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 Sorell Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The big Interlaken lake beside Crescent: wild browns in shallow, weedy water reopened after the carp program, with a Bureau gauge.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Water temp
~8 °C est.
Air / High
6 °C / 15 °C
Wind
W 9 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 4206.1, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Lake Sorell is a cold-water proposition today: bait on the bottom and a long soak. Today brings cloud cover, wind W around 10 km/h, rising pressure near 1024 hPa and a high of 15 °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 Sorell today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:56), sunset (18:10), 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 4206.1 (LAKE SORELL AT CHILLON POINT LAKE LEVEL).
No live gauge on this water
Water readings appear when a Bureau of Meteorology station covers it. Until then the seasonal curve below is the estimate.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp6 °C
High / Low15 °C / 6 °C
WindW 9 km/h, gusts 17 km/h
Pressure1023.5 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain88% cloud, 100%
Sunrise / Sunset05:56 / 18:10
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~8 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Lake Sorell
The best day on Lake Sorell 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
- 05:56 to 18:10
- 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 Sorell: 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 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. 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 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. The lake fishery: bait or slow lures in the deeper bays; the rivers are closed in NSW and Victoria.
When to come: the Lake Sorell 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 Sorell 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 13 °C, wind to 24 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 10 °C, wind to 26 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 from the Inland Fisheries Service applies from age 14, one rod or two; our Tasmania licence page has the 2026-27 fees.
About this water
Lake Sorell is a lake in Tasmania, Australia, covered from the Tasmania reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Lake Sorell: the full guide
The lake
Lake Sorell is the larger of the two Interlaken lakes on the Central Plateau, a broad, shallow, weedy natural lake joined to Crescent by a canal, closed for years during the Inland Fisheries Service’s carp eradication program and reopened to angling once the pest was declared gone. It is reached by gravel road, with a ramp and shore access at Dago Point and the Interlaken end, and the Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at Chillon Point supplies the level and the 30-day chart on this page.
Species and seasons
Brown trout are wild and fish the weed edges, the shallow bays and the drop-offs on lures and flies, artificial lure and fly only by the code’s rule for Sorell, with the fish in good condition from the rich water; the lake follows the brown trout season the Inland Fisheries Service publishes, first Saturday of August to the Sunday nearest 30 April, computed on the species card, and the service sets Sorell’s own rules on size and bag. Golden galaxias are protected, and the service asks anglers to report any carp sighting.
Where to fish it
Dago Point and the Interlaken end have the ramps and the bank access, and the fishing is a boat fishery across the shallow bays and the weed edges, drifted in a breeze or anchored on the drop-offs; the shore fishes at dawn and dusk when the water is calm. The canal to Crescent is closed water.
Reading the report
A shallow, open lake, Sorell is stirred to mud by a wind and the wind row is the number to read; the water temperature estimate, labelled as one, is cold for most of the season, and the chart shows the level the service and the irrigators manage. Snow falls on the plateau in any month; pressure and sky fill the score.
Licence, access and rules
The Tasmanian inland angling licence from the Inland Fisheries Service applies from age 14, one rod or two; our Tasmania licence page has the 2026-27 fees. The ramps and shore are open under the service’s rules; the Inland Fishing Code and Sorell’s own rules are in the sources.
Common questions
Is Lake Sorell open for fishing?
Yes, through the Tasmanian brown trout season, after the Inland Fisheries Service reopened it once the carp program was complete; the species card computes the season with the rule linked.
Do I need a licence at Lake Sorell?
Yes, from age 14: the Tasmanian inland angling licence, one rod or two.
Is fishing good at Lake Sorell 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
- 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.