Barramundi
Excellent
Dawn, dusk and the run-off drains and creek mouths on the falling tide; hardbodies and soft vibes cast tight to snags and rock bars.
Kinchant Dam Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
Kinchant Dam, 40 km west of Mackay: stocked barramundi and sooty grunter in an off-stream lake filled by channel from the Pioneer River, exempt from the barramundi closure.
3/5
Fair. Fish early or late.Heat pins the bite to the dawn and dusk windows.
Level
56.41 m55,524 ML
Air / High
24 °C / 31 °C
Wind
ESE 5 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 126004A, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Kinchant Dam is in full summer mode: early starts, shade at midday, and the evening change. The gauge reads 56.41 m, holding steady. Today brings a mixed sky, wind ESE around 5 km/h, steady pressure near 1015 hPa and a high of 32 °C. Water sits around 29 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 11:03 PM-1:03 AM and 10:39 AM-12:39 PM: plan around them and beat the heat.
Tie on: Soft plastic, 3 to 5 inch paddle tail · Pilchard on ganged hooks · Metal slug, 20 to 40 g · Surface walker at first light. Prime windows: 11:03 PM-1:03 AM, 10:39 AM-12:39 PM, 4:23 AM-5:23 AM. Similar at 31 °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 barramundi here? Check the size and bag limits with Queensland DPI before you keep anything; the Barramundi page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Kinchant Dam today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:17), sunset (18:19), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 11:03 PM-1:03 AM and 10:39 AM-12:39 PM; minor 4:23 AM-5:23 AM. New Moon, 0% lit.
Water and weather
Live readings from Bureau of Meteorology station 126004A (Kinchant Dam HW).
Storage level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station 126004A. Latest reading 2026-11-08 11:00.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp24 °C
High / Low31 °C / 22 °C
WindESE 5 km/h, gusts 11 km/h
Pressure1015.4 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain57% cloud, 88%
Sunrise / Sunset05:17 / 18:19
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~29 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Kinchant Dam
Today is the pick of the week on Kinchant Dam, at 3 out of 5.
Best day this week: today, 9 Nov — fair at 3/5, steady pressure, neither help nor hindrance.
Today, 9 Nov — Fair
Heat pins the bite to the dawn and dusk windows.
- Solunar majors
- 11:03 PM-1:03 AM and 10:39 AM-12:39 PM
- Minor period
- 4:23 AM-5:23 AM
- Sun
- 05:17 to 18:19
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 14 km/h
- Rain chance
- 88%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Kinchant Dam: seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
Barramundi
Run-off (March to May) and build-up (October to November) in the north; check the closed season on the Queensland east coast
Open all year Kinchant Dam is a stocked dam exempt from the closed season Rule as read from Queensland Department of Primary Industries on 2026-09-23.
The north's fish. Tidal rivers, run-off creeks, rock bars and the stocked impoundments. Warm water, moving water and a barometer on the way down. Dawn, dusk and the run-off drains and creek mouths on the falling tide; hardbodies and soft vibes cast tight to snags and rock bars.
When to come: the Kinchant 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
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Barramundi
SlowPeak
Water temperature through the year
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 29 °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 Kinchant Dam today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataSun, Nov 8
3/5 Fair. Fish early or late. Heat pins the bite to the dawn and dusk windows. Barramundi led the card at excellent. High of 33 °C, wind to 19 km/h.
Sat, Nov 7
3/5 Fair. Fish early or late. Heat pins the bite to the dawn and dusk windows. Barramundi led the card at excellent. High of 33 °C, wind to 16 km/h.
Fri, Nov 6
3/5 Fair. Fish early or late. Heat pins the bite to the dawn and dusk windows. Barramundi 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
Kinchant is a Stocked Impoundment Permit Scheme water, so anglers aged 18 and over need the permit, at A$13.60 a week or A$64.58 a year.
Permit
Kinchant 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
Kinchant Dam is a lake in Queensland, Australia, covered from the Queensland reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Kinchant Dam: the full guide
The lake
Kinchant Dam was built across Sandy Creek in 1977, about 40 kilometres west of Mackay, and Sunwater notes that much of its water does not come from its own catchment: it is pumped from the Pioneer River at Mirani Weir into an 8 kilometre diversion channel that empties into the lake. Sunwater also mentions a downhill mountain bike circuit near the dam. The Bureau of Meteorology’s station at the dam, 126004A, supplies the level and the 30-day chart on this page.
Species and seasons
Barramundi and sooty grunter are the stocked species on the Queensland Government’s list for Kinchant. The dam is exempt from the east coast barramundi closure, so the species card shows barramundi open from January to December. Barramundi are warm-water fish and tend to slow in the coolest months; sooty grunter are aggressive feeders around structure and take small lures and baits. The Queensland Government says permit money goes towards maintaining and enhancing fishing in the stocked impoundments such as this one.
Where to fish it
Weed beds and edges are the obvious barramundi habitat in a lake like this; a weedless soft plastic, a swimbait or a shallow suspending lure worked slowly through gaps in the weed at dawn, dusk or after dark is a sound start. Sunwater does not allow fishing on or near the dam wall or the Abingdon Pump Station, and boats must stay at least 100 metres from the wall, spillway and pump station.
Reading the report
Because the lake is topped up by pumping, its level on the chart can rise without local rain. The estimated water temperature row suggests when barramundi will feed most freely, and a falling barometer before a storm is a traditional trigger. The south-easterly can ruffle open water in the dry season, so check the wind row before a long run.
Permits, access and rules
Kinchant is a Stocked Impoundment Permit Scheme water, so anglers aged 18 and over need the permit, at A$13.60 a week or A$64.58 a year. The boat ramp and facilities away from the foreshore belong to Sunwater; the caravan park is privately owned and operates the camping area. Swimming, kayaking and sailing are permitted outside signed exclusion zones.
Common questions
Is Kinchant Dam exempt from the barramundi closed season?
Yes. The Queensland Government lists Kinchant among the dams where the 1 November to 31 January closure does not apply.
Where does Kinchant Dam get its water?
Mostly from the Pioneer River, pumped from Mirani Weir through an 8 km channel, according to Sunwater, rather than from its own catchment.
Is fishing good at Kinchant Dam 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 early or late. Heat pins the bite to the dawn and dusk windows.
Nearby waters
Where this page's numbers come from
- Storage and river readings
- Bureau of Meteorology, Water Data Online, station 126004A — Kinchant 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.