Rainbow trout
Excellent
Prime. Shore fishing along the edges with bait, spinners and flies, and the rivers if the season is open.
Great Forester River at Prosperity Road Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Great Forester in the north-east: brown trout and sea-run fish in the river that meets the sea near Bridport, with a Bureau gauge.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Level
0.51 m
Air / High
11 °C / 17 °C
Wind
E 9 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 19224.1, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Great Forester River at Prosperity Road is in its cool-water rhythm: slower presentations and the warmest hours of the day. The gauge reads 0.51 m, easing 0.08 over the week. Today brings cloud cover, wind E around 10 km/h, steady pressure near 1021 hPa and a high of 17 °C. Water sits around 13 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 11:16 PM-1:16 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: 11:16 PM-1:16 AM, 11:45 AM-1:45 PM, 4:47 AM-5:47 AM. Similar at 17 °C. 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 Great Forester River at Prosperity Road today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:47), sunset (20:00), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 11:16 PM-1:16 AM and 11:45 AM-1:45 PM; minor 4:47 AM-5:47 AM. New Moon, 0% lit.
Water and weather
Live readings from Bureau of Meteorology station 19224.1 (GREAT FORESTER RIVER AT PROSPERITY ROAD).
River level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station 19224.1. Latest reading 2026-11-08 08:00.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp11 °C
High / Low17 °C / 5 °C
WindE 9 km/h, gusts 19 km/h
Pressure1021.0 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain97% cloud, 4%
Sunrise / Sunset05:47 / 20:00
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~13 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Great Forester River at Prosperity Road
The best day on Great Forester River at Prosperity Road 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
- 11:16 PM-1:16 AM and 11:45 AM-1:45 PM
- Minor period
- 4:47 AM-5:47 AM
- Sun
- 05:47 to 20:00
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Overcast, 11 km/h
- Rain chance
- 4%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Great Forester River at Prosperity Road: 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 Great Forester River at Prosperity Road 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 Great Forester River at Prosperity Road 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 17 °C, wind to 16 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 14 °C, wind to 14 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 16 °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
On the Great Forester River at Prosperity Road a Tasmanian inland angling licence is needed from age 14; our Tasmania licence page has the fees.
About this water
Great Forester River at Prosperity Road is a river in Tasmania, Australia, covered from the Tasmania reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Great Forester River at Prosperity Road: the full guide
The Great Forester at Prosperity Road
The Great Forester River runs from the forests of the north-east down through farmland to Anderson Bay near Bridport, and Prosperity Road is a crossing on its middle reaches south of the coast. The Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at Prosperity Road supplies the river level and the 30-day chart on this page. Bridport has its own page.
Species and seasons
Brown trout are the fish of the Great Forester, with sea-run fish moving up from the estuary in spring, on the fly, lures and bait. The river follows the general river rules, open from the first Saturday of August to the Sunday nearest 30 April and computed on the species card, and it is one of the rivers the 2026-27 Code opens to whitebait fishing, from 1 October to 11 November 2026, with a separate whitebait licence and a daily limit of 2 kg.
Where to fish it
The road crossings between Scottsdale and Bridport give access to the river, and anglers walk the banks between them.
Planning a visit
Bridport and Scottsdale have supplies and accommodation. Bring light trout gear, and check the whitebait season if you plan to fish the lower river in spring.
The river through the year
The Great Forester runs full through the north-eastern winter and rises after heavy rain. In spring, sea-run trout tend to follow the whitebait up from Anderson Bay, and from October the resident trout rise in the runs as the water warms. Summer brings lower, clearer water and the best dry-fly fishing on still evenings. The Code draws the river’s seaward limit where it enters Anderson Bay, and the middle river around Prosperity Road is farmland and forest, with access from the road crossings.
Reading this report here
The chart shows the Great Forester rising after rain in the north-east. The water temperature estimate, labelled as one, is cool for much of the season; pressure and sky build the score on the Great Forester.
Licence, access and rules
On the Great Forester River at Prosperity Road a Tasmanian inland angling licence is needed from age 14; our Tasmania licence page has the fees. The Code’s river and whitebait rules for the Great Forester River at Prosperity Road are in the sources.
Common questions
When is the Great Forester open for trout?
The Great Forester River at Prosperity Road opens on the first Saturday of August and closes on the Sunday nearest 30 April.
Are there sea-run trout here?
They are a spring feature of Tasmania’s coastal rivers, and the Great Forester reaches the sea at Anderson Bay; they usually follow the whitebait runs upstream.
Do I need a licence here?
Yes: anyone aged 14 or over needs a Tasmanian inland angling licence on the Great Forester River at Prosperity Road.
Is fishing good at Great Forester River at Prosperity Road 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 19224.1 — GREAT FORESTER RIVER AT PROSPERITY ROAD
- 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.