Rainbow trout
Excellent
Prime. Shore fishing along the edges with bait, spinners and flies, and the rivers if the season is open.
Lake Echo Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
A large, deep hydro lake in the Central Highlands: naturally recruiting browns and rainbows, all methods allowed, three launching areas and a Bureau gauge at the dam.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Level
841.47 m470,244 ML
Air / High
8 °C / 16 °C
Wind
N 12 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 176.1, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Lake Echo has cool water and fish holding a little deeper and slower. The gauge reads 841.47 m, holding steady. Today brings a mixed sky, wind N around 13 km/h, steady pressure near 1019 hPa and a high of 16 °C. Water sits around 13 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 11:20 PM-1:20 AM and 11:49 AM-1:49 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: 11:20 PM-1:20 AM, 11:49 AM-1:49 PM, 4:47 AM-5:47 AM. Similar at 16 °C with a rain chance. 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 Echo today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:49), sunset (20:06), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 11:20 PM-1:20 AM and 11:49 AM-1:49 PM; minor 4:47 AM-5:47 AM. New Moon, 0% lit.
Water and weather
Live readings from Bureau of Meteorology station 176.1 (ECHO LAKE - AT DAM).
Storage level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station 176.1. Latest reading 2026-11-08 00:00.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp8 °C
High / Low16 °C / 2 °C
WindN 12 km/h, gusts 27 km/h
Pressure1018.9 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain39% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset05:49 / 20:06
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~13 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Lake Echo
The best day on Lake Echo this week looks like Wednesday 11 Nov, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today.
Best day this week: Wednesday, 11 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
- 11:20 PM-1:20 AM and 11:49 AM-1:49 PM
- Minor period
- 4:47 AM-5:47 AM
- Sun
- 05:49 to 20:06
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 13 km/h
- Rain chance
- 0%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Lake Echo: 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 Echo 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 Echo 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 11 °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 6 °C, wind to 21 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 11 °C, wind to 29 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
Lake Echo anglers aged 14 and over need the Inland Fisheries Service’s angling licence; the 2026-27 fees are on our Tasmania licence page.
Storage levels
Compare it with every other storage in the state on Tasmania dam levels today.
About this water
Lake Echo is a lake in Tasmania, Australia, covered from the Tasmania reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Lake Echo: the full guide
The lake
Lake Echo is a large hydro-electric impoundment with generally deep, clear water, mostly surrounded by steep eucalypt bushland, the Inland Fisheries Service records; a large draw-down exposes long stretches of rocky shore that make walking the edge easier, and marshes line parts of the north-western shore. From the south, take the A10 north of Ouse, then the C176 through Strickland and the C173 past Dee Lagoon; from the north, turn onto the C173 at Bronte Lagoon. The level and 30-day chart on this page are from the Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at the Lake Echo dam.
Species and seasons
The service manages Echo as a Wild Trout Fishery in which natural recruitment keeps both brown and rainbow trout going; rainbows make up about ten percent of anglers’ catch, and fish typically weigh 0.75 to 1.5 kilograms. Bait, lure and fly are all allowed under the general lake rules, with a 300 mm minimum and a bag of 12, and the season runs from the first Saturday of August to the Sunday nearest 30 April, computed on the species card. Redfin and tench from the Derwent system are present.
Where to fish it
There are three formal launching areas: at the dam in the south, at Middle Echo about 4 km north, and at Large Bay at the north-western end. The timbered eastern and western shorelines fish best, the service says, with beetle falls from December to April and good mayfly hatches; deep-diving lures and lead-core lines take many fish, and loch-style fly fishing from a drifting boat is catching on. Shore bait anglers favour Brocks Bay and the north-eastern shore, and mudeyes hatch in January and February.
Reading the report
The lake is exposed and can become very rough with little warning at any time of year, the service warns, so the wind row decides the day on the water. Expect the water temperature estimate, labelled as one, to stay cold through most of the season. The level chart shows how far the lake has been drawn down; a big fall moves fish off the timber and exposes more rocky shore for walking.
Licence, access and rules
Lake Echo anglers aged 14 and over need the Inland Fisheries Service’s angling licence; the 2026-27 fees are on our Tasmania licence page. Informal camping is permitted on the lakeshore with no facilities, so bring a portable or chemical toilet, and respect private property and the access rules around the lake. Both the service’s Lake Echo page and the Inland Fishing Code are linked in the sources.
Common questions
When is Lake Echo open?
Through the Tasmanian brown trout season, first Saturday of August to the Sunday nearest 30 April, computed on the species card with the rule linked.
Are there facilities at Lake Echo?
Only the three launching areas; lakeshore camping is informal with no facilities, according to the Inland Fisheries Service.
Is fishing good at Lake Echo 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 176.1 — ECHO 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.