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.
Dee Lagoon Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The deep highland lagoon off the Lyell Highway: browns and rainbows in clear, cold water with a camp and a Bureau gauge at the tunnel inlet.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Level
655.36 m222 ML
Air / High
6 °C / 16 °C
Wind
WNW 11 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 179.1, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Dee Lagoon is a cold-water proposition today: bait on the bottom and a long soak. The gauge reads 655.36 m, holding steady. Today brings cloud cover, wind WNW around 11 km/h, rising pressure near 1024 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 7 °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 Dee Lagoon today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:58), 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 179.1 (DEE LAGOON - AT TUNNEL INLET).
Storage level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station 179.1. Latest reading 2026-09-24 17:45.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp6 °C
High / Low16 °C / 6 °C
WindWNW 11 km/h, gusts 26 km/h
Pressure1024.4 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain98% cloud, 100%
Sunrise / Sunset05:58 / 18:13
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~8 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Dee Lagoon
The best day on Dee 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
- 05:58 to 18:13
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 23 km/h
- Rain chance
- 100%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
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
Open season from October to June in NSW and Victoria; Tasmania from August
Closed now Reopens 3 Oct 2026. 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. 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
Closed now Reopens 3 Oct 2026. 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. The lake fishery: bait or slow lures in the deeper bays; the rivers are closed in NSW and Victoria.
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 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 Dee 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 19 °C, wind to 26 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 13 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
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 is a Hydro Tasmania storage on the Central Highlands north of the Lyell Highway between Bronte and Derwent Bridge, a deep, clear lagoon fed by tunnel from Lake Echo with camping and a ramp at the eastern end and forested shores that drop away steeply. It is a quieter water than Bronte next door and known for its rainbows; the Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at the tunnel inlet supplies the level and the 30-day chart on this page.
Species and seasons
Rainbow trout are the lagoon’s signature, wild and stocked, fished along the drop-offs and at the tunnel inlet on lures and flies; brown trout are wild and fish the edges and the creek mouths on lures and flies, because the code reserves the lagoon for artificial lure and fly, no bait. Dee is one of the Inland Fisheries Service’s designated rainbow trout waters, open from the Saturday nearest 1 October to the Sunday nearest 31 May, computed on the species card; the inflowing waters are closed to fishing, as the service lists.
Where to fish it
The camping area and the ramp are the access, and the fishing is a boat fishery along the steep shores and the drop-offs, trolling and casting, with the tunnel inlet the current where the rainbows hold; the shore near the camp fishes at dawn and dusk. The clear water rewards long casts and fine leaders.
Reading the report
Deep and cold, the lagoon keeps the water temperature estimate, labelled as one, in the cold band for most of the season; the chart shows the hydro transfers through the tunnel. The forested shores shelter the water more than the open lagoons nearby, but the plateau wind still counts; 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 area and the ramp are open under Hydro Tasmania’s rules; the Inland Fishing Code, with the rainbow-water season, the lure-and-fly rule and the closed inflows, is in the sources.
Dee and Bronte together
Dee and Bronte lagoons sit a few kilometres apart off the same highway and fish as a pair: Bronte shallow, weedy and a wader’s fly water, Dee deep, clear and a troller’s rainbow water, and an angler camped at either can fish both in a day when one is slow. The tunnel from Lake Echo that feeds Dee is the current that concentrates its fish.
Common questions
What is Dee Lagoon known for?
Rainbow trout in deep, clear water, along the drop-offs and at the tunnel inlet, with wild browns along the edges.
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: 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 179.1 — DEE LAGOON - AT TUNNEL INLET
- 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.