Australian bass
Excellent
Prime. Cast spinnerbaits, small hardbodies and surface lures tight to structure in the rivers; sound up the schools in the dams.
Hinze Dam Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
Hinze Dam in the Gold Coast hinterland, the city’s main water supply: stocked bass, golden perch, saratoga, silver perch and Mary River cod, fished from two electric-boat ramps.
4/5
Good. Solid day ahead.Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
Level
94.61 m312,200 ML
Air / High
16 °C / 24 °C
Wind
S 4 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 146033A, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Hinze Dam sits in the warm band: moving baits, moving tides and fish on the edges. The gauge reads 94.61 m. Today brings a mixed sky, wind S around 3 km/h, rising pressure near 1019 hPa and a high of 24 °C. Water sits around 21 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 10:20 AM-12:20 PM and 10:42 PM-12:42 AM: the windows to build the day around.
Golden perch
Excellent
Prime. Hop soft plastics and vibes around the timber, or fish shrimp and worms on the bottom.
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: 10:20 AM-12:20 PM, 10:42 PM-12:42 AM, 3:53 AM-4:53 AM. Warmer at 27 °C with likely rain: fish ahead of the front. 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 australian bass here? Check the size and bag limits with Queensland DPI before you keep anything; the Australian bass page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Hinze Dam today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (04:49), sunset (18:11), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 10:20 AM-12:20 PM and 10:42 PM-12:42 AM; minor 3:53 AM-4:53 AM. New Moon, 0% lit.
Hinze Dam Level today, and the weather
Live readings from Bureau of Meteorology station 146033A (Nerang R at Hinze Dam HW).
Storage level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station 146033A. Latest reading 2026-11-08 09:00.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp16 °C
High / Low24 °C / 12 °C
WindS 4 km/h, gusts 6 km/h
Pressure1019.3 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain43% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset04:49 / 18:11
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~21 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Hinze Dam
Today is the pick of the week on Hinze Dam, at 4 out of 5.
Best day this week: today, 9 Nov — good at 4/5, rising pressure behind a front, typically the slowest.
Today, 9 Nov — Good
Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
- Solunar majors
- 10:20 AM-12:20 PM and 10:42 PM-12:42 AM
- Minor period
- 3:53 AM-4:53 AM
- Sun
- 04:49 to 18:11
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Overcast, 16 km/h
- Rain chance
- 0%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Hinze 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 1 May to 31 August in NSW rivers, and dams stay open
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. Prime. Cast spinnerbaits, small hardbodies and surface lures tight to structure in the rivers; sound up the schools in the dams.
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 Hinze 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 21 °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 Hinze Dam 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. Australian bass led the card at excellent. High of 26 °C, wind to 23 km/h.
Sat, Nov 7
5/5 Excellent. Go now. Everything lines up: pressure, wind and light are in your favor. Australian bass led the card at excellent. High of 30 °C, wind to 13 km/h.
Fri, Nov 6
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Australian bass led the card at excellent. High of 24 °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
A Stocked Impoundment Permit is required at Hinze for anyone 18 or over who line fishes: seven days for A$13.60 or a year for A$64.58.
Permit
Hinze Dam is in Queensland’s Stocked Impoundment Permit scheme: anyone 18 or over fishing it with a line needs the permit, and one permit covers every scheme water. What the permit costs and where to buy it. Compare it with every other storage in the state on Queensland dam levels today.
About this water
Hinze Dam is a lake in Queensland, Australia, covered from the Queensland reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Hinze Dam: the full guide
The lake
Hinze Dam is on the Nerang River about 15 kilometres south-west of Nerang. Seqwater says it was built in 1976, raised in 1989 and significantly upgraded in 2011, when the wall went up another 15 metres and the capacity doubled; it now holds 310,730 megalitres and is the main drinking water supply for the Gold Coast. It is an ungated dam that spills once full. Seqwater also describes lakeside parks, walking, bike and horse trails and barbecue areas. The Bureau of Meteorology’s station at the dam, 146033A, supplies the level and the 30-day chart on this page.
Species and seasons
The Queensland Government lists Australian bass, golden perch, Mary River cod, saratoga and silver perch as stocked at Hinze. The species card on this page covers bass and golden perch. Bass school in deeper water in cooler months and move to timber and edges when it warms; saratoga feed at the surface on warm mornings. Check Queensland’s current rules for Mary River cod before keeping one.
Where to fish it
Seqwater lists fishing, electric boating, canoeing and kayaking at the Western Boat Ramp and the Eastern Boat Ramp, which are the two starting points for anglers. From either ramp, work timbered banks and points with spinnerbaits, soft plastics and surface lures in the warmer months, and use a sounder to find schooled bass in deeper water in winter. Seqwater’s recreation guide shows the facilities and permitted areas.
Reading the report
The hinterland ranges attract heavy summer rain, and the rain row can signal a rising lake and dirty inflows; the chart confirms the effect. The estimated water temperature row indicates the season’s pattern for bass. The surrounding hills often shelter the water, so the pressure trend before storms can matter more than the wind.
Permits, access and rules
A Stocked Impoundment Permit is required at Hinze for anyone 18 or over who line fishes: seven days for A$13.60 or a year for A$64.58. Seqwater permits electric-powered boats, canoes, kayaks, rowing, sailing and stand-up paddle boards from the two ramps, and dogs on leash in set areas.
Common questions
Can I fish Hinze Dam?
Yes. Seqwater lists fishing and electric boating from the Western and Eastern boat ramps; you need a Stocked Impoundment Permit if you are 18 or over.
What boats are allowed on Hinze Dam?
Electric-powered boats and paddle craft, launched from the Western or Eastern boat ramp, according to Seqwater.
Is fishing good at Hinze Dam 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 146033A — Nerang R at Hinze Dam HW
- 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.