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.
Penstock Lagoon Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The plateau lagoon reserved for the fly: wild browns in shallow, weedy water near Miena, with a Bureau gauge at the canal outlet.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Level
919.73 m584 ML
Air / High
5 °C / 15 °C
Wind
NW 8 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 508.1, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Penstock Lagoon has cold water and fish that move for very little; fish the sunniest hours. The gauge reads 919.73 m, holding steady. Today brings cloud cover, wind NW around 8 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 Penstock Lagoon today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:57), sunset (18:12), 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 508.1 (PENSTOCK LAGOON - AT CANAL OUTLET).
Storage level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station 508.1. Latest reading 2026-09-23 17:45.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp5 °C
High / Low15 °C / 5 °C
WindNW 8 km/h, gusts 14 km/h
Pressure1023.7 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain93% cloud, 100%
Sunrise / Sunset05:57 / 18:12
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~8 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Penstock Lagoon
The best day on Penstock Lagoon 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
- 05:57 to 18:12
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 26 km/h
- Rain chance
- 100%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Penstock Lagoon: 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 Penstock Lagoon 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 Penstock Lagoon 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 14 °C, wind to 29 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 14 °C, wind to 13 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 19 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
Penstock Lagoon is a lake in Tasmania, Australia, covered from the Tasmania reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Penstock Lagoon: the full guide
The lake
Penstock Lagoon is a small Hydro Tasmania storage on the Central Plateau south of Great Lake near Miena, a shallow, weedy lagoon fed by canal from the big lake that the Inland Fisheries Service reserves for artificial fly fishing only, with shore access and a ramp for unpowered and electric craft and a level that the canal keeps steady. It is one of the plateau’s best dry-fly waters, and the Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at the canal outlet supplies the level and the 30-day chart on this page.
Species and seasons
Brown trout are wild and are the fishery, rising to duns and beetles through spring and summer, cruising the weed edges in autumn and tailing in the marshes when the lagoon is up, on the fly because the rule allows nothing else; the lagoon 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 code sets the fly-only rule, the no-trolling rule, the 400 mm size limit and the bag of two.
Where to fish it
The shore around the lagoon and the ramp are the access, and the fishing is from the bank, wading the edges, or from a drifting boat under electric or oar power across the weed beds; the canal inlet from Great Lake is a current the fish hold in. Polaroiding the flats on a bright day and waiting on the wind lanes for the rises are the methods.
Reading the report
The plateau is cold and the water temperature estimate, labelled as one, is cold for most of the season; the chart barely moves because the canal keeps the lagoon steady. The wind row matters for the wind lanes, the drift and the casting; a dull, still morning is the dun morning; 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. Artificial fly only, and no trolling from a boat, by the code’s rules for the lagoon; the shore and the ramp are open under Hydro Tasmania’s rules; the Inland Fishing Code is in the sources.
Common questions
What methods are allowed at Penstock Lagoon?
Artificial fly only, from the bank or from a boat that is not trolling, under the Inland Fisheries Service’s rules for the lagoon in the Inland Fishing Code linked in the sources.
When is Penstock Lagoon open?
Through the Tasmanian brown trout season, first Saturday of August to the Sunday nearest 30 April, computed on the species card.
Is fishing good at Penstock Lagoon 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 508.1 — PENSTOCK LAGOON - AT CANAL OUTLET
- 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.