:49 / 18:04
MoonFull Moon, 100%
Water temp (seasonal)~8 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Tantangara Reservoir
Today is the pick of the week on Tantangara Reservoir, at 4 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, 26 Sept — good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
Today, 26 Sept — Good
Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
- Solunar majors
- 11:16 PM-1:16 AM and 11:16 AM-1:16 PM
- Minor period
- 5:46 AM-6:46 AM
- Sun
- 05:49 to 18:04
- Moon
- Full Moon, 100% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 24 km/h
- Rain chance
- 55%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Tantangara Reservoir: seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
Rainbow trout
Open season from October to June in NSW and Victoria; Tasmania from August
Open all year No closed season in lakes and dams; the winter closure applies to streams only. Rule as read from DPIRD NSW on 2026-09-23.
The stocked lakes of the Snowy Mountains, the Victorian highlands and the Tasmanian central plateau. Closed seasons apply on the rivers: check the state rules. Winter lakes: bait on the bottom in the deeper bays through the middle of the day, or polaroiding the shallows on the bright days in Tasmania.
Brown trout
Open season from October to June in NSW and Victoria; Tasmania from August
Open all year No closed season in lakes and dams; the winter closure applies to streams only. Rule as read from DPIRD NSW on 2026-09-23.
The wild trout of the highland rivers and Tasmania's lakes. Spawns in autumn, hence the closed rivers through winter in NSW and Victoria. The lake fishery: bait or slow lures in the deeper bays; the rivers are closed in NSW and Victoria.
When to come: the Tantangara Reservoir 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
Rainbow trout
Brown trout
SlowPeak
Water temperature through the year
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 8 °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 Tantangara Reservoir today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataFri, Sep 25
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at slow. High of 21 °C, wind to 19 km/h.
Thu, Sep 24
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at slow. High of 21 °C, wind to 16 km/h.
Wed, Sep 23
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at slow. High of 18 °C, wind to 13 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 inside the park too; the New South Wales licence page lists the fees.
About this water
Tantangara Reservoir is a lake in New South Wales, Australia, covered from the New South Wales reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Tantangara Reservoir: the full guide
The lake
Tantangara Reservoir is the Snowy Hydro storage on the upper Murrumbidgee River inside Kosciuszko National Park, a high, treeless lake in frost-hollow country north of Adaminaby that diverts the river’s headwaters to Lake Eucumbene and rises and falls with that transfer. It is reached by a gravel road, has no town and no services, and fishes for wild brown trout and stocked rainbows along its edges; the Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at the dam supplies the level and the 30-day chart on this page.
Species and seasons
Brown trout, self-sustaining from the spawning runs into the Murrumbidgee and the creeks, are the lake’s fish, along the edges on bait and lures in the cooler months and on the fly through the shallow bays in spring and summer when the water is up over the grass; rainbow trout are stocked and fish the drop-offs; and the Murrumbidgee above the lake is a trout stream under the stream closure, while the reservoir itself has no closed season. Trout cod and Macquarie perch in the river are protected and go back.
Where to fish it
The dam end and the road along the western shore give bank access, and the shallow bays on the eastern side flood grass in a full year that the browns feed over at dawn; a boat launched from the shore covers the drop-offs and the mouths of the creeks. When the lake is drawn down the fishing moves to the old river channel and the points, and the walk to the water gets long.
Reading the report
Tantangara is above 1,200 metres and the weather is alpine: snow in any month, frost most nights outside summer, and a wind that crosses the treeless basin without a break, so the wind row is the number to respect. The water temperature estimate, labelled as one, is cold for most of the year. The chart shows the hydro transfers that move the level independently of rain.
Licence, access and rules
The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, from A$7 for three days, applies inside the park too; the New South Wales licence page lists the fees. The gravel road and the shore are national park with Snowy Hydro’s rules on the water; DPIRD’s trout rules and the general trout waters limits are in the sources.
Common questions
Is Tantangara open for fishing all year?
The reservoir is, being a storage; the Murrumbidgee above it is a trout stream and follows the June to October stream closure. The species card shows the rule.
Are there services at Tantangara?
No. It is a gravel road, a dam and a shore inside Kosciuszko National Park; Adaminaby is the nearest town.
Is fishing good at Tantangara Reservoir right now?
Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
Nearby waters
Where this page's numbers come from
- Storage and river readings
- Bureau of Meteorology, Water Data Online, station 410543 — Tantangara Dam RL
- 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.