Balonne River at St George Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Balonne at St George: cod and golden perch in the weir pool of the cotton town on the Queensland side of the Darling basin, with the Bureau’s gauge at the town.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Level
0.97 m
Air / High
19 °C / 28 °C
Wind
ENE 7 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 422201F, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Balonne River at St George rewards patience today, with cool water and short feeding windows. The gauge reads 0.97 m, holding steady. Today brings clear skies, wind ENE around 8 km/h, steady pressure near 1027 hPa and a high of 28 °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 28 °C. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.
Before you go
Queensland has no general fishing licence, but rules and permits apply. Queensland fishing licence: cost, rules and where to buy →
Chasing murray cod here? Check the size and bag limits with Queensland DPI before you keep anything; the Murray cod page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Balonne River at St George today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:52), sunset (18:03), 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 422201F (Balonne_R St George).
River level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station 422201F. Latest reading 2026-09-24 18:00.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp19 °C
High / Low28 °C / 16 °C
WindENE 7 km/h, gusts 10 km/h
Pressure1027.1 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset05:52 / 18:03
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~13 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Balonne River at St George
The best day on Balonne River at St George this week looks like Sunday 27 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: Sunday, 27 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
- 05:52 to 18:03
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Clear, 16 km/h
- Rain chance
- 0%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Balonne River at St George: 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 Nov 2026. Closed 1 August to 31 October in Queensland’s Murray-Darling fresh waters, except Connolly, Cooby, Coolmunda, Glenlyon, Leslie and Storm King dams. Rule as read from Queensland Department of Primary Industries 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 Balonne River at St George 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 Balonne River at St George 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 29 °C, wind to 18 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 29 °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 34 °C, wind to 18 km/h.
Before you go
Licence
Queensland has no general recreational fishing licence; permits apply on some waters and the limits and closures do. Details and where to buy →
Regulations
Size and bag limits, closed seasons and marine park zones are set by Queensland DPI and change: confirm the current rules on the agency page linked from the Queensland licence page before you keep anything.
Access
No fishing licence exists in Queensland; the limits and the Murray-Darling cod closure, on the pages linked below, are the rules.
About this water
Balonne River at St George is a river in Queensland, Australia, covered from the Queensland reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Balonne River at St George: the full guide
The reach
The Balonne at St George is the river of the south-west Downs held into a long pool by the Jack Taylor Weir beside the cotton town, running between river gums and floodplain toward the Culgoa and the Darling, with the town’s river parks, the weir and Lake Kajarabie, the Beardmore Dam, upstream. It is cod and perch water on a weir pool, and the Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at St George supplies the river level and the 30-day chart on this page.
Species and seasons
Cod hold on the snags, below the weir and in the deep bends, feeding through summer and autumn on lures and bait, and the Queensland Murray-Darling closure of 1 August to 31 October, computed on the species card, applies to the river; golden perch are the everyday fish from spring to autumn; eel-tailed catfish and spangled perch are present; and carp are numerous. The weir pool gives red claw in the pots.
Where to fish it
The river parks and the weir give bank access at the town, the water below the Jack Taylor Weir is the cod hole, and a boat covers the pool upstream toward the dam; the deep bends and the snags are the water. Night fishing along the pool’s snags is the summer method, and the summer heat makes dawn and dusk the sessions.
Reading the report
The weir holds the pool nearly steady, so the chart moves little except in a flood, when the Balonne spreads across its plain; the water temperature estimate, labelled as one, runs hot in the south-west summer and gives the cod band from November to April. The open country lets the wind cross the pool; pressure counts before a summer storm.
Rules and access
No fishing licence exists in Queensland; the limits and the Murray-Darling cod closure, on the pages linked below, are the rules. The parks and the weir surrounds are public; the weir has its exclusion zone.
Lake Kajarabie and the Beardmore Dam
Above the town the Beardmore Dam holds Lake Kajarabie, the irrigation storage that feeds the cotton, and the lake is a cod and perch water in its own right with a ramp and camping on its shore; the weir pool at St George and the lake fish as a pair, the lake in the wind and the pool in the calm, and the Balonne below the town runs on toward the Culgoa and the Darling.
Common questions
When is cod closed on the Balonne?
From 1 August to 31 October under the Queensland Murray-Darling rule, computed on the species card with the rule linked.
Do I need a licence at St George?
No licence in Queensland; the limits and the cod closure apply.
Is fishing good at Balonne River at St George 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 422201F — Balonne_R St George
- 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.