Golden perch
Excellent
Prime. Hop soft plastics and vibes around the timber, or fish shrimp and worms on the bottom.
Goulburn River at Shepparton Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Goulburn through Shepparton: cod and golden perch in the lower river, the Broken River junction and the town’s stocked lakes, with the Bureau’s gauge in the city.
2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Level
3.48 m
Air / High
16 °C / 22 °C
Wind
ESE 8 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 405204, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Goulburn River at Shepparton is fishing in its best temperature window, with the bite spread across the day. The gauge reads 3.48 m, up 0.65 over the week. Today brings clear skies, wind ESE around 8 km/h, rising pressure near 1017 hPa and a high of 22 °C. Water sits around 19 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 11:26 PM-1:26 AM and 11:54 AM-1:54 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: 11:26 PM-1:26 AM, 11:54 AM-1:54 PM, 5:08 AM-6:08 AM. Warmer at 28 °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 Goulburn River at Shepparton today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (06:06), sunset (19:58), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 11:26 PM-1:26 AM and 11:54 AM-1:54 PM; minor 5:08 AM-6:08 AM. New Moon, 0% lit.
Water and weather
Live readings from Bureau of Meteorology station 405204 (GOULBURN SHEPPARTON).
River level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station 405204. Latest reading 2026-11-07 10:30.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp16 °C
High / Low22 °C / 8 °C
WindESE 8 km/h, gusts 14 km/h
Pressure1016.9 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain13% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset06:06 / 19:58
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~19 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Goulburn River at Shepparton
The best day on Goulburn River at Shepparton this week looks like Friday 13 Nov, at 5 out of 5, against 2 today.
Best day this week: Friday, 13 Nov — excellent at 5/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
Today, 9 Nov — Tough
Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
- Solunar majors
- 11:26 PM-1:26 AM and 11:54 AM-1:54 PM
- Minor period
- 5:08 AM-6:08 AM
- Sun
- 06:06 to 19:58
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Overcast, 14 km/h
- Rain chance
- 0%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Goulburn River at Shepparton: 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 Goulburn River at Shepparton 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 Goulburn River at Shepparton today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataSun, Nov 8
2/5 Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing. Golden perch led the card at excellent. High of 19 °C, wind to 14 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 16 °C, wind to 26 km/h.
Fri, Nov 6
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 22 °C, wind to 13 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
Unless an exemption applies, you need a Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence; our Victoria page has the fees.
About this water
Goulburn River at Shepparton is a river in Victoria, Australia, covered from the Victoria reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Goulburn River at Shepparton: the full guide
The reach
The Goulburn at Shepparton is the lower river below the Goulburn Weir, running slow, timbered and warm through the regional city past parkland and the Broken River junction toward Mooroopna and on to the Murray near Echuca. It is cod and golden perch water inside a city, and the Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at Shepparton, station 405204, supplies the level and the 30-day chart on this page.
Species and seasons
Murray cod fish the snags and deep bends through summer and autumn; the VFA allows one cod a day in rivers, between 55 and 75 cm, and the 1 September to 30 November closure is computed on the species card. The VFA’s stocking record lists Murray cod for the Goulburn downstream of Nagambie and golden perch for the Broken River. Golden perch, the more obliging native, bite best from spring into autumn.
Where to fish it
River parkland on both sides of the city gives bank access, and ramps put a boat onto the reaches toward Mooroopna and upstream toward the weir. Work spinnerbaits and deep-diving hardbodies past timber on the outside bends for cod; hop soft plastics or fish shrimp and worms on the bottom for golden perch. Surface lures after dark along the snags are a summer option.
Reading the report
The chart reflects releases from the Goulburn Weir and the flow coming down the Broken; a rise after rain colours the river and often starts the golden perch biting. In a low summer river, dawn and dusk fish best. The modelled water temperature is labelled as an estimate and gives the cod band from November to April.
Licence, access and rules
Unless an exemption applies, you need a Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence; our Victoria page has the fees. The cod rules, including the specified-lake list, are linked from this page.
The Broken and the lakes
The Broken River meets the Goulburn at Shepparton and the junction is worth fishing after rain. Victoria Lake (Shepparton) is on the VFA’s list of specified lakes, where the cod bag is two, and its latest recorded stocking was rainbow trout; the VFA has also stocked golden perch into the Kialla Lakes and rainbow trout into the Mooroopna Recreation Reserve lake. These are handy family waters when the river is high and dirty.
Common questions
Can I fish Victoria Lake in Shepparton?
Yes. It is one of the VFA’s specified lakes, with a cod bag of two, and the VFA has stocked it with rainbow trout.
When is cod season at Shepparton?
Open 1 December to 31 August; closed 1 September to 30 November under the Victorian rule, computed on the species card.
Is fishing good at Goulburn River at Shepparton 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 405204 — GOULBURN SHEPPARTON
- 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.