Rainbow trout
Excellent
Prime. Shore fishing along the edges with bait, spinners and flies, and the rivers if the season is open.
Buckland River Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Buckland above Porepunkah: a clear trout stream off the Barry Mountains, stocked by the VFA with brown trout, with the Bureau’s gauge up the valley at 12 Mile.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Level
1.26 m
Air / High
12 °C / 22 °C
Wind
SW 3 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 403253, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Buckland River is in its cool-water rhythm: slower presentations and the warmest hours of the day. The gauge reads 1.26 m, holding steady. Today brings clear skies, wind SW around 3 km/h, steady pressure near 1018 hPa and a high of 22 °C. Water sits around 13 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 11:20 PM-1:20 AM and 11:47 AM-1:47 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: 11:20 PM-1:20 AM, 11:47 AM-1:47 PM, 5:01 AM-6:01 AM. Warmer at 25 °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 rainbow trout here? Check the size and bag limits with VFA before you keep anything; the Rainbow trout page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Buckland River today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:59), sunset (19:53), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 11:20 PM-1:20 AM and 11:47 AM-1:47 PM; minor 5:01 AM-6:01 AM. New Moon, 0% lit.
Water and weather
Live readings from Bureau of Meteorology station 403253 (BUCKLAND R @ 12 MILE).
River level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station 403253. Latest reading 2026-11-07 10:00.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp12 °C
High / Low22 °C / 5 °C
WindSW 3 km/h, gusts 6 km/h
Pressure1017.9 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain11% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset05:59 / 19:53
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~13 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Buckland River
The best day on Buckland River this week looks like Friday 13 Nov, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today.
Best day this week: Friday, 13 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
- 11:20 PM-1:20 AM and 11:47 AM-1:47 PM
- Minor period
- 5:01 AM-6:01 AM
- Sun
- 05:59 to 19:53
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Partly cloudy, 10 km/h
- Rain chance
- 0%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Buckland River: 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 15 June 2027. Rivers and streams close from the Tuesday after the King’s Birthday weekend to the Friday before the first Saturday in September. Lakes and reservoirs stay open all year. Rule as read from Victorian Fisheries Authority 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 15 June 2027. Rivers and streams close from the Tuesday after the King’s Birthday weekend to the Friday before the first Saturday in September. Lakes and reservoirs stay open all year. Rule as read from Victorian Fisheries Authority 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 Buckland River 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 Buckland River 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 17 °C, wind to 14 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 16 °C, wind to 18 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 22 °C, wind to 10 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
If you are not exempt, you need a Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence; our Victoria page has the prices.
About this water
Buckland River is a river in Victoria, Australia, covered from the Victoria reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Buckland River: the full guide
The reach
The Buckland runs off the Barry Mountains and the flank of Mount Buffalo through a forested valley to join the Ovens at Porepunkah, clear and rocky over gravel and boulders, with the Buckland Valley road and old goldfield country along it. It is a trout stream of the alps, and the Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at 12 Mile, station 403253, about 7 km up the valley from Buckland, supplies the level and the 30-day chart on this page.
Species and seasons
Brown and rainbow trout are the fish, in the pools and runs on the fly, spinners and bait; the VFA’s stocking record lists brown trout released into the Buckland River. The river follows the general Victorian stream rule of no minimum size and five salmonids a day, no more than two over 35 cm, and closes for trout from the Tuesday after the King’s Birthday weekend to the Friday before the first Saturday of September. River blackfish have separate limits set by the VFA.
Where to fish it
Public land along the Buckland Valley road gives access to the middle and lower river, and the upper valley is walk-in water. This is wading country: fish upstream through the runs and pool heads, and in bright weather concentrate on shade and broken water. The Ovens at Bright has its own page.
Reading the report
The chart shows a mountain river that rises with snowmelt and after rain and drops to its rocky bed through summer; early-season flows can be high. The modelled water temperature on this page is labelled as an estimate and reads cold for most of the year.
Licence, access and rules
If you are not exempt, you need a Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence; our Victoria page has the prices. The VFA regulations for trout and for blackfish are linked below the forecast.
Porepunkah and the Ovens
The Buckland meets the Ovens at Porepunkah, and the VFA rules change there: upstream of Porepunkah the Ovens carries a 25 cm minimum and a bag of three, while the Buckland keeps the general stream limits. Know which river you are standing in before you keep a fish, and carry a measure if you plan to keep any.
Common questions
Is the Buckland stocked?
Yes. The VFA stocking record lists brown trout released into the Buckland River.
When is the Buckland open for trout?
From the first Saturday of September to the Tuesday after the King’s Birthday weekend in June, computed on the species card from the VFA stream rule.
Is fishing good at Buckland River 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 403253 — BUCKLAND R @ 12 MILE
- 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.