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.
Woods Lake Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The plateau lake below Arthurs: wild browns in shallow, weedy water reached by gravel, with a camp, a ramp and a Bureau gauge at the dam.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Level
736.23 m24,599 ML
Air / High
6 °C / 16 °C
Wind
W 7 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 462.1, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Woods Lake is a cold-water proposition today: bait on the bottom and a long soak. The gauge reads 736.23 m, easing 0.07 over the week. Today brings cloud cover, wind W around 6 km/h, rising pressure near 1024 hPa and a high of 16 °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 a rain chance. 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 Woods Lake today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:56), sunset (18:11), 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 462.1 (WOODS LAKE - AT DAM).
Storage level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station 462.1. Latest reading 2026-09-24 17:45.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp6 °C
High / Low16 °C / 6 °C
WindW 7 km/h, gusts 15 km/h
Pressure1023.8 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain90% cloud, 100%
Sunrise / Sunset05:56 / 18:11
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~8 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Woods Lake
The best day on Woods Lake 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
- 05:56 to 18:11
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 24 km/h
- Rain chance
- 100%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Woods Lake: 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 Woods Lake 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 Woods Lake 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 15 °C, wind to 27 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 11 °C, wind to 23 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
Woods Lake is a lake in Tasmania, Australia, covered from the Tasmania reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Woods Lake: the full guide
The lake
Woods Lake is a Hydro Tasmania storage on the Lake River below Arthurs Lake on the eastern Central Plateau, a shallow, weedy lake of drowned scrub and open water reached by gravel road from the Arthurs Lake road, with camping and a ramp at the dam and a reputation among plateau anglers for numbers of wild browns. The Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at the dam supplies the level and the 30-day chart on this page.
Species and seasons
Brown trout are wild and numerous and fish the weed edges, the drowned scrub and the shallow bays on bait, lures and flies, with the dun hatches of spring and summer bringing them up; rainbow trout are few; 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. The Lake River below the dam has its own rules in the code.
Where to fish it
The camping area and the ramp at the dam are the access, and the fishing is from a boat drifting the weed beds and the scrub or from the bank along the shallow bays near the camp; polaroiding the flats and fishing the wind lanes are the plateau methods. A kayak suits the sheltered bays.
Reading the report
Shallow and open, the lake is stirred by the plateau wind and the wind row decides the day; the water temperature estimate, labelled as one, is cold for most of the season, and the chart shows the hydro operation that floods the scrub. Snow falls 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 camping and the ramp are open under Hydro Tasmania’s rules; the Inland Fishing Code is in the sources.
Woods and Arthurs together
Woods Lake sits below Arthurs Lake on the same river and is fished by the same anglers, usually as the quieter second choice when the wind or the crowds are on Arthurs; it is shallower, weedier and warmer than the big lake, its browns are smaller and more numerous, and the dun hatches come a little earlier in spring. The two are twenty minutes apart by gravel road.
Common questions
When is Woods Lake open?
Through the Tasmanian brown trout season, first Saturday of August to the Sunday nearest 30 April, computed on the species card.
How do I get to Woods Lake?
By gravel road from the Arthurs Lake road on the eastern plateau; the camping and the ramp are at the dam.
Is fishing good at Woods Lake 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 462.1 — WOODS 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.