Golden perch
Excellent
Prime. Hop soft plastics and vibes around the timber, or fish shrimp and worms on the bottom.
Dawson River at Taroom Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Dawson at Taroom: golden perch in the waterholes of a central Queensland river of the Fitzroy system, with a Bureau gauge at the town.
2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Level
2.00 m
Air / High
21 °C / 30 °C
Wind
NNE 14 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 130302A, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Dawson River at Taroom is fishing in its best temperature window, with the bite spread across the day. The gauge reads 2.00 m, easing 0.39 over the week. Today brings clear skies, wind NNE around 14 km/h, rising pressure near 1016 hPa and a high of 30 °C. Water sits around 19 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 10:35 AM-12:35 PM and 10:59 PM-12:59 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: 10:35 AM-12:35 PM, 10:59 PM-12:59 AM, 4:12 AM-5:12 AM. Similar at 31 °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 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 Taroom today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:07), sunset (18:22), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 10:35 AM-12:35 PM and 10:59 PM-12:59 AM; minor 4:12 AM-5:12 AM. New Moon, 0% lit.
Water and weather
Live readings from Bureau of Meteorology station 130302A (Dawson_R Taroom).
River level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station 130302A. Latest reading 2026-11-08 18:00.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp21 °C
High / Low30 °C / 14 °C
WindNNE 14 km/h, gusts 27 km/h
Pressure1016.4 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain24% cloud, 4%
Sunrise / Sunset05:07 / 18:22
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~19 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Dawson River at Taroom
The best day on Dawson River at Taroom 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
- 10:35 AM-12:35 PM and 10:59 PM-12:59 AM
- Minor period
- 4:12 AM-5:12 AM
- Sun
- 05:07 to 18:22
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 16 km/h
- Rain chance
- 4%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Dawson River at Taroom: 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 Taroom 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 Taroom today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataSun, Nov 8
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Golden perch led the card at excellent. High of 31 °C, wind to 19 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 32 °C, wind to 16 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 32 °C, wind to 10 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 general fishing licence is needed in Queensland, and the river at Taroom is not a stocked impoundment; the size and bag limits apply, on the pages linked below..
About this water
Dawson River at Taroom is a river in Queensland, Australia, covered from the Queensland reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Dawson River at Taroom: the full guide
The Dawson at Taroom
Taroom is the cattle town on the upper Dawson River in central Queensland, where the river winds between coolibah and river red gums through the brigalow country. The Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at Taroom, station 130302A, supplies the river level and the 30-day chart on this page. The Dawson at Theodore and at Baralaba have their own pages.
Species and seasons
Golden perch are the fish most anglers catch in the Dawson at Taroom, on shrimp and lures along the snags. The Dawson flows north to the Fitzroy and the Pacific, outside the Murray-Darling Drainage Division, so Queensland’s Murray cod closure, which covers only that division, has no bearing here; the Queensland size and bag limits apply.
Where to fish it
The crossings and reserves near Taroom give access to the Dawson’s waterholes, and the river is fished from the bank in the pools. A bait of shrimp or a worm on a running sinker, cast beside a sunken log in the deepest hole, is the reliable golden perch method.
Planning a visit
Taroom has supplies and camping. Bring bait for golden perch, a few small lures, and plenty of water for the heat.
The river through the year
The Dawson rises in the ranges of central Queensland and runs north through Taroom, Theodore and Baralaba to the Fitzroy, which reaches the sea at Rockhampton; it is east-flowing water, outside the Murray-Darling, so its fish are those of the Fitzroy system. At Taroom it is a chain of long waterholes for much of the year, joined and set running by the summer wet, when heavy rain can flood it across the flats. Golden perch feed on a rising river in the warm months, and the winter dry is quieter, with the fish holding in the deeper holes. There are no Murray cod here.
Reading this report here
The chart shows whether the Dawson is flowing or down to waterholes; a flow after storms brings the fish on. The water temperature estimate, labelled as one, runs hot in summer; pressure and sky build the score at Taroom.
Licence, access and rules
No general fishing licence is needed in Queensland, and the river at Taroom is not a stocked impoundment; the size and bag limits apply, on the pages linked below.
Common questions
What can I catch at Taroom?
Golden perch, the Dawson’s main angling fish at Taroom.
Is there a cod closure on the Dawson?
No. Queensland’s Murray cod closure covers the Murray-Darling Drainage Division, and the Dawson flows to the Fitzroy.
Do I need a licence at Taroom?
No. Queensland has no general recreational fishing licence, and the river needs no permit.
Is fishing good at Dawson River at Taroom 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 130302A — Dawson_R Taroom
- 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.