Rainbow trout
Excellent
Prime. Shore fishing along the edges with bait, spinners and flies, and the rivers if the season is open.
Lake Barrington Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Forth River lake behind Devils Gate Dam near Sheffield: brown and rainbow trout and blackfish, open all year, a rowing course and a Bureau gauge.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Level
121.43 m66,184 ML
Air / High
9 °C / 16 °C
Wind
NNW 1 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 604.1, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Lake Barrington has cool water and fish holding a little deeper and slower. The gauge reads 121.43 m, holding steady. Today brings cloud cover, wind NNW around 2 km/h, steady pressure near 1021 hPa and a high of 16 °C. Water sits around 13 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 11:22 PM-1:22 AM and 11:50 AM-1:50 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: 11:22 PM-1:22 AM, 11:50 AM-1:50 PM, 4:51 AM-5:51 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 Lake Barrington today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:52), sunset (20:05), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 11:22 PM-1:22 AM and 11:50 AM-1:50 PM; minor 4:51 AM-5:51 AM. New Moon, 0% 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 2026-11-07 00:00.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp9 °C
High / Low16 °C / 7 °C
WindNNW 1 km/h, gusts 7 km/h
Pressure1020.9 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain65% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset05:52 / 20:05
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~13 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Lake Barrington
The best day on Lake Barrington 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
- 11:22 PM-1:22 AM and 11:50 AM-1:50 PM
- Minor period
- 4:51 AM-5:51 AM
- Sun
- 05:52 to 20:05
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Overcast, 13 km/h
- Rain chance
- 0%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
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
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 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. 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 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. Prime. Nymphs and streamers on the rivers, and the lake edges on the overcast days.
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 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 Lake Barrington 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 16 °C, wind to 13 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 23 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 17 °C, wind to 23 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 14 and older need the Tasmanian inland angling licence from the Inland Fisheries Service; our Tasmania licence page lists the 2026-27 fees.
Storage levels
Compare it with every other storage in the state on Tasmania dam levels today.
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 was created in 1969 when the 84-metre Devils Gate Dam was built across the Forth River for hydro-electric power, the Inland Fisheries Service records. The lake is about 20 km long, lies roughly 40 km south of Devonport near Sheffield, and is protected as a Nature Conservation Area. The service calls it the major recreational lake of the north-west, shared with water skiers and an international rowing course. Its level and the 30-day chart on this page come from the Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at the dam.
Species and seasons
The service describes a large population of brown trout, rainbow trout and native river blackfish, with most trout between 200 grams and 1 kilogram and bigger fish caught from time to time; its latest stocking record is of adult Atlantic salmon in 2017. Barrington is one of the waters open all year, with bait, lure and fly all permitted, a bag of five of which only two may be over 500 mm, and a 300 mm minimum; blackfish have a 220 mm minimum and a bag of 12. The species card reads open all year with the rule linked.
Where to fish it
Trolling is the most popular and productive method here, the service says, because the steep terrain leaves only a few stretches of shore suitable for bait fishing. Boats launch at Kentish Park and Weeks Reach on the eastern side and off Lake Barrington Road on the west. Navigation is prohibited near Devils Gate Dam and within 2,000 metres of the Cethana Dam, a 5-knot limit applies on the rowing course, and it is an offence to tamper with the rowing structures.
Reading the report
Hydro operation moves the level regularly, and the chart shows by how much: a rising lake pushes trout into freshly flooded edges, while a falling one draws them back to the drop-offs where trollers work. The water temperature estimate, labelled as one, sits in the trout bands for much of the year in this valley. A calm morning makes surface activity easier to spot; pressure and sky complete the score.
Licence, access and rules
Anglers 14 and older need the Tasmanian inland angling licence from the Inland Fisheries Service; our Tasmania licence page lists the 2026-27 fees. There is a camp ground at Kentish Park, with toilets, barbecues and picnic areas there and at Weeks Reach. The giant freshwater lobster lives in the lake and is wholly protected, so leave any you see undisturbed. The service’s page for the lake and the Inland Fishing Code 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. The lake’s bag is five fish, only two over 500 mm.
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
- 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.