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 Rowallan Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The upper Mersey lake at the edge of the Walls of Jerusalem: big browns in drowned timber, open from October to May, with a Bureau gauge.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Level
485.05 m97,923 ML
Air / High
7 °C / 18 °C
Wind
SSW 9 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 562.1, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Lake Rowallan is a cold-water proposition today: bait on the bottom and a long soak. The gauge reads 485.05 m, up 0.57 over the week. Today brings cloud cover, wind SSW around 10 km/h, rising pressure near 1024 hPa and a high of 18 °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 11 °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 Rowallan today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (06:00), 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 562.1 (ROWALLAN LAKE - AT DAM).
Storage level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station 562.1. Latest reading 2026-09-23 00:00.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp7 °C
High / Low18 °C / 7 °C
WindSSW 9 km/h, gusts 26 km/h
Pressure1024.2 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain94% cloud, 100%
Sunrise / Sunset06:00 / 18:14
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~8 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Lake Rowallan
The best day on Lake Rowallan 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
- 06:00 to 18:14
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Storms, 13 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 Rowallan: 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
Closed now Reopens 3 Oct 2026. Designated rainbow trout waters open on the Saturday nearest 1 October and close on the Sunday nearest 31 May. Rule as read from Inland Fisheries Service Tasmania on 2026-09-24.
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
Closed now Reopens 3 Oct 2026. Designated rainbow trout waters open on the Saturday nearest 1 October and close on the Sunday nearest 31 May. Rule as read from Inland Fisheries Service Tasmania on 2026-09-24.
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 Rowallan 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 Rowallan 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 13 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 15 °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 14 °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
Anglers on Lake Rowallan need the Tasmanian inland angling licence from age 14; our Tasmania licence page has the fees.
About this water
Lake Rowallan is a lake in Tasmania, Australia, covered from the Tasmania reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Lake Rowallan: the full guide
Lake Rowallan
Lake Rowallan is the storage on the upper Mersey River at the eastern edge of the Walls of Jerusalem country, the highest lake of the Mersey-Forth hydro scheme, a lake of drowned forest and grassy flats reached by the long Mersey Forest Road from Mole Creek. The Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at the dam supplies the level and the 30-day chart on this page. Lake Parangana downstream and Lake Mackenzie on the Tiers have their own pages.
Species and seasons
Brown trout are the fish of Lake Rowallan, some of them large, in the drowned timber and along the flooded margins, taken on lures, the fly and bait. The lake does not open with most waters in August: the Inland Fishing Code lists it from 3 October 2026 to 30 May 2027, the Saturday nearest 1 October to the Sunday nearest 31 May, the season of the designated rainbow trout waters; the species card computes it. The bag is 12 fish over 300 mm.
Where to fish it
The dam area and the shore reached from the Mersey Forest Road are the access to Lake Rowallan, and the grassy flats at the southern end flood when the lake is high and fish on the fly. A boat under Hydro Tasmania’s rules gets into the timber, which demands care.
Planning a visit
Lake Rowallan is at the end of the Mersey Forest Road beyond Mole Creek, with Mole Creek and Deloraine the nearest supplies. Remember the later opening, on the Saturday nearest 1 October; until then the lake is closed even though most Tasmanian waters opened in August. The Walls of Jerusalem walking track starts nearby.
Reading this report here
Rowallan sits high and exposed, and the wind row and the rain row both matter; snow can fall in any month. The chart shows the hydro level, which decides whether the flats are flooded; the water temperature estimate, labelled as one, is cold for much of the season. Pressure and sky build the score at Lake Rowallan.
Licence, access and rules
Anglers on Lake Rowallan need the Tasmanian inland angling licence from age 14; our Tasmania licence page has the fees. The Inland Fishing Code, with the October opening and the bag, is in the sources, and the road and the shore are under Hydro Tasmania’s and the forestry rules.
Common questions
When does Lake Rowallan open?
On the Saturday nearest 1 October, 3 October 2026 this season, and it closes on the Sunday nearest 31 May.
Why does Lake Rowallan open later than other lakes?
The Inland Fishing Code lists Rowallan with the season of the designated rainbow trout waters, not the August general season.
Do I need a licence at Lake Rowallan?
Yes: the Tasmanian inland angling licence, from age 14.
Is fishing good at Lake Rowallan 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 562.1 — ROWALLAN 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.