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 St Clair Fishing Report, Tasmania
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
Australia’s deepest lake at the foot of the Overland Track: wild browns and rainbows in cold, clear water inside 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
735.18 m16,455 ML
Air / High
6 °C / 15 °C
Wind
W 9 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 131.1, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Lake St Clair is a cold-water proposition today: bait on the bottom and a long soak. The gauge reads 735.18 m, holding steady. Today brings cloud cover, wind W around 10 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 6 °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 (05:59), 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 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 2026-09-24 17:45.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp6 °C
High / Low15 °C / 5 °C
WindW 9 km/h, gusts 21 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 St Clair
The best day on Lake St Clair 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, 23 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 St Clair: 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 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 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 St Clair 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 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 13 °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 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 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 the deepest lake in Australia, a glacial lake at the southern end of the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park where the Overland Track ends, held by a small Hydro Tasmania weir that raises it a little for the Derwent scheme, with the visitor centre, camping, a ramp and the ferry at Cynthia Bay and Pump House Point on its eastern shore. It is cold, clear, wild trout water inside a World Heritage park, and the Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at Pump House Point supplies the level and the 30-day chart on this page. It is not the Lake St Clair of New South Wales, which has its own page.
Species and seasons
Brown trout are wild and fish the rocky shores, the drop-offs and the creek mouths on lures and flies, with the fish lean in the cold, clear water; rainbow trout are wild and fish the same water; and 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. Bait is restricted in the park’s waters under the code, which is linked here.
Where to fish it
Cynthia Bay has the ramp, the camping and the visitor centre, and the fishing is a boat fishery along the steep, rocky shores and up to the Narcissus inflow at the northern end, trolling and casting; the shore at Cynthia Bay and along the lakeside track fishes at dawn and dusk. The ferry to Narcissus carries walkers, not boats.
Reading the report
Deep and glacial, the lake keeps the water temperature estimate, labelled as one, in the cold band all season; the chart moves little. The mountains funnel the wind down the lake and a northerly runs its length; 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 park pass is required at Cynthia Bay under Parks’ rules; the Inland Fishing Code, with the season and the park’s bait rules, is in the sources.
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.
When is Lake St Clair open for fishing?
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.
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
- 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.