Golden perch
Excellent
Prime. Hop soft plastics and vibes around the timber, or fish shrimp and worms on the bottom.
Cairn Curran Reservoir Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Loddon storage near Maldon: big golden perch, trophy brown trout, redfin and a growing Murray cod fishery, open all year, with a Bureau gauge on the level.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Level
208.43 m146,571 ML
Air / High
11 °C / 21 °C
Wind
ESE 5 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge sp-o10138, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Cairn Curran Reservoir has the water in the comfortable band where most of its fish feed through the day. The gauge reads 208.43 m, holding steady. Today brings clear skies, wind ESE around 5 km/h, steady pressure near 1016 hPa and a high of 21 °C. Water sits around 19 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 11:31 PM-1:31 AM and 11:59 AM-1:59 PM: the windows to build the day around.
Murray cod
Slow
Prime. Cast big spinnerbaits, hardbodies and swimbaits tight to timber and rock, and work the same snag several times.
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: 11:31 PM-1:31 AM, 11:59 AM-1:59 PM, 5:12 AM-6:12 AM. Warmer at 26 °C. 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 (06:10), sunset (20:05), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 11:31 PM-1:31 AM and 11:59 AM-1:59 PM; minor 5:12 AM-6:12 AM. New Moon, 0% lit.
Cairn Curran Water Level today, and the 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 2026-11-08 08:00.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp11 °C
High / Low21 °C / 6 °C
WindESE 5 km/h, gusts 9 km/h
Pressure1016.2 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain2% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset06:10 / 20:05
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~19 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Cairn Curran Reservoir
The best day on Cairn Curran Reservoir this week looks like Tuesday 10 Nov, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today.
Best day this week: Tuesday, 10 Nov — good at 4/5, steady pressure, neither help nor hindrance.
Today, 9 Nov — Fair
A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
- Solunar majors
- 11:31 PM-1:31 AM and 11:59 AM-1:59 PM
- Minor period
- 5:12 AM-6:12 AM
- Sun
- 06:10 to 20:05
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Overcast, 11 km/h
- Rain chance
- 0%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
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
Closed 1 September to 30 November in NSW, Victoria and the ACT, and 1 August to 31 October in Queensland; check the exempt lakes
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. Prime. Cast big spinnerbaits, hardbodies and swimbaits tight to timber and rock, and work the same snag several times.
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 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 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 Cairn Curran Reservoir 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 17 °C, wind to 16 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 14 °C, wind to 26 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 21 °C, wind to 19 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, so the state’s Recreational Fishing Licence applies unless you are exempt; the fees are on our Victoria page.
Storage levels
Compare it with every other storage in the state on Victoria dam levels today.
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 impounds the Loddon River near Maldon and Newstead in central Victoria and is managed by Goulburn-Murray Water for irrigation and domestic supply downstream. It is also a recreation hub for power and sail boating, canoeing, fishing, walking and swimming. The VFA describes remarkable fish habitat: rocky banks and points, submerged timber and weed beds, and vast shallow flats that come and go with the level. Caravan parks sit at Welshmans Reef and near the dam wall at Baringhup, and the Baringhup side has picnic areas with a ramp, sheltered barbecues and toilets. The level in the report is the Bureau of Meteorology’s reading for the reservoir, with the time it was taken.
Species and seasons
The VFA calls Cairn Curran an excellent mixed fishery for big golden perch, trophy brown trout, redfin and, increasingly, Murray cod. Golden perch are best targeted near standing timber and rocky points from spring through autumn, and the stocked cod, as they mature, use the same cover; redfin school in the same places. When the lake is at the right level, the shallow flats give outstanding fly fishing for brown trout, which are also trolled on flat lines or downriggers in the deeper water. Cairn Curran is one of the waters where the VFA keeps Murray cod open all year, with no spring closure. Carp are present and must not be returned alive.
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, while a falling summer lake exposes the flats and pulls the fish to the points and the deep water. The wind row decides which part of the lake is comfortable, because the water is open and shallow enough to chop up quickly. Cairn Curran’s score adds pressure and sky, the water temperature shown is an estimate for a lowland lake and is labelled so, and the planner ranks the days.
Licence, access and rules
Cairn Curran is a Victorian water, so the state’s Recreational Fishing Licence applies unless you are exempt; the fees are on our Victoria page. The VFA lists ramps at the dam wall, Welshmans Reef and Picnic Point, taking boats up to about five metres depending on the level, and warns of extensive 5-knot zones. The VFA limits, the year-round cod listing and the carp rules are on the pages in the sources.
Common questions
Is Murray cod closed in spring at Cairn Curran?
No. Cairn Curran is one of the waters the VFA keeps open for Murray cod all year, so the September to November closure does not apply here.
What fish are in Cairn Curran?
Big golden perch, trophy brown trout, redfin and a growing population of stocked Murray cod, according to the VFA, plus carp.
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: 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 sp-o10138 — Cairn Curran Reservoir
- 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.