Rainbow trout
Excellent
Prime. Shore fishing along the edges with bait, spinners and flies, and the rivers if the season is open.
Coal River at Richmond Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Coal River at Richmond, under the heritage-listed Richmond Bridge: brown trout in the Coal valley below Craigbourne, with a Bureau gauge.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Water temp
~13 °C est.
Air / High
10 °C / 18 °C
Wind
NE 8 km/h
Sources: Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Coal River at Richmond is in its cool-water rhythm: slower presentations and the warmest hours of the day. Today brings clear skies, wind NE around 8 km/h, steady pressure near 1021 hPa and a high of 18 °C. Water sits around 13 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 11:17 PM-1:17 AM and 11:45 AM-1:45 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: 11:17 PM-1:17 AM, 11:45 AM-1:45 PM, 4:43 AM-5:43 AM. Similar at 21 °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 Coal River at Richmond today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:44), sunset (20:04), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 11:17 PM-1:17 AM and 11:45 AM-1:45 PM; minor 4:43 AM-5:43 AM. New Moon, 0% lit.
Water and weather
Bureau of Meteorology station 3208.1 (COAL RIVER AT RICHMOND) 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 3208.1 reports again. Until then the seasonal curve below is the estimate.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp10 °C
High / Low18 °C / 5 °C
WindNE 8 km/h, gusts 23 km/h
Pressure1020.5 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain13% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset05:44 / 20:04
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~13 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Coal River at Richmond
The best day on Coal River at Richmond 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
- 11:17 PM-1:17 AM and 11:45 AM-1:45 PM
- Minor period
- 4:43 AM-5:43 AM
- Sun
- 05:44 to 20:04
- 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 Coal River at Richmond: 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 Coal River at Richmond 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 Coal River at Richmond 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 14 °C, wind to 14 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 13 °C, wind to 16 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 18 °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
On the Coal River at Richmond a Tasmanian inland angling licence is needed from age 14; our Tasmania licence page has the fees.
About this water
Coal River at Richmond is a river in Tasmania, Australia, covered from the Tasmania reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Coal River at Richmond: the full guide
The Coal River at Richmond
Richmond is the Georgian village north-east of Hobart where the Coal River runs under Richmond Bridge. The National Heritage List describes the bridge as Australia’s oldest surviving large stone arch bridge: convicts began building it from local sandstone in 1823, its arches have spanned the Coal since 1825, and it is still in use. Below the village the river runs on to Pitt Water. The Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at Richmond supplies the river level and the 30-day chart on this page. Hobart has its own page.
Species and seasons
Brown trout are the fish of the Coal River around Richmond, in the runs and weedy pools on the fly, small lures and bait. The Coal is not listed separately in the Inland Fishing Code, so it follows the general river rules: open from the first Saturday of August to the Sunday nearest 30 April, computed on the species card, with a bag of five fish over 220 mm. Craigbourne Lake upstream is open all year under its own rules: fishing from an hour before sunrise to three hours after sunset, a 300 mm minimum with only two fish over 500 mm, a bag of five, and no fishing from the dam wall.
Where to fish it
Public land around the bridge in the village gives bank access to the pools. Upstream toward Campania most of the frontage is farmland, so fish from the road crossings or ask the landholder first.
Planning a visit
Richmond is a short drive from Hobart and one of the busiest heritage villages in the state on a fine weekend. Bring light trout gear and fish the quieter mornings, before the visitors arrive, or the evenings after they leave.
The river through the year
The Coal runs through a dry valley, and Craigbourne Dam upstream holds back much of the upper river, so its level at Richmond follows what passes the dam as well as rain. The trout feed in the weedy pools in spring and on summer evenings, and the river runs low in late summer, when the fish hold in the deepest pools and spook at a careless shadow.
Reading this report here
The chart shows how the Coal responds below Craigbourne Dam: a steady line through a dry spell and a rise when rain gets past the dam. The water temperature estimate, labelled as one, is cool in spring and autumn; pressure and sky build the score at Richmond.
Licence, access and rules
On the Coal River at Richmond a Tasmanian inland angling licence is needed from age 14; our Tasmania licence page has the fees. The Code’s general river rules, which cover the Coal River at Richmond, are in the sources.
Common questions
When is the Coal River open for trout?
The Coal River at Richmond opens on the first Saturday of August and closes on the Sunday nearest 30 April.
What can I catch at Richmond?
Brown trout, in the runs and pools of the Coal River at Richmond.
Do I need a licence here?
Yes: anyone aged 14 or over needs a Tasmanian inland angling licence on the Coal River at Richmond.
Is fishing good at Coal River at Richmond 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.