
Rainbow trout
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.
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Delatite below Mount Buller: a small trout stream in the valley above Lake Eildon, with the Bureau’s gauge at Tonga Bridge.
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 405214, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Delatite River has cold water and fish that move for very little; fish the sunniest hours. The gauge reads 0.78 m, holding steady. Today brings a mixed sky, wind S around 2 km/h, rising pressure near 1024 hPa and a high of 25 °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.

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.

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 20 °C with likely rain: fish ahead of the front. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.
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.
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (06:01), sunset (18:14), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
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.
Live readings from Bureau of Meteorology station 405214 (DELATITE @ TONGA).
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station 405214. Latest reading 2026-09-24 10:00.
Latest readings
The best day on Delatite River this week looks like Sunday 27 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: Sunday, 27 Sept — good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
The species that matter on Delatite River: seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

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. 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.

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. The lake fishery: bait or slow lures in the deeper bays; the rivers are closed in NSW and Victoria.
Activity by species and month for the southern year, and how the water warms and cools. Tap any cell.
1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted. January is midsummer here.
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 8 °C (estimated, not a reading).
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.
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at slow. High of 23 °C, wind to 14 km/h.
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at slow. High of 20 °C, wind to 6 km/h.
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 16 °C, wind to 19 km/h.
Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence (RFL), from A$10.00, the same for residents and visitors. Details and where to buy →
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.
The Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence applies unless exempt; our Victoria page has the fees.
Delatite River is a river in Victoria, Australia, covered from the Victoria reports and listed in all Australia waters.
The Delatite is the river that runs off Mount Buller through the valley south of Mansfield, small, cold and clear over gravel and rock past Mirimbah, Merrijig and the Tonga Bridge toward the Delatite arm of Lake Eildon, with the Mount Buller road beside it and camps and reserves along the way. It is a trout stream of the high country, and the Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at Tonga Bridge supplies the river level and the 30-day chart on this page.
Brown and rainbow trout are the fish, wild and stocked, in the runs and the pools on spinners, bait and the fly, under the Victorian stream closure from the Tuesday after the King’s Birthday weekend to the Friday before the first Saturday of September, computed on the species card; blackfish are in the deeper pools under their own rules; and the lake’s natives reach the lower river in summer. Lake Eildon has its own page.
The Tonga Bridge, the reserves and the road crossings give bank access, and the river is a wader’s water from Mirimbah down to the lake, fished on foot in the runs and the pool heads; dawn and dusk are the trout hours. The upper river under Buller is small water for the fit.
The chart shows a mountain river that rises with the snowmelt and after rain and falls to its gravel through summer; the snowmelt of September and October makes the river high and cold at the opening. The water temperature estimate, labelled as one, is cold for most of the year; the valley shelters the water; pressure and sky fill the score.
The Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence applies unless exempt; our Victoria page has the fees. The bridge, the reserves and the crossings are public; the VFA trout stream rules and the blackfish rules are in the sources.
Mansfield sits at the centre of the Delatite, the Howqua, the Jamieson and the Goulburn tailrace, all within an hour, and an angler based there can fish a different river each day of the open season; the Delatite is the closest and the smallest, the quickest to fish after work and the first to warm in a dry summer.
From the first Saturday of September to the King’s Birthday weekend in June, under the Victorian stream rule computed on the species card.
Yes, unless exempt: the Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence.
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.
Pablo Ruiz QuinteroReadings 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.