Golden perch
Excellent
Prime. Hop soft plastics and vibes around the timber, or fish shrimp and worms on the bottom.
Dawson River at Baralaba Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Dawson at Baralaba: golden perch and saratoga in the Neville Hewitt Weir pool of central Queensland, with the Bureau’s gauge at the town.
2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Level
78.26 m
Air / High
22 °C / 31 °C
Wind
NE 13 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 130304B, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Dawson River at Baralaba sits in the warm band: moving baits, moving tides and fish on the edges. The gauge reads 78.26 m, holding steady. Today brings clear skies, wind NE around 13 km/h, rising pressure near 1017 hPa and a high of 31 °C. Water sits around 19 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 10:34 AM-12:34 PM and 10:58 PM-12:58 AM: the windows to build the day around.
Tie on: Soft plastic on a 1/4 oz jighead · Small hardbody, shallow diver · Squid jig, size 3.0 · Fresh pipi or worm on a small hook. Prime windows: 10:34 AM-12:34 PM, 10:58 PM-12:58 AM, 4:14 AM-5:14 AM. Similar at 32 °C with a rain chance. 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 golden perch here? Check the size and bag limits with Queensland DPI before you keep anything; the Golden perch page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Dawson River at Baralaba today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:09), sunset (18:19), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 10:34 AM-12:34 PM and 10:58 PM-12:58 AM; minor 4:14 AM-5:14 AM. New Moon, 0% lit.
Water and weather
Live readings from Bureau of Meteorology station 130304B (Neville Hewitt Weir).
River level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station 130304B. Latest reading 2026-11-08 11:00.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp22 °C
High / Low31 °C / 18 °C
WindNE 13 km/h, gusts 25 km/h
Pressure1016.5 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain3% cloud, 99%
Sunrise / Sunset05:09 / 18:19
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~19 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Dawson River at Baralaba
The best day on Dawson River at Baralaba this week looks like Tuesday 10 Nov, at 4 out of 5, against 2 today.
Best day this week: Tuesday, 10 Nov — good at 4/5, rising pressure behind a front, typically the slowest.
Today, 9 Nov — Tough
Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
- Solunar majors
- 10:34 AM-12:34 PM and 10:58 PM-12:58 AM
- Minor period
- 4:14 AM-5:14 AM
- Sun
- 05:09 to 18:19
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 18 km/h
- Rain chance
- 99%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Dawson River at Baralaba: seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
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. Prime. Hop soft plastics and vibes around the timber, or fish shrimp and worms on the bottom.
When to come: the Dawson River at Baralaba 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
Golden perch
SlowPeak
Water temperature through the year
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 19 °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 Dawson River at Baralaba today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataSun, Nov 8
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Golden perch led the card at excellent. High of 33 °C, wind to 18 km/h.
Sat, Nov 7
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Golden perch led the card at excellent. High of 34 °C, wind to 19 km/h.
Fri, Nov 6
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Golden perch led the card at excellent. High of 36 °C, wind to 16 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
Queensland has no fishing licence for rivers, and Neville Hewitt Weir is not on the Stocked Impoundment Permit list.
About this water
Dawson River at Baralaba is a river in Queensland, Australia, covered from the Queensland reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Dawson River at Baralaba: the full guide
The reach
The Dawson at Baralaba is held into a pool by Neville Hewitt Weir beside the town, running between river gums and black soil. The river flows north here: Theodore and Moura are upstream, and below Baralaba the Dawson continues to join the Mackenzie and form the Fitzroy. The Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge on the Neville Hewitt Weir pool at Baralaba, station 130304B, supplies the level and the 30-day chart on this page.
Species and seasons
Golden perch are the page’s species, on the snags and deep bends from spring to autumn. Southern saratoga work the surface along the timber at dawn and dusk; Queensland sets a 50 cm minimum and a limit of one. Barramundi fall under the freshwater closure from 1 November to 31 January, which covers all Queensland fresh waters outside the listed impoundments; the Dawson is not on that list, and barramundi cannot be targeted for catch and release in the closure.
Where to fish it
Sunwater owns the weir, and Banana Shire Council runs the camping ground, boat ramp and recreation area beside it. Sunwater does not permit boating or fishing near the weir and allows public access only in designated areas, so fish the pool upstream, not the structure. A boat or kayak covers the timbered reaches of the pool.
Reading the report
With the weir holding the pool, the chart moves little except in a flood, when the Dawson can rise a long way and spread across the black-soil plain. The water temperature on this page is modelled, labelled as an estimate, and gives the golden perch band from October to April. On the open black-soil country, the afternoon wind can make the pool choppy for small craft.
Rules and access
Queensland has no fishing licence for rivers, and Neville Hewitt Weir is not on the Stocked Impoundment Permit list. Size and possession limits and the barramundi closure are on the Queensland Government pages linked here.
Up and down the Dawson
Sunwater’s Dawson Valley scheme relies on a chain of weirs, among them Theodore, Moura, Glebe and Neville Hewitt, each with public facilities and each with the same instruction to keep boats and lines away from the structure. The Dawson at Theodore and at Taroom, and the Fitzroy at Riverslea downstream, have their own pages.
Common questions
Can I fish near Neville Hewitt Weir?
Not near the structure: Sunwater does not permit boating or fishing near the weir. Fish the pool upstream from the designated public areas.
Is barramundi closed on the Dawson?
Yes, from 1 November to 31 January: the Dawson is not among the Queensland waters exempt from the freshwater closure.
Is fishing good at Dawson River at Baralaba 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 130304B — Neville Hewitt Weir
- Open-Meteo forecast model
- https://open-meteo.com/
- Moon and solunar windows
- Calculated on this site
- Pages checked
- 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.