Golden perch
Excellent
Prime. Hop soft plastics and vibes around the timber, or fish shrimp and worms on the bottom.
Broken River at Benalla Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Broken at Benalla: cod and golden perch in Lake Benalla and the river through the town.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Water temp
~19 °C est.
Air / High
12 °C / 21 °C
Wind
ESE 6 km/h
Sources: Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Broken River at Benalla is fishing in its best temperature window, with the bite spread across the day. Today brings clear skies, wind ESE around 6 km/h, steady pressure near 1017 hPa and a high of 21 °C. Water sits around 19 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 11:23 PM-1:23 AM and 11:51 AM-1:51 PM: the windows to build the day around.
Murray cod
Closed today
Reopens 1 Dec 2026. Closed 1 September to 30 November inclusive, except in Lake Eildon, Eildon Pondage, Lake Eppalock, Cairn Curran, Lake Nillahcootie and the other waters the VFA lists.
Tie on: Soft plastic on a 1/4 oz jighead · Small hardbody, shallow diver · Squid jig, size 3.0 · Fresh pipi or worm on a small hook. Prime windows: 11:23 PM-1:23 AM, 11:51 AM-1:51 PM, 5:05 AM-6:05 AM. Warmer at 26 °C with a rain chance. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.
Before you go
Victoria requires a fishing licence for most fishing, from A$10.00. Victoria fishing licence: cost, rules and where to buy →
Chasing murray cod here? Check the size and bag limits with VFA before you keep anything; the Murray cod page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Broken River at Benalla today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (06:03), sunset (19:56), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 11:23 PM-1:23 AM and 11:51 AM-1:51 PM; minor 5:05 AM-6:05 AM. New Moon, 0% lit.
Water and weather
Bureau of Meteorology station 404203 (BROKEN @ BENALLA) has sent no reading in the last 30 days, so conditions here are modelled from weather, season and the nearest stations.
No recent gauge reading
Readings come back here when station 404203 reports again. Until then the seasonal curve below is the estimate.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp12 °C
High / Low21 °C / 7 °C
WindESE 6 km/h, gusts 9 km/h
Pressure1016.8 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset06:03 / 19:56
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~19 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Broken River at Benalla
The best day on Broken River at Benalla this week looks like Friday 13 Nov, at 5 out of 5, against 3 today.
Best day this week: Friday, 13 Nov — excellent at 5/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
Today, 9 Nov — Fair
A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
- Solunar majors
- 11:23 PM-1:23 AM and 11:51 AM-1:51 PM
- Minor period
- 5:05 AM-6:05 AM
- Sun
- 06:03 to 19:56
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Overcast, 19 km/h
- Rain chance
- 0%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Broken River at Benalla: seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
Murray cod
Closed 1 September to 30 November in NSW, Victoria and the ACT, and 1 August to 31 October in Queensland; check the exempt lakes
Closed now Reopens 1 Dec 2026. Closed 1 September to 30 November inclusive, except in Lake Eildon, Eildon Pondage, Lake Eppalock, Cairn Curran, Lake Nillahcootie and the other waters the VFA lists. Rule as read from Victorian Fisheries Authority on 2026-09-23.
The giant of the inland rivers and the big lakes (Hume, Mulwala, Eildon). A snag fish that eats big lures, and a species with a closed season across the Murray-Darling.
Golden perch
Best: November to April
Yellowbelly. The bread-and-butter native of the Murray-Darling lakes and rivers; loves warm water, structure and a lure worked slowly past its nose. Prime. Hop soft plastics and vibes around the timber, or fish shrimp and worms on the bottom.
When to come: the Broken River at Benalla 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
Murray cod
Golden perch
SlowPeak
Water temperature through the year
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 19 °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 Broken River at Benalla today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataSun, Nov 8
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Golden perch led the card at excellent. High of 19 °C, wind to 21 km/h.
Sat, Nov 7
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Golden perch led the card at excellent. High of 15 °C, wind to 31 km/h.
Fri, Nov 6
5/5 Excellent. Go now. Everything lines up: pressure, wind and light are in your favor. Golden perch led the card at excellent. High of 22 °C, wind to 14 km/h.
Before you go
Licence
Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence (RFL), from A$10.00, 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 VFA and change: confirm the current rules on the agency page linked from the Victoria licence page before you keep anything.
Access
The Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence is needed unless an exemption applies; fees are on our Victoria page.
About this water
Broken River at Benalla is a river in Victoria, Australia, covered from the Victoria reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Broken River at Benalla: the full guide
The reach
The Broken at Benalla is the river below Lake Nillahcootie, held into Lake Benalla by the town weir and running on through red gums toward the Goulburn at Shepparton. It is cod and golden perch water in a town lake and a river; the Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at Benalla, station 404203, no longer reports, so this page carries no live level.
Species and seasons
Murray cod fish the snags and deep water through summer and autumn. The VFA bag is one cod a day in rivers and two in Benalla Lake, which is on its list of specified lakes, always within the 55 to 75 cm slot; the 1 September to 30 November closure is computed on the species card. The VFA’s stocking record lists golden perch for Benalla Lake and for the Broken River, and golden perch are the common catch from spring to autumn.
Where to fish it
The lake’s foreshore in the middle of town gives easy bank access, and a kayak covers the river downstream through the red gums. Keep away from the weir structure. For golden perch, a lipless crankbait or a soft vibe hopped slowly near timber works well; for cod, larger lures worked tight to the snags at first and last light.
Reading the report
The chart follows releases from Nillahcootie and the management of the town weir, and tends to sit steady except in a flood. The water temperature on this page is modelled, labelled as an estimate, and gives the cod band from November to April. Wind crosses the open water freely, which matters on the lake.
Licence, access and rules
The Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence is needed unless an exemption applies; fees are on our Victoria page. The VFA cod page, with the river and lake bags and the closure, is linked here.
Nillahcootie to the Goulburn
Upstream, Lake Nillahcootie is both a specified cod lake and one of the VFA waters where the cod closed season does not apply; downstream, the Broken meets the Goulburn at Shepparton. An angler following the river can fish the storage, the town lake and the junction in turn; Nillahcootie and the Goulburn at Shepparton have their own pages.
Common questions
Can I keep two cod from Lake Benalla?
Yes. Benalla Lake is a VFA specified lake with a bag of two, within the 55 to 75 cm slot and outside the spring closure; the river limit is one.
Is Lake Benalla stocked?
The VFA stocking record lists golden perch released into Benalla Lake.
Is fishing good at Broken River at Benalla 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
- 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.