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.
Lake Barrington Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Forth River lake in the north-west: brown and rainbow trout in a deep hydro lake with a rowing course, a camp and a Bureau gauge at the dam.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Level
120.58 m25,117 ML
Air / High
9 °C / 19 °C
Wind
WSW 10 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 604.1, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Lake Barrington is a cold-water proposition today: bait on the bottom and a long soak. The gauge reads 120.58 m, easing 0.47 over the week. Today brings cloud cover, wind WSW around 10 km/h, rising pressure near 1023 hPa and a high of 19 °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 14 °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 Lake Barrington today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:59), sunset (18:14), 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 604.1 (BARRINGTON LAKE - AT DAM).
Storage level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station 604.1. Latest reading 2026-09-23 00:00.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp9 °C
High / Low19 °C / 9 °C
WindWSW 10 km/h, gusts 21 km/h
Pressure1023.2 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain98% cloud, 100%
Sunrise / Sunset05:59 / 18:14
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~8 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Lake Barrington
The best day on Lake Barrington this week looks like Saturday 26 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: Saturday, 26 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
- 05:59 to 18:14
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 16 km/h
- Rain chance
- 100%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Lake Barrington: 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
Open all year Lake Barrington is open all year 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. 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
Open all year Lake Barrington is open all year 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. The lake fishery: bait or slow lures in the deeper bays; the rivers are closed in NSW and Victoria.
When to come: the Lake Barrington 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 Lake Barrington 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 17 °C, wind to 10 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 10 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 16 °C, wind to 14 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 from the Inland Fisheries Service applies from age 14, one rod or two; our Tasmania licence page has the 2026-27 fees.
About this water
Lake Barrington is a lake in Tasmania, Australia, covered from the Tasmania reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Lake Barrington: the full guide
The lake
Lake Barrington is the Hydro Tasmania storage on the Forth River south of Devonport, a long, deep lake in a forested valley below Mount Roland with the state’s international rowing course at its northern end, camping and picnic areas at Kentish Park and the rowing course, ramps and a shore of steep banks and drowned timber. It is one of the north-west’s most fished trout lakes and one of the few open all year; the Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at the dam supplies the level and the 30-day chart on this page.
Species and seasons
Brown trout are wild and stocked and fish the edges, the drop-offs and the creek mouths on bait, lures and flies, trolled along the steep banks and cast from the shore; rainbow trout are stocked and fish the same water; Atlantic salmon have been released in some years; and redfin are present in the shallows. Barrington is on the Inland Fisheries Service’s list of waters open all year, so the chip on the species card reads open all year with the rule linked, unlike most Tasmanian waters.
Where to fish it
Kentish Park and the rowing course have the ramps and the bank access, and the fishing is a boat fishery along the steep banks and up the Forth arm, trolling the drop-offs and casting to the creek mouths; the shore near the camps fishes at dawn and dusk. The lake is long and sheltered and a small boat covers it in a day.
Reading the report
The north-west valley is cool and the water temperature estimate, labelled as one, sits in the trout bands for most of the year; the chart shows the hydro operation that moves the level. The valley shelters the water from most wind; pressure and sky fill the score and the planner picks the morning.
Licence, access and rules
The Tasmanian inland angling licence from the Inland Fisheries Service applies from age 14, one rod or two; our Tasmania licence page has the 2026-27 fees. Kentish Park, the rowing course and the ramps are open under Hydro Tasmania’s and the council’s rules; the Inland Fishing Code and the all-year listing are in the sources.
Common questions
Is Lake Barrington open all year?
Yes. The Inland Fisheries Service lists it among the waters open all year; the species card shows it with the rule linked.
Do I need a licence at Lake Barrington?
Yes, from age 14: the Tasmanian inland angling licence, one rod or two.
Is fishing good at Lake Barrington 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 604.1 — BARRINGTON LAKE - AT DAM
- 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.