Rainbow trout
Excellent
Prime. Shore fishing along the edges with bait, spinners and flies, and the rivers if the season is open.
Lake St Clair Fishing Report, Tasmania
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
Australia’s deepest glacial lake, at the end of the Overland Track: wild browns and rainbows, lure and fly only in the national park, with a Bureau gauge at Pump House Point.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Level
735.07 m13,498 ML
Air / High
7 °C / 17 °C
Wind
WNW 6 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 131.1, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Lake St Clair has cool water and fish holding a little deeper and slower. The gauge reads 735.07 m, holding steady. Today brings a mixed sky, wind WNW around 6 km/h, steady pressure near 1019 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, 4:50 AM-5:50 AM. Similar at 15 °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 St Clair today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:50), sunset (20:07), 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 4:50 AM-5:50 AM. New Moon, 0% lit.
Water and weather
Live readings from Bureau of Meteorology station 131.1 (St.CLAIR LAKE - AT PUMP HOUSE POINT).
Storage level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station 131.1. Latest reading 2026-11-08 17:45.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp7 °C
High / Low17 °C / 2 °C
WindWNW 6 km/h, gusts 15 km/h
Pressure1019.2 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain32% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset05:50 / 20:07
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~13 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Lake St Clair
The best day on Lake St Clair 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
- 4:50 AM-5:50 AM
- Sun
- 05:50 to 20:07
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 10 km/h
- Rain chance
- 0%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Lake St Clair: 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 St Clair 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 St Clair 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 12 °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 19 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 9 °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
Anyone 14 or older needs a Tasmanian inland angling licence; 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 St Clair is a lake in Tasmania, Australia, covered from the Tasmania reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Lake St Clair: the full guide
The lake
Lake St Clair is a long, narrow natural lake in the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park, part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, and the Inland Fisheries Service describes it as the deepest glacial lake in Australia, with a maximum depth of 163 metres. It is the source of the River Derwent and the finishing point of the Overland Track, and St Clair Lagoon at its south-eastern end is separated from it by a small weir. Cynthia Bay, about 2.5 hours from Hobart via Derwent Bridge, has the visitor centre. The Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at Pump House Point supplies the level and 30-day chart. It is not the Lake St Clair of New South Wales, which has its own page.
Species and seasons
Fishing for both brown and rainbow trout is popular at the southern end of the lake, the service says, and it manages Lake St Clair as a Premium Wild Trout Fishery. As national park water it is reserved for artificial lures and flies, and bait fishing is not permitted. The limits are 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.
Where to fish it
Spinning and trolling account for reasonable catches, especially on rough or overcast days, and the clear water lets fly anglers polaroid fish along the margins; mayfly hatches in summer bring dry-fly fishing. The formal ramp at Cynthia Bay is, in the service’s words, really the only practical spot to launch a boat. Cynthia Bay also has full camping amenities, and there are informal camping spots at Narcissus at the northern end, where the huts are often occupied by walkers.
Reading the report
Weather here can turn from clear skies to rain and cold very quickly, the service warns, so dress in layers and check the rain and wind rows before heading out on the water. The water temperature estimate, labelled as one, stays in the cold band for most of the season in water this deep. Pressure and sky complete the score.
Licence, access and rules
Anyone 14 or older needs a Tasmanian inland angling licence; fees are on our Tasmania licence page. Park fees apply, and a National Park Pass must be displayed on vehicles and boats; passes are sold at the Cynthia Bay visitor centre. Navigation is prohibited for 300 metres upstream of the St Clair Dam in the lagoon. The sources carry the Inland Fishing Code and the service’s page for Lake St Clair and St Clair Lagoon.
Common questions
Is this the Lake St Clair in New South Wales?
No. This is the glacial lake in Tasmania’s Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park; the New South Wales storage of the same name, Glennies Creek Dam, has its own page.
Can I use bait at Lake St Clair?
No. The lake is in a national park, where bait fishing is not permitted; artificial lures and flies only, within the brown trout season computed on the species card.
Is fishing good at Lake St Clair 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 131.1 — St.CLAIR LAKE - AT PUMP HOUSE POINT
- 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.