Rainbow trout
Excellent
Prime. Shore fishing along the edges with bait, spinners and flies, and the rivers if the season is open.
Lake Buffalo Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Buffalo River storage 20 km south of Myrtleford, below Mount Buffalo: stocked Murray cod, trout and redfin, a ramp near the wall and no camping on the foreshore.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Level
264.31 m23,045 ML
Air / High
14 °C / 20 °C
Wind
SSE 1 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge sp-o10109, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Lake Buffalo has cool water and fish holding a little deeper and slower. The gauge reads 264.31 m, easing 0.05 over the week. Today brings cloud cover, wind SSE around 2 km/h, rising pressure near 1018 hPa and a high of 21 °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 11:48 AM-1:48 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, 11:48 AM-1:48 PM, 5:02 AM-6:02 AM. Warmer at 24 °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 Lake Buffalo today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (06:01), sunset (19:54), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 11:20 PM-1:20 AM and 11:48 AM-1:48 PM; minor 5:02 AM-6:02 AM. New Moon, 0% lit.
Water and weather
Live readings from Bureau of Meteorology station sp-o10109 (Lake Buffalo).
Storage level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station sp-o10109. Latest reading 2026-11-08 13:30.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp14 °C
High / Low20 °C / 5 °C
WindSSE 1 km/h, gusts 3 km/h
Pressure1017.8 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain60% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset06:01 / 19:54
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~13 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Lake Buffalo
The best day on Lake Buffalo 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 11:48 AM-1:48 PM
- Minor period
- 5:02 AM-6:02 AM
- Sun
- 06:01 to 19:54
- 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 Lake Buffalo: 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 all year No closed season in lakes and reservoirs; the winter closure applies to rivers and streams. 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 all year No closed season in lakes and reservoirs; the winter closure applies to rivers and streams. 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 Lake Buffalo 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 Lake Buffalo 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. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 19 °C, wind to 11 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 24 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 21 °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
The Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence applies unless you are exempt; see our Victoria page for fees.
Storage levels
Compare it with every other storage in the state on Victoria dam levels today.
About this water
Lake Buffalo is a lake in Victoria, Australia, covered from the Victoria reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Lake Buffalo: the full guide
The lake
Lake Buffalo lies on the Buffalo River 20 kilometres south of Myrtleford, at the foot of the western slopes of Mount Buffalo National Park. Goulburn-Murray Water completed it in 1965; it holds 23,504 megalitres over about 340 hectares and supplements the Ovens River for irrigation and town supply. GMW describes it as a popular spot for fishing, water skiing and picnics, with two day-use areas, the Main Recreation Area and Marshalls Ridge. The Bureau of Meteorology’s station on the lake, sp-o10109, supplies the level and the 30-day chart on this page.
Species and seasons
The VFA’s stocking database shows regular releases of Murray cod up to March 2026, silver perch, brown and rainbow trout, and golden perch until 2023; GMW lists redfin, golden and Macquarie perch, trout, cod and river blackfish among what can be found. Lake Buffalo is on the VFA’s list of specified lakes where the cod bag is two, within the 55 to 75 cm slot, and the cod closed season from 1 September to 30 November applies because the lake is not among the exempt waters. Trout have no closed season in lakes. Macquarie perch are protected statewide and must be released.
Where to fish it
GMW says boats can be launched near the dam wall all year. Trout feed along the edges and around the inflow in the cooler months, when a slowly trolled minnow or a lure cast to the bank at first light is a good start; as the water warms they go deeper. Cod relate to timber and rocky points, and a deep-diving hardbody or a spinnerbait worked slowly past structure at dusk is the usual method. Redfin school over drop-offs and respond to small soft plastics and worms.
Reading the report
The chart follows the irrigation season: water is released to the Ovens through summer and the lake refills with winter and spring rain. A lake that is falling concentrates fish near deeper structure. The estimated water temperature row separates the cooler trout months from the warm period when cod are active, and the pressure trend before a summer change is worth watching for the natives.
Licence, access and rules
The Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence applies unless you are exempt; see our Victoria page for fees. GMW does not allow camping or fires on its foreshore land at Lake Buffalo, and vehicles must stay on formed roads. The VFA’s cod slot, lake bag and closed season are linked in the sources.
Common questions
Is Murray cod closed at Lake Buffalo in spring?
Yes. Lake Buffalo is not on the VFA’s exempt list, so cod are closed from 1 September to 30 November; outside that, the bag is two between 55 and 75 cm.
Can I camp at Lake Buffalo?
Not on the foreshore; Goulburn-Murray Water prohibits camping and fires on its foreshore land. Accommodation is available in the surrounding district.
Is fishing good at Lake Buffalo 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-o10109 — Lake Buffalo
- 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.