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 King William Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Derwent’s headwater lake at Derwent Bridge: browns and rainbows in a long hydro lake between the mountains, with camping and a Bureau gauge at Clark Dam.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Level
718.89 m491,336 ML
Air / High
5 °C / 14 °C
Wind
W 12 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 128.1, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Lake King William is a cold-water proposition today: bait on the bottom and a long soak. The gauge reads 718.89 m, up 0.07 over the week. Today brings cloud cover, wind W around 13 km/h, rising pressure near 1025 hPa and a high of 14 °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 5 °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 King William 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 128.1 (KING WILLIAM LAKE - AT DAM).
Storage level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station 128.1. Latest reading 2026-09-24 00:00.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp5 °C
High / Low14 °C / 5 °C
WindW 12 km/h, gusts 29 km/h
Pressure1024.8 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain100% 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 King William
The best day on Lake King William this week looks like Sunday 27 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: Sunday, 27 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, 21 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 King William: 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 King William 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 King William 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 King William 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 King William 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 23 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 12 °C, wind to 11 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 9 °C, wind to 18 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 from age 14, one rod or two; our Tasmania licence page has the fees.
About this water
Lake King William is a lake in Tasmania, Australia, covered from the Tasmania reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Lake King William: the full guide
The lake
Lake King William is the Hydro Tasmania storage on the upper Derwent at Derwent Bridge, held by Clark Dam at Butlers Gorge, a long, narrow lake between the Central Plateau and the mountains of the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair park, with camping and a ramp near the highway and drowned forest along much of its length. It is the first lake on the Derwent and a cold trout water; 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 fish the drowned timber, the edges and the Derwent inflow on bait, lures and flies; rainbow trout are wild and stocked and fish the drop-offs and the inflow; and the lake 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. The Derwent below the dam and the streams into the lake follow the code’s rules.
Where to fish it
The camping and the ramp near the Lyell Highway are the access, and the fishing is a boat fishery down the long lake, trolling the drop-offs and casting into the drowned forest, with the Derwent inflow at the northern end the current the rainbows hold in; the shore near the camp fishes at dawn and dusk. The gorge end near the dam is deep and sheltered.
Reading the report
High and cold between the mountains, the lake keeps the water temperature estimate, labelled as one, in the cold band for most of the season; the chart shows the hydro operation. The valley funnels the wind along the lake and a westerly runs its whole length, so the wind row decides the launch; the rain row matters in a wet mountain catchment; pressure and sky fill the score.
Licence, access and rules
The Tasmanian inland angling licence applies from age 14, one rod or two; our Tasmania licence page has the fees. The camping and the ramp are open under Hydro Tasmania’s and Parks’ rules; the Inland Fishing Code is in the sources.
Common questions
When is Lake King William open?
All year: the Inland Fisheries Service lists it among the waters open all year, and the species card shows it with the rule linked.
Where do I launch at Lake King William?
At the ramp near the Lyell Highway at Derwent Bridge, beside the camping area.
Is fishing good at Lake King William 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 128.1 — KING WILLIAM 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.