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.
Lake Tinaroo Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
Lake Tinaroo on the Atherton Tableland: stocked barramundi that Sunwater credits with extraordinary size, sooty grunter, four public ramps and a permit to fish.
3/5
Fair. Fish early or late.Heat pins the bite to the dawn and dusk windows.
Level
668.18 m365,082 ML
Air / High
22 °C / 29 °C
Wind
E 5 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 110014A, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Lake Tinaroo runs hot and bright: the fish feed early, late and deep. The gauge reads 668.18 m, easing 0.28 over the week. Today brings cloud cover, wind E around 5 km/h, steady pressure near 1016 hPa and a high of 29 °C. Water sits around 29 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 11:16 PM-1:16 AM and 10:52 AM-12:52 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: 11:16 PM-1:16 AM, 10:52 AM-12:52 PM, 4:44 AM-5:44 AM. Cooler 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 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 Lake Tinaroo today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:36), sunset (18:26), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 11:16 PM-1:16 AM and 10:52 AM-12:52 PM; minor 4:44 AM-5:44 AM. New Moon, 0% lit.
Tinaroo Dam Level today, and the weather
Live readings from Bureau of Meteorology station 110014A (Barron_R Tin Dam HW).
Storage level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station 110014A. Latest reading 2026-11-08 11:00.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp22 °C
High / Low29 °C / 21 °C
WindE 5 km/h, gusts 17 km/h
Pressure1015.5 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain100% cloud, 94%
Sunrise / Sunset05:36 / 18:26
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~29 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Lake Tinaroo
Today is the pick of the week on Lake Tinaroo, 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
- 11:16 PM-1:16 AM and 10:52 AM-12:52 PM
- Minor period
- 4:44 AM-5:44 AM
- Sun
- 05:36 to 18:26
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 10 km/h
- Rain chance
- 94%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Lake Tinaroo: 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 Tinaroo 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 Lake Tinaroo 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
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 Lake Tinaroo 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 32 °C, wind to 13 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 31 °C, wind to 13 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 31 °C, wind to 13 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
Line fishing at Tinaroo needs a Stocked Impoundment Permit if you are 18 or older: A$13.60 for a week or A$64.58 for a year, with a concession year at A$46.45.
Permit
Lake Tinaroo 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
Lake Tinaroo is a lake in Queensland, Australia, covered from the Queensland reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Lake Tinaroo: the full guide
The lake
Tinaroo Falls Dam holds the Barron River about 100 kilometres inland from Cairns and forms Lake Tinaroo on the Atherton Tableland. Sunwater completed it in 1958 to secure water for the tableland’s tobacco farms; today it supplies the Mareeba-Dimbulah scheme’s mixed crops and also generates hydro-electricity. Sunwater states that fish stocking has made the lake a magnet for anglers because of the extraordinary size of its resident barramundi. The Bureau of Meteorology’s station at the dam, 110014A, supplies the level and the 30-day chart on this page.
Species and seasons
The Queensland Government’s stocked impoundment list gives barramundi and sooty grunter as the species stocked at Tinaroo Falls Dam. The dam is one of the impoundments where the east coast barramundi closed season, 1 November to 31 January, does not apply, and that exemption extends to waterways upstream; the species card shows barramundi open all year. Barramundi feed hardest when the water is warm, so the cooler tableland winter usually slows them, while sooty grunter are active through more of the year around rocky points and timber.
Where to fish it
Sunwater lists four public boat ramps, owned by Transport and Main Roads and managed by Tablelands Regional Council, including ramps off Bruce Road, Black Gully Road and Church Street. Weed beds, drowned timber and points are the classic barramundi structure; a weedless soft plastic or a suspending hardbody worked slowly at dawn, dusk or after dark is the usual approach. Sunwater does not allow fishing on or near the dam wall, and boats must keep 200 metres from the wall.
Reading the report
The estimated water temperature row is the main cue for barramundi activity, but remember it is modelled for the water type, not measured in the lake. The chart shows the irrigation draw-down through the dry and the refill in the wet. A falling barometer ahead of a storm often lifts the bite, and the wind row helps decide which arm offers shelter from the south-easterly.
Permits, access and rules
Line fishing at Tinaroo needs a Stocked Impoundment Permit if you are 18 or older: A$13.60 for a week or A$64.58 for a year, with a concession year at A$46.45. Recreation facilities belong to Tablelands Regional Council, and privately run camping and accommodation operate in the designated camping area. Sunwater permits swimming, kayaking and sailing outside signed exclusion zones.
Common questions
Is barramundi open all year at Lake Tinaroo?
Yes. The Queensland Government exempts Tinaroo from the east coast barramundi closed season of 1 November to 31 January, so the species card shows it open all year.
Do I need a permit to fish Lake Tinaroo?
Anyone 18 or over line fishing needs a Stocked Impoundment Permit, A$13.60 for seven days or A$64.58 for twelve months; under-18s fish free.
Is fishing good at Lake Tinaroo 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 110014A — Barron_R Tin 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.