Cairn Curran Reservoir Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Loddon storage near Maldon: golden perch, Murray cod, redfin and trout in a central Victorian reservoir that reads its level from the Bureau every day.
2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Level
208.22 m142,778 ML
Air / High
13 °C / 24 °C
Wind
SE 4 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge sp-o10138, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Cairn Curran Reservoir rewards patience today, with cool water and short feeding windows. The gauge reads 208.22 m, holding steady. Today brings clear skies, wind SE around 5 km/h, rising pressure near 1025 hPa and a high of 24 °C. Water sits around 13 °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.
Murray cod
Slow
Slow it down: heavier spinnerbaits, slow-rolled swimbaits and bait on the bottom next to the deep snags.
Tie on: Blade or vibe, slow hops · Lightly weighted plastic · Whole pilchard or squid on the bottom · Suspending hardbody. Prime windows: 10:25 AM-12:25 PM, 10:25 PM-12:25 AM, 4:55 AM-5:55 AM. Cooler at 18 °C with likely rain: fish ahead of the front. 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 Cairn Curran Reservoir today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (06:09), sunset (18:22), 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 sp-o10138 (Cairn Curran Reservoir).
Storage level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station sp-o10138. Latest reading 2026-09-24 09:00.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp13 °C
High / Low24 °C / 13 °C
WindSE 4 km/h, gusts 8 km/h
Pressure1024.6 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain22% cloud, 25%
Sunrise / Sunset06:09 / 18:22
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~13 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Cairn Curran Reservoir
The best day on Cairn Curran Reservoir this week looks like Sunday 27 Sept, at 4 out of 5, against 2 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 — Tough
Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
- Solunar majors
- 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM
- Minor period
- 4:55 AM-5:55 AM
- Sun
- 06:09 to 18:22
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Overcast, 10 km/h
- Rain chance
- 25%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Cairn Curran Reservoir: seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
Murray cod
December to August; closed September to November
Open all year Cairn Curran Reservoir is open all year 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. Slow it down: heavier spinnerbaits, slow-rolled swimbaits and bait on the bottom next to the deep snags.
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. Slower. Work the deeper timber and the drop-offs with vibes and bait.
When to come: the Cairn Curran Reservoir 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 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 Cairn Curran Reservoir 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. Golden perch led the card at fair. High of 23 °C, wind to 14 km/h.
Wed, Sep 23
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Golden perch led the card at good. High of 20 °C, wind to 6 km/h.
Tue, Sep 22
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Golden perch led the card at good. High of 16 °C, wind to 11 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
Cairn Curran is a Victorian water and the state’s Recreational Fishing Licence applies unless you are exempt; the fees are on our Victoria page.
About this water
Cairn Curran Reservoir is a lake in Victoria, Australia, covered from the Victoria reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Cairn Curran Reservoir: the full guide
The lake
Cairn Curran Reservoir is the storage on the Loddon River between Maldon and Newstead in central Victoria, a broad lake of flooded farmland with a few arms, rocky points and stands of timber, ringed by camping reserves and ramps and drawn down each summer for irrigation. It is a native fish and redfin lake with trout stocked in the cooler months, fished from the bank at the reserves and the points and from small boats and kayaks over the timber and the drop-offs. The level in the report is the Bureau of Meteorology’s reading at the Cairn Curran gauge, with the time it was taken.
Species and seasons
Golden perch are the lake’s fish, from spring through autumn around the timber, the rock walls and the points on lipless crankbaits, spinnerbaits and bait; Murray cod fish the same timber in the warmer months, with the closed season from September to November that the Victorian Fisheries Authority publishes and this site links; redfin school in the bays and along the drop-offs all year and are the winter fish; and brown and rainbow trout are stocked and taken trolling and from the bank in the cooler months. Carp are present, with the VFA rules on their release.
Reading this report for Cairn Curran
The level is in the report and the 30-day chart, and it matters because a rising lake floods the grass and the timber edges where the perch feed and a falling summer lake pulls the fish to the points and the deep water; the wind row decides which arm is fishable, because the lake is open and shallow enough to chop up in a northerly. Pressure and sky build the score, the water temperature is an estimate for a lowland lake and the page says so, and the planner shows which day to take.
Licence, access and rules
Cairn Curran is a Victorian water and the state’s Recreational Fishing Licence applies unless you are exempt; the fees are on our Victoria page. The reserves at the dam wall, Picnic Point and the arms are public, with ramps and camping; the VFA limits, the cod closed season and the carp rules are on the pages in the sources.
Common questions
What fish are in Cairn Curran?
Golden perch and Murray cod in the timber, redfin in the bays, stocked trout in the cooler months and carp; the species cards rate them by month.
Do I need a licence to fish Cairn Curran?
Yes, unless you are exempt: the Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence covers the reservoir and the Loddon below it.
Is fishing good at Cairn Curran Reservoir right now?
Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Nearby waters
Where this page's numbers come from
- Storage and river readings
- Bureau of Meteorology, Water Data Online, station sp-o10138 — Cairn Curran Reservoir
- 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.