Rainbow trout
Excellent
Prime. Shore fishing along the edges with bait, spinners and flies, and the rivers if the season is open.
Clyde River at Bothwell Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Clyde at Bothwell in the Central Highlands foothills: wild browns in the river that drains Lake Crescent, with a Bureau gauge at the town.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Water temp
~13 °C est.
Air / High
8 °C / 18 °C
Wind
E 10 km/h
Sources: Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Clyde River at Bothwell is in its cool-water rhythm: slower presentations and the warmest hours of the day. Today brings clear skies, wind E around 10 km/h, steady pressure near 1020 hPa and a high of 18 °C. Water sits around 13 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 11:18 PM-1:18 AM and 11:47 AM-1:47 PM: the windows to build the day around.
Brown trout
Excellent
Prime. Nymphs and streamers on the rivers, and the lake edges on the overcast days.
Tie on: Blade or vibe, slow hops · Lightly weighted plastic · Whole pilchard or squid on the bottom · Suspending hardbody. Prime windows: 11:18 PM-1:18 AM, 11:47 AM-1:47 PM, 4:46 AM-5:46 AM. Similar at 17 °C with a rain chance. 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 Clyde River at Bothwell today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:47), sunset (20:05), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 11:18 PM-1:18 AM and 11:47 AM-1:47 PM; minor 4:46 AM-5:46 AM. New Moon, 0% lit.
Water and weather
Bureau of Meteorology station 54.1 (CLYDE RIVER AT BOTHWELL) has sent no reading in the last 30 days, so conditions here are modelled from weather, season and the nearest stations.
No recent gauge reading
Readings come back here when station 54.1 reports again. Until then the seasonal curve below is the estimate.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp8 °C
High / Low18 °C / 4 °C
WindE 10 km/h, gusts 24 km/h
Pressure1020.1 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain1% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset05:47 / 20:05
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~13 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Clyde River at Bothwell
The best day on Clyde River at Bothwell this week looks like Thursday 12 Nov, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today.
Best day this week: Thursday, 12 Nov — good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
Today, 9 Nov — Fair
A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
- Solunar majors
- 11:18 PM-1:18 AM and 11:47 AM-1:47 PM
- Minor period
- 4:46 AM-5:46 AM
- Sun
- 05:47 to 20:05
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Overcast, 16 km/h
- Rain chance
- 0%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Clyde River at Bothwell: seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
Rainbow trout
Streams from October to June in NSW and from September to June in Victoria; lakes open all year; Tasmania from the first Saturday of 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. Prime. Shore fishing along the edges with bait, spinners and flies, and the rivers if the season is open.
Brown trout
Streams from October to June in NSW and from September to June in Victoria; lakes open all year; Tasmania from the first Saturday of 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. Prime. Nymphs and streamers on the rivers, and the lake edges on the overcast days.
When to come: the Clyde River at Bothwell 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 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 Clyde River at Bothwell today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataSun, Nov 8
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 13 °C, wind to 13 km/h.
Sat, Nov 7
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 9 °C, wind to 23 km/h.
Fri, Nov 6
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 15 °C, wind to 26 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 on the Clyde from age 14; our Tasmania licence page has the fees.
About this water
Clyde River at Bothwell is a river in Tasmania, Australia, covered from the Tasmania reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Clyde River at Bothwell: the full guide
The Clyde at Bothwell
Bothwell is the historic Central Highlands town on the Clyde River, the stream that drains Lake Crescent and runs south through sheep country to Hamilton and the Derwent. The town is known for its sandstone buildings. The Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at Bothwell supplies the river level and the 30-day chart on this page. Lake Crescent and Lake Sorell have their own pages.
Species and seasons
Wild brown trout are the fish of the Clyde at Bothwell, in the runs and the weedy pools on the fly, lures and bait. The Clyde is not listed separately in the Inland Fishing Code, so it follows the river fisheries rules: open from the first Saturday of August to the Sunday nearest 30 April, computed on the species card, all methods, with a bag of five fish over 220 mm. The regulations treat Lake Crescent and its outflow canal down to the screening structure as Lake Crescent waters, with a bag of one, so the lake rules end there and the river rules apply below.
Where to fish it
The reserves and the bridges at Bothwell give access to the Clyde, and anglers walk the banks from them. The river is small and often low in summer, so the spring and autumn months fish best. The pools and the weed beds near the town bridges are where the browns hold, and a small nymph or a dry fly in the spring and autumn hatches is the classic Clyde method.
Planning a visit
Bothwell is on the Lake Highway between Hamilton and the Central Plateau, with a pub, a store and accommodation, and it is the gateway to lakes Crescent and Sorell and the Great Lake. Bring light trout gear, and combine the river with a plateau lake in the same trip.
Reading this report here
The Clyde’s flow depends on the releases from Lake Crescent and on rain, which the chart shows; in dry summers the river runs very low. The water temperature estimate, labelled as one, is cool in spring and autumn; pressure and sky build the score at Bothwell.
Licence, access and rules
The Tasmanian inland angling licence applies on the Clyde from age 14; our Tasmania licence page has the fees. The river rules, the season and the Lake Crescent waters definition are in the Code and the regulations in the sources.
Common questions
When is the Clyde open for trout?
The Clyde opens with the river season on the first Saturday of August and closes on the Sunday nearest 30 April.
Where does the Clyde River start?
At Lake Crescent in the Central Highlands.
Do I need a licence on the Clyde?
Yes, from age 14: the Tasmanian inland angling licence is needed on the Clyde.
Is fishing good at Clyde River at Bothwell 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
- 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.