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.
Bronte Lagoon Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Central Highlands lagoon on the Lyell Highway: wild browns and rainbows in shallow, weedy water with a camp and a Bureau gauge.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Level
665.37 m12,473 ML
Air / High
6 °C / 15 °C
Wind
W 10 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 167.1, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Bronte Lagoon has cold water and fish that move for very little; fish the sunniest hours. The gauge reads 665.37 m, holding steady. Today brings cloud cover, wind W around 10 km/h, rising pressure near 1025 hPa and a high of 16 °C. Water sits around 8 °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.
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: 10:25 AM-12:25 PM, 10:25 PM-12:25 AM, 4:55 AM-5:55 AM. Cooler at 6 °C with likely rain: fish ahead of the front. 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 Bronte Lagoon today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:59), sunset (18:13), 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 167.1 (BRONTE LAGOON - AT DAM).
Storage level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station 167.1. Latest reading 2026-09-24 17:45.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp6 °C
High / Low15 °C / 6 °C
WindW 10 km/h, gusts 22 km/h
Pressure1024.7 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain100% cloud, 100%
Sunrise / Sunset05:59 / 18:13
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~8 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Bronte Lagoon
The best day on Bronte Lagoon 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 18:13
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 21 km/h
- Rain chance
- 100%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Bronte Lagoon: 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 Bronte Lagoon 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 Bronte Lagoon 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. Rainbow trout led the card at slow. High of 18 °C, wind to 23 km/h.
Wed, Sep 23
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Rainbow trout led the card at fair. High of 14 °C, wind to 10 km/h.
Tue, Sep 22
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Rainbow trout led the card at fair. High of 11 °C, wind to 16 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
The Tasmanian inland angling licence applies from age 14, one rod or two; our Tasmania licence page has the fees.
About this water
Bronte Lagoon is a lake in Tasmania, Australia, covered from the Tasmania reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Bronte Lagoon: the full guide
The lake
Bronte Lagoon is a Hydro Tasmania storage on the Central Highlands beside the Lyell Highway between Derwent Bridge and Tarraleah, a shallow, weedy lagoon fed by the canal from Lake Binney with camping at the lagoon and at Bronte Park, a ramp and long, low shores that flood grass and scrub when the level is up. It is one of the highlands’ best-known trout lagoons, and the Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at the dam supplies the level and the 30-day chart on this page.
Species and seasons
Brown trout are wild and are the fish, in the shallow bays and along the weed edges on the fly through spring and summer, when the dun hatches and the beetle falls bring them up, and on lures along the edges in the cooler months, because the code allows artificial lure and fly only, no bait; rainbow trout are present and fish the canal inlet and the drop-offs. The lagoon follows the brown trout season the Inland Fisheries Service publishes, from the first Saturday of August to the Sunday nearest 30 April, computed on the species card.
Where to fish it
The camping area and the ramp on the highway side are the access, and the shallow bays across the lagoon are the fly water, waded or drifted from a boat; the canal inlet from Lake Binney is the current where the rainbows hold, and the drop-off along the old creek bed is the summer water. Polaroiding the flats on a bright day finds the browns.
Reading the report
The highlands make their own weather and the wind row is the number to respect on a shallow, open lagoon; the water temperature estimate, labelled as one, is cold for most of the season, and the chart shows the hydro transfers that raise and lower the water over the grass. Snow can fall in any month; pressure and sky fill the score.
Licence, access and rules
The Tasmanian inland angling licence applies from age 14, one rod or two; our Tasmania licence page has the fees. The camping areas and the ramp are open under Hydro Tasmania’s rules; the Inland Fishing Code, with the season and the lure-and-fly rule for the lagoon, is in the sources.
Common questions
When is Bronte Lagoon open?
Through the Tasmanian brown trout season, from the first Saturday of August to the Sunday nearest 30 April, computed for this year on the species card with the Inland Fisheries Service rule linked.
Is Bronte Lagoon good for fly fishing?
Among the best in the highlands: shallow bays, weed edges and dun hatches in spring and summer, with wild browns to polaroid on the flats.
Is fishing good at Bronte Lagoon 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 167.1 — BRONTE LAGOON - AT DAM
- 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.