Rainbow trout
Excellent
Prime. Shore fishing along the edges with bait, spinners and flies, and the rivers if the season is open.
Lake Cethana Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Forth River storage where the Mersey-Forth waters meet: a big population of small brown trout below the rainforest, with a Bureau gauge at the dam.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Level
221.46 m50,589 ML
Air / High
8 °C / 17 °C
Wind
NNW 4 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 625.1, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Lake Cethana rewards patience today, with cool water and short feeding windows. The gauge reads 221.46 m, easing 0.28 over the week. Today brings cloud cover, wind NNW around 3 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 11:22 PM-1:22 AM and 11:51 AM-1:51 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, 11:51 AM-1:51 PM, 4:52 AM-5:52 AM. Similar at 18 °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 Lake Cethana today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:52), sunset (20:06), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 11:22 PM-1:22 AM and 11:51 AM-1:51 PM; minor 4:52 AM-5:52 AM. New Moon, 0% lit.
Water and weather
Live readings from Bureau of Meteorology station 625.1 (CETHANA LAKE - AT DAM).
Storage level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station 625.1. Latest reading 2026-11-07 00:00.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp8 °C
High / Low17 °C / 5 °C
WindNNW 4 km/h, gusts 13 km/h
Pressure1021.1 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain70% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset05:52 / 20:06
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~13 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Lake Cethana
The best day on Lake Cethana 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 11:51 AM-1:51 PM
- Minor period
- 4:52 AM-5:52 AM
- Sun
- 05:52 to 20:06
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Overcast, 11 km/h
- Rain chance
- 0%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Lake Cethana: 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 Lake Cethana 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 Cethana 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 18 °C, wind to 19 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 12 °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 16 °C, wind to 19 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 at Lake Cethana from age 14; our Tasmania licence page has the fees.
Storage levels
Compare it with every other storage in the state on Tasmania dam levels today.
About this water
Lake Cethana is a lake in Tasmania, Australia, covered from the Tasmania reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Lake Cethana: the full guide
Lake Cethana
Lake Cethana is the storage on the River Forth where, in Hydro Tasmania’s words, the waters of the four Mersey-Forth rivers meet, before running through the underground Cethana Power Station into Lake Barrington. It is a deep, narrow lake in the north-west between steep rainforest and eucalypt slopes, reached by the road that leaves the C138 before the township of Lorinna. The Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at the Lake Cethana dam supplies the level and the 30-day chart on this page. Lake Barrington, directly downstream, and Lake Paloona below it have their own pages.
Species and seasons
The Inland Fisheries Service describes Cethana as home to a large population of small brown trout, with plump fish in the deep water, taken along the steep shores and at the creek mouths on lures, the fly and bait under the general lake rules. Cethana is not listed separately in the Inland Fishing Code, so it follows the general lake season, the first Saturday of August to the Sunday nearest 30 April, computed on the species card, with a bag of 12 fish over 300 mm.
Where to fish it
IFS notes that you can launch a boat and spend the day on the water or picnic on the shore, and a small boat is the way to fish the steep shoreline, trolling the drop-offs and casting into the creek mouths. The bank is steep and the fish hold close to it, so a lure cast parallel to the shore stays in the zone longest.
Planning a visit
Lake Cethana is reached through Sheffield and the C138 toward Lorinna, and Sheffield has supplies and accommodation. The steep shoreline suits a small boat more than the bank; carry wet-weather gear, because the north-west rains often.
Reading this report here
In a deep gorge the wind matters less than on the plateau, but the rain row matters, because the north-west is wet and the creeks colour the lake. The chart shows the hydro operation between the Forth lakes; the water temperature estimate, labelled as one, is cold to cool. Pressure and sky build the score at Lake Cethana.
Licence, access and rules
The Tasmanian inland angling licence applies at Lake Cethana from age 14; our Tasmania licence page has the fees. Access and boating are under Hydro Tasmania’s rules, and the Inland Fishing Code and the IFS page for the lake are in the sources.
Common questions
What season applies at Lake Cethana?
Lake Cethana keeps the general lake season, from the first Saturday of August to the Sunday nearest 30 April.
Where is Lake Cethana?
On the River Forth in the north-west, directly upstream of Lake Barrington, reached from the C138 before Lorinna.
Do I need a licence at Lake Cethana?
Yes: anyone 14 or older needs the Tasmanian inland angling licence to fish Lake Cethana.
Is fishing good at Lake Cethana 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 625.1 — CETHANA 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.