Barramundi
Good
Work the colour changes and the snags on the run-out; larger swimbaits and slow-rolled plastics in the impoundments.
Lake Tinaroo Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Atherton Tableland’s barramundi lake: metre fish in a stocked dam exempt from the closed season, sooty grunter and red claw, with a Bureau gauge and a permit to fish.
5/5
Excellent. Go now.Everything lines up: pressure, wind and light are in your favor.
Level
669.87 m419,928 ML
Air / High
16 °C / 20 °C
Wind
SE 17 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 110014A, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Lake Tinaroo has the water in the comfortable band where most of its fish feed through the day. The gauge reads 669.87 m, easing 0.09 over the week. Today brings cloud cover, wind SE around 18 km/h, falling pressure near 1024 hPa and a high of 20 °C. Water sits around 26 °C for the season (estimated). With the full moon, the solunar majors run 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 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: 10:25 AM-12:25 PM, 10:25 PM-12:25 AM, 4:55 AM-5:55 AM. Similar at 21 °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 (06:05), sunset (18:14), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM; minor 4:55 AM-5:55 AM. Full Moon, 99% lit.
Water and 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 2026-09-24 11:00.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp16 °C
High / Low20 °C / 15 °C
WindSE 17 km/h, gusts 35 km/h
Pressure1023.6 hPa, falling
Sky / Rain99% cloud, 51%
Sunrise / Sunset06:05 / 18:14
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~26 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Lake Tinaroo
Today is the pick of the week on Lake Tinaroo, at 5 out of 5. Every day is scored by the same engine as the report above: pressure trend first, then wind, sky and season. Pick a species and the plan for that day changes with it.
Best day this week: today, 25 Sept — excellent at 5/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
Today, 25 Sept — Excellent
Everything lines up: pressure, wind and light are in your favor.
- Solunar majors
- 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM
- Minor period
- 4:55 AM-5:55 AM
- Sun
- 06:05 to 18:14
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 21 km/h
- Rain chance
- 51%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
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. Work the colour changes and the snags on the run-out; larger swimbaits and slow-rolled plastics in the impoundments.
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 26 °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 dataThu, Sep 24
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Barramundi led the card at good. High of 21 °C, wind to 19 km/h.
Wed, Sep 23
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Barramundi led the card at good. High of 22 °C, wind to 19 km/h.
Tue, Sep 22
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Barramundi led the card at good. High of 22 °C, wind to 19 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
Tinaroo is a Stocked Impoundment Permit Scheme water: anyone 18 or over line fishing needs the permit, A$13.60 a week or A$64.58 a year as read from the Queensland Government; our Queensland licence page has the details.
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
Lake Tinaroo is the Tinaroo Falls Dam on the Barron River on the Atherton Tableland above Cairns, a big, cool, timbered lake at 700 metres among the tableland farms and rainforest, with Tinaroo village, several ramps, foreshore camps in the Danbulla forest and the Barron irrigation channels leaving it. It is the north’s most famous impoundment barramundi water, stocked by the local group for decades, and the Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at the dam supplies the level and the 30-day chart on this page.
Species and seasons
Barramundi are the fish, grown to metre-plus sizes in the cool tableland water, along the weed edges, the timber and the points at dawn, dusk and at night from spring to autumn, and Tinaroo is on the Queensland Government’s list of dams exempt from the east coast closed season, so the chip on the species card reads open all year. Sooty grunter fish the rocky points and the creek mouths, red claw crayfish are a pot fishery in the shallows, and the stocking group publishes what goes in each year.
Where to fish it
The ramps at Tinaroo village, the dam wall and the Danbulla forest camps launch onto the different arms, and the weed beds of the shallow bays, the drowned timber up the Barron arm and the rocky points of the eastern shore are the barramundi structure; night fishing with surface lures over the weed in summer is the Tinaroo method. Bank fishing is possible from the camps and the wall but the lake is a boat fishery first.
Reading the report
The tableland is cooler than the coast and the water temperature estimate, labelled as one, decides whether the barramundi feed: they shut down in a cold winter and fire from October. The chart shows the irrigation draw-down through the dry and the wet-season refill; pressure matters, a falling barometer before a storm being the classic bite; and the wind row shows the south-easterly that ruffles the open water.
Permits, access and rules
Tinaroo is a Stocked Impoundment Permit Scheme water: anyone 18 or over line fishing needs the permit, A$13.60 a week or A$64.58 a year as read from the Queensland Government; our Queensland licence page has the details. The Danbulla camps, the ramps and the village foreshore are public; the Queensland size and bag rules are in the sources.
Common questions
Is barramundi open all year at Lake Tinaroo?
Yes. The Queensland Government lists Tinaroo among the stocked dams exempt from the 1 November to 31 January closure; the species card shows open all year with the rule linked.
Do I need a permit to fish Lake Tinaroo?
Yes, from age 18: the Stocked Impoundment Permit, A$13.60 a week or A$64.58 a year, read from the Queensland Government page linked on our Queensland licence page.
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: Excellent. Go now. Everything lines up: pressure, wind and light are in your favor.
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
- 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.