Rainbow trout
Excellent
Prime. Shore fishing along the edges with bait, spinners and flies, and the rivers if the season is open.
Dee Lagoon Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Central Highlands rainbow trout water off the Victoria Valley Road: stocked rainbows and wild browns, lure and fly only, the rainbow-water season and a Bureau gauge.
4/5
Good. Solid day ahead.Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
Level
655.32 m40,007 ML
Air / High
6 °C / 17 °C
Wind
NNW 4 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 179.1, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Dee Lagoon has cool water and fish holding a little deeper and slower. The gauge reads 655.32 m, holding steady. Today brings a mixed sky, wind NNW around 5 km/h, falling pressure near 1019 hPa and a high of 17 °C. Water sits around 13 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 11:20 PM-1:20 AM and 11:49 AM-1:49 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: 11:20 PM-1:20 AM, 11:49 AM-1:49 PM, 4:48 AM-5:48 AM. Similar at 16 °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 Dee Lagoon today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:49), sunset (20:06), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 11:20 PM-1:20 AM and 11:49 AM-1:49 PM; minor 4:48 AM-5:48 AM. New Moon, 0% lit.
Water and weather
Live readings from Bureau of Meteorology station 179.1 (DEE LAGOON - AT TUNNEL INLET).
Storage level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station 179.1. Latest reading 2026-11-08 17:45.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp6 °C
High / Low17 °C / 3 °C
WindNNW 4 km/h, gusts 10 km/h
Pressure1019.1 hPa, falling
Sky / Rain47% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset05:49 / 20:06
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~13 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Dee Lagoon
Today is the pick of the week on Dee Lagoon, at 4 out of 5.
Best day this week: today, 9 Nov — good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
Today, 9 Nov — Good
Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
- Solunar majors
- 11:20 PM-1:20 AM and 11:49 AM-1:49 PM
- Minor period
- 4:48 AM-5:48 AM
- Sun
- 05:49 to 20:06
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 11 km/h
- Rain chance
- 0%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Dee Lagoon: 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 31 May 2027. Designated rainbow trout waters open on the Saturday nearest 1 October and close on the Sunday nearest 31 May. Rule as read from Inland Fisheries Service Tasmania on 2026-09-24.
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 31 May 2027. Designated rainbow trout waters open on the Saturday nearest 1 October and close on the Sunday nearest 31 May. Rule as read from Inland Fisheries Service Tasmania on 2026-09-24.
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 Dee 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 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 Dee Lagoon 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 12 °C, wind to 11 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 7 °C, wind to 18 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 12 °C, wind to 27 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
Anglers from age 14 need the Tasmanian inland angling licence, with fees on our Tasmania licence page.
Storage levels
Compare it with every other storage in the state on Tasmania dam levels today.
About this water
Dee Lagoon is a lake in Tasmania, Australia, covered from the Tasmania reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Dee Lagoon: the full guide
The lake
Dee Lagoon was created in 1955 as a hydro-electric storage for the Tungatinah power development, and water from the upper Dee catchment leaves it through a tunnel to Bradys Lake, the Inland Fisheries Service records. Tall eucalypt forest surrounds it, and it has two distinct parts: an open southern basin and a timbered northern basin. The most reliable way in, the service says, is the Osterley turn-off from the Lyell Highway at Bronte Lagoon, then the Victoria Valley Road (C173). The Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at the tunnel inlet supplies the level and 30-day chart.
Species and seasons
The service recognises Dee as a rainbow trout fishery: brown trout recruit naturally and rainbows are stocked periodically, the southern basin holding good numbers of rainbows while browns favour the timbered north. It is a designated rainbow trout water, open from the Saturday nearest 1 October to the Sunday nearest 31 May, computed on the species card, and reserved for artificial lures and flies, with a bag of five, only two over 500 mm, and a 300 mm minimum. Redfin and tench are present.
Where to fish it
Midge hatches and heavy gum beetle falls are what Dee is known for, the service notes. On calm frosty mornings rainbows feed in the wind lanes of the southern basin, but a boat is essential for that; browns work the midge in the northern basin, often just out of reach from the shore. From December to April beetle falls bring both species up, and The Neck, Hill 24, Station Bay and Brownie Bay are named as the best areas. Trolling, and spinning from the shore, also account for good numbers.
Reading the report
The water temperature estimate, labelled as one, is cold for much of the season, and the level chart shows the hydro transfers through the lagoon. The fly fishing depends on calm or light-wind mornings, so the wind row matters more here than the score alone suggests. Pressure and sky complete the picture.
Licence, access and rules
Anglers from age 14 need the Tasmanian inland angling licence, with fees on our Tasmania licence page. Boats launch at Brownie Bay and Spillway Bay on the south-western shore off the Victoria Valley Road, and navigation is prohibited in the Lake Echo Power Station tailrace and in the waters around the Dee Tunnel inlet. All waters flowing into the lagoon, and 50 metres below where they enter, are closed. Informal lakeshore camping is permitted, with no facilities.
Two basins, two fisheries
The two basins fish differently enough to plan a day around them. The open south is a boat angler’s rainbow water of wind lanes and trolled lures; the timbered north is brown trout water where a careful approach along the snags counts for more than casting distance. On a flat calm morning the rising rainbows of the south are the first target, and when the breeze breaks the lanes up the shelter of the northern timber becomes the better bet.
Common questions
What is Dee Lagoon known for?
Rainbow trout, which the Inland Fisheries Service stocks periodically, along with naturally recruiting browns; midge hatches and summer gum beetle falls bring both to the surface.
When is Dee Lagoon open?
From the Saturday nearest 1 October to the Sunday nearest 31 May, because Dee is a designated rainbow trout water; the species card computes it with the Inland Fisheries Service rule linked.
Is fishing good at Dee Lagoon right now?
Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
Nearby waters
Where this page's numbers come from
- Storage and river readings
- Bureau of Meteorology, Water Data Online, station 179.1 — DEE LAGOON - AT TUNNEL INLET
- 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.