Golden perch
Excellent
Prime. Hop soft plastics and vibes around the timber, or fish shrimp and worms on the bottom.
Maranoa River at Mitchell Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Maranoa at Mitchell: golden perch and Murray cod in the Neil Turner Weir pool, with a Bureau gauge and the Murray-Darling cod closure.
4/5
Good. Solid day ahead.Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
Level
0.84 m
Air / High
21 °C / 28 °C
Wind
ESE 7 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 422401D, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Maranoa River at Mitchell sits in the warm band: moving baits, moving tides and fish on the edges. The gauge reads 0.84 m, easing 0.22 over the week. Today brings cloud cover, wind ESE around 8 km/h, rising pressure near 1015 hPa and a high of 28 °C. Water sits around 19 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 11:06 PM-1:06 AM and 10:42 AM-12:42 PM: the windows to build the day around.
Murray cod
Slow
Prime. Cast big spinnerbaits, hardbodies and swimbaits tight to timber and rock, and work the same snag several times.
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: 11:06 PM-1:06 AM, 10:42 AM-12:42 PM, 4:18 AM-5:18 AM. Warmer at 32 °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 Maranoa River at Mitchell today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:13), sunset (18:30), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 11:06 PM-1:06 AM and 10:42 AM-12:42 PM; minor 4:18 AM-5:18 AM. New Moon, 0% lit.
Water and weather
Live readings from Bureau of Meteorology station 422401D (Maranoa R Mitchell).
River level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station 422401D. Latest reading 2026-11-08 18:00.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp21 °C
High / Low28 °C / 12 °C
WindESE 7 km/h, gusts 13 km/h
Pressure1015.2 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain88% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset05:13 / 18:30
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~19 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Maranoa River at Mitchell
Today is the pick of the week on Maranoa River at Mitchell, 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
- 11:06 PM-1:06 AM and 10:42 AM-12:42 PM
- Minor period
- 4:18 AM-5:18 AM
- Sun
- 05:13 to 18:30
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Overcast, 10 km/h
- Rain chance
- 0%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Maranoa River at Mitchell: seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
Murray cod
Closed 1 September to 30 November in NSW, Victoria and the ACT, and 1 August to 31 October in Queensland; check the exempt lakes
Open now Closes 1 Aug 2027. 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. Prime. Cast big spinnerbaits, hardbodies and swimbaits tight to timber and rock, and work the same snag several times.
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 Maranoa River at Mitchell 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 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 Maranoa River at Mitchell 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 28 °C, wind to 21 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 33 °C, wind to 18 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 31 °C, wind to 11 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 Neil Turner Weir is not on the stocked impoundment list; the cod closure and limits apply, on the pages linked below..
About this water
Maranoa River at Mitchell is a river in Queensland, Australia, covered from the Queensland reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Maranoa River at Mitchell: the full guide
The Maranoa at Mitchell
Mitchell is the town on the Maranoa River about 80 km west of Roma. Neil Turner Weir, a concrete cascade weir finished in 1984 on the northern side of the town, holds a pool of 1,470 megalitres, mainly for the town’s water, and Sunwater owns it. The Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at Mitchell, station 422401D, supplies the river level and the 30-day chart on this page.
Species and seasons
Golden perch are the fish most anglers catch in the Maranoa at Mitchell, with Murray cod in the deeper holes and the snags. Queensland closes Murray cod from 1 August to 31 October in its Murray-Darling fresh waters, and the Maranoa is one of them; the species card computes it.
Where to fish it
Sunwater names Fisherman’s Rest, on the banks of the weir pool to the west, as a popular fishing spot. Fishing is not allowed on or near the weir wall, and boats must stay at least 200 metres from it or as signed; releases can come without warning below the weir.
Planning a visit
Maranoa Regional Council manages the recreation areas and the camping grounds at Neil Turner Weir, with a boat ramp, picnic areas, barbecues and toilets. Bring bait for golden perch and a few cod lures, and contact the council about camping.
The river through the year
The Maranoa runs south through the Maranoa country to the Balonne, part of the Queensland Murray-Darling. At Mitchell the weir holds a long, still pool for most of the year, and the river rises and colours quickly after heavy rain upstream, sometimes spilling across the flats. Golden perch are most active on a rising river in the warm months, when bait and lures worked around the timber both take fish; Murray cod hold in the deeper holes and the snags and are off limits from late winter into spring. The winter nights at Mitchell are cold and the fishing slows, then picks up again as the water warms.
Reading this report here
The chart shows whether the Maranoa is flowing; it can drop to waterholes in dry spells. The water temperature estimate, labelled as one, is hot in summer; pressure and sky build the score at Mitchell.
Licence, access and rules
No general fishing licence is needed in Queensland, and Neil Turner Weir is not on the stocked impoundment list; the cod closure and limits apply, on the pages linked below.
Common questions
When is Murray cod closed at Mitchell?
From 1 August to 31 October each year.
Where can I fish at Mitchell?
Around the Neil Turner Weir pool, including Fisherman’s Rest; not on or near the weir wall.
Do I need a licence at Mitchell?
No. Queensland has no general recreational fishing licence, and the weir needs no permit.
Is fishing good at Maranoa River at Mitchell 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 422401D — Maranoa R Mitchell
- 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.