Lake Alexandrina Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Murray’s terminal lake at the Coorong: callop, cod, mulloway at the barrages and carp by the tonne in a vast, shallow lake, with a Bureau gauge.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Level
0.74 m1,607,929 ML
Air / High
16 °C / 20 °C
Wind
SSW 10 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge LKALEX, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Lake Alexandrina rewards patience today, with cool water and short feeding windows. The gauge reads 0.74 m, holding steady. Today brings a mixed sky, wind SSW around 10 km/h, rising pressure near 1026 hPa and a high of 20 °C. Water sits around 13 °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.
Murray cod
Slow
Slow it down: heavier spinnerbaits, slow-rolled swimbaits and bait on the bottom next to the deep snags.
Tie on: Blade or vibe, slow hops · Lightly weighted plastic · Whole pilchard or squid on the bottom · Suspending hardbody. Prime windows: 10:25 AM-12:25 PM, 10:25 PM-12:25 AM, 4:55 AM-5:55 AM. Cooler at 16 °C with likely rain: fish ahead of the front. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.
Before you go
South Australia has no general fishing licence, but rules and permits apply. South Australia fishing licence: cost, rules and where to buy →
Chasing murray cod here? Check the size and bag limits with PIRSA before you keep anything; the Murray cod page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Lake Alexandrina today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:59), sunset (18:12), 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 LKALEX (Lake Alexandrina).
Storage level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station LKALEX. Latest reading 2026-09-24 09:00.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp16 °C
High / Low20 °C / 14 °C
WindSSW 10 km/h, gusts 15 km/h
Pressure1025.9 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain41% cloud, 16%
Sunrise / Sunset05:59 / 18:12
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~13 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Lake Alexandrina
The best day on Lake Alexandrina this week looks like Sunday 27 Sept, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today. 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: Sunday, 27 Sept — good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
Today, 25 Sept — Fair
A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
- Solunar majors
- 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM
- Minor period
- 4:55 AM-5:55 AM
- Sun
- 05:59 to 18:12
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 19 km/h
- Rain chance
- 16%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Lake Alexandrina: seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
Murray cod
December to August; closed September to November
Closed now Catch and release reopens 1 Jan 2027. No Murray cod may be taken at any time from the River Murray or lakes Albert and Alexandrina. Catch and release is allowed from 1 January to 31 July, except on the Chowilla floodplain; from 1 August to 31 December cod may not be targeted at all, trolling included. Rule as read from PIRSA on 2026-09-25.
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. Slow it down: heavier spinnerbaits, slow-rolled swimbaits and bait on the bottom next to the deep snags.
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. Slower. Work the deeper timber and the drop-offs with vibes and bait.
When to come: the Lake Alexandrina 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 13 °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 Alexandrina today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataThu, Sep 24
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Golden perch led the card at fair. High of 23 °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. Golden perch led the card at good. High of 20 °C, wind to 14 km/h.
Tue, Sep 22
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Golden perch led the card at fair. High of 16 °C, wind to 23 km/h.
Before you go
Licence
South Australia has no general recreational fishing licence; the limits and closures do. Details and where to buy →
Regulations
Size and bag limits, closed seasons and marine park zones are set by PIRSA and change: confirm the current rules on the agency page linked from the South Australia licence page before you keep anything.
Access
South Australia needs no fishing licence; PIRSA’s size, bag and boat limits, the Coorong and Lower Lakes rules and any closed seasons apply, on the pages linked below.
About this water
Lake Alexandrina is a lake in South Australia, Australia, covered from the South Australia reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Lake Alexandrina: the full guide
The lake
Lake Alexandrina is the terminal lake of the Murray, a vast, shallow freshwater lake below Wellington and Murray Bridge held back from the sea by the barrages at Goolwa, Mundoo and Tauwitchere, with Milang, Clayton Bay, Goolwa and Meningie on its shores, ramps and jetties at each, and Lake Albert joined to it at Narrung. It is a wind-stirred lake of huge extent and small depth, and the Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge on the lake supplies the level and the 30-day chart on this page.
Species and seasons
Golden perch, callop in South Australia, are the everyday fish, on the reed edges, the jetties and the channels from spring to autumn; Murray cod are present and fished in the channels and around structure, but they are catch and release only in South Australia, from 1 January to 31 July, and not to be targeted at all from 1 August to 31 December, as PIRSA sets it; mulloway push through the barrages when they are open and are fished below and beside them; bream and mullet come in from the Coorong; redfin are present; and carp are the most numerous fish, netted commercially. PIRSA publishes the limits and the Murray cod rule, which the species card computes.
Where to fish it
Milang jetty, Clayton Bay, the Goolwa channel and the barrages, and Meningie on Lake Albert are the access, with ramps at each; the reed edges and the channels near the towns fish for callop from the bank and the boat, and the barrages, when the gates are open, are the mulloway spot. The open lake is for calm days only.
Reading the report
The wind row is the first thing to read on a lake this shallow and wide: a south-westerly stirs it to chop and mud in an hour, and the calm mornings are the fishing. The water temperature estimate, labelled as one, gives the callop band from October to April; the chart shows the level the barrages hold. Pressure and sky fill the score.
Rules and access
South Australia needs no fishing licence; PIRSA’s size, bag and boat limits, the Coorong and Lower Lakes rules and any closed seasons apply, on the pages linked below. The jetties, ramps and foreshores at the towns are public; the barrages have their own exclusion zones.
Common questions
Do I need a fishing licence on Lake Alexandrina?
No. South Australia has no recreational fishing licence; PIRSA’s limits and the Lower Lakes rules apply.
What can I catch in Lake Alexandrina?
Callop on the reed edges and the jetties, Murray cod in the channels for release only, January to July, mulloway at the barrages when they are open, and bream and mullet from the Coorong.
Is fishing good at Lake Alexandrina 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 the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Nearby waters
Where this page's numbers come from
- Storage and river readings
- Bureau of Meteorology, Water Data Online, station LKALEX — Lake Alexandrina
- 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.