Rainbow trout
Slow
Winter lakes: bait on the bottom in the deeper bays through the middle of the day, or polaroiding the shallows on the bright days in Tasmania.
Arthurs Lake Fishing Report
Updated Sat, 26 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Central Plateau’s most fished lake: a hydro storage of wild brown trout, drowned timber and the Cowpaddock and Jonah bays, with a level read from the Bureau every day.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Level
950.08 m278,174 ML
Air / High
1 °C / 5 °C
Wind
SSW 21 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 418.1, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Arthurs Lake is in its winter rhythm: deep, slow and around the middle of the day. The gauge reads 950.08 m, holding steady. Today brings a mixed sky, wind SSW around 21 km/h, steady pressure near 1033 hPa and a high of 4 °C. Water sits around 8 °C for the season (estimated). With the full moon, the solunar majors run 11:16 PM-1:16 AM and 11:16 AM-1:16 PM: the windows to build the day around.
Brown trout
Slow
The lake fishery: bait or slow lures in the deeper bays; the rivers are closed in NSW and Victoria.
Tie on: Bait on the bottom, running sinker · Heavy blade, deep · Slow-rolled swimbait · Live bait, deepest hole. Prime windows: 11:16 PM-1:16 AM, 11:16 AM-1:16 PM, 5:46 AM-6:46 AM. Similar at 6 °C. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.
Before you go
Tasmania requires a fishing licence for most fishing, from A$29.00. Tasmania fishing licence: cost, rules and where to buy →
Chasing rainbow trout here? Check the size and bag limits with IFS Tasmania before you keep anything; the Rainbow trout page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Arthurs Lake today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:55), sunset (18:13), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 11:16 PM-1:16 AM and 11:16 AM-1:16 PM; minor 5:46 AM-6:46 AM. Full Moon, 100% lit.
Water and weather
Live readings from Bureau of Meteorology station 418.1 (ARTHURS LAKE - AT PUMP STATION).
Storage level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station 418.1. Latest reading 2026-09-24 17:45.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp1 °C
High / Low5 °C / -1 °C
WindSSW 21 km/h, gusts 45 km/h
Pressure1032.7 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain42% cloud, 43%
Sunrise / Sunset05:55 / 18:13
MoonFull Moon, 100%
Water temp (seasonal)~8 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Arthurs Lake
The best day on Arthurs Lake 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, 26 Sept — Fair
A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
- Solunar majors
- 11:16 PM-1:16 AM and 11:16 AM-1:16 PM
- Minor period
- 5:46 AM-6:46 AM
- Sun
- 05:55 to 18:13
- Moon
- Full Moon, 100% lit
- Sky and wind
- Storms, 29 km/h
- Rain chance
- 43%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Arthurs Lake: seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
Rainbow trout
Open season from October to June in NSW and Victoria; Tasmania from August
Open now Closes 3 May 2027. Most waters open from the first Saturday of August to the Sunday nearest 30 April; designated rainbow trout waters run from the Saturday nearest 1 October to the Sunday nearest 31 May. Rule as read from Inland Fisheries Service Tasmania on 2026-09-23.
The stocked lakes of the Snowy Mountains, the Victorian highlands and the Tasmanian central plateau. Closed seasons apply on the rivers: check the state rules. Winter lakes: bait on the bottom in the deeper bays through the middle of the day, or polaroiding the shallows on the bright days in Tasmania.
Brown trout
Open season from October to June in NSW and Victoria; Tasmania from August
Open now Closes 3 May 2027. Most waters open from the first Saturday of August to the Sunday nearest 30 April; designated rainbow trout waters run from the Saturday nearest 1 October to the Sunday nearest 31 May. Rule as read from Inland Fisheries Service Tasmania on 2026-09-23.
The wild trout of the highland rivers and Tasmania's lakes. Spawns in autumn, hence the closed rivers through winter in NSW and Victoria. The lake fishery: bait or slow lures in the deeper bays; the rivers are closed in NSW and Victoria.
When to come: the Arthurs Lake 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
Rainbow trout
Brown trout
SlowPeak
Water temperature through the year
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 8 °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 Arthurs Lake today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataFri, Sep 25
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at slow. High of 14 °C, wind to 26 km/h.
Thu, Sep 24
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at slow. High of 13 °C, wind to 31 km/h.
Wed, Sep 23
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at slow. High of 12 °C, wind to 14 km/h.
Before you go
Licence
Tasmanian Inland Angling Licence, from A$29.00, the same for residents and visitors. Details and where to buy →
Regulations
Size and bag limits, closed seasons and marine park zones are set by IFS Tasmania and change: confirm the current rules on the agency page linked from the Tasmania licence page before you keep anything.
Access
Anyone 14 or over needs the Tasmanian inland angling licence from the Inland Fisheries Service, sold for one rod or two, and the 2025-26 fees are on our Tasmania licence page.
About this water
Arthurs Lake is a lake in Tasmania, Australia, covered from the Tasmania reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Arthurs Lake: the full guide
The lake
Arthurs Lake is a Hydro Tasmania storage on the Central Plateau east of Great Lake, a lake of drowned timber, weed beds and shallow bays that has become the most fished trout water in the state: wild brown trout in numbers, self-sustaining from the spawning runs into the creeks, in a lake whose level moves with the hydro year and whose bays, Cowpaddock, Jonah, Tumbledown and the Morass, fish differently at each level. It is fished from the shore at the ramps and the bays and from boats through the timber and along the drop-offs. This page reads the storage level from the Bureau of Meteorology’s Water Data Online, with the date and time of the reading.
Species and seasons
Brown trout are the lake’s fish, wild and numerous, taken from the bank on bait and lures in the cooler months and on the fly through the shallow bays and the weed beds from spring into summer, when the dun hatches and the beetle falls bring them to the surface; the biggest fish come from the drop-offs and the timber at first light and at dusk. A few rainbow trout are present. The lake is open through the inland season the Inland Fisheries Service publishes, from August into the following autumn, and closed between, and the service’s Inland Fishing Code has the dates, the limits and the bait rules for the plateau.
Reading this report for Arthurs Lake
The level is in the report and the 30-day chart, and it matters because a full lake floods the bays and the weed beds where the browns feed in the shallows and a low lake exposes them and pushes the fish to the drop-offs and the timber; the wind row is the number to respect, because the plateau makes weather of its own and a westerly across the open water is dangerous for small boats, while the lee bays fish. The barometer and the cloud fill in the score; the water temperature is a seasonal estimate for a plateau lake, marked as one; and the planner picks the day. Snow can fall here in midsummer.
Licence, access and rules
Anyone 14 or over needs the Tasmanian inland angling licence from the Inland Fisheries Service, sold for one rod or two, and the 2025-26 fees are on our Tasmania licence page. The shore at the ramps and the bays is public, with ramps at Pumphouse Bay, Jonah Bay and the dam; the Inland Fishing Code, with the season, the limits and the plateau’s bait rules, is on the page in the sources.
Common questions
When is Arthurs Lake open for fishing?
From the August opening to the autumn close of the Tasmanian inland season, as the Inland Fisheries Service publishes it; the Inland Fishing Code, linked in the sources, has the exact dates and the plateau’s bait rules.
Do I need a licence to fish Arthurs Lake?
Yes: anyone 14 or over needs the Tasmanian inland angling licence, for one rod or two; the fees are on our Tasmania licence page.
Is fishing good at Arthurs Lake 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 418.1 — ARTHURS LAKE - AT PUMP STATION
- 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.