Lake Eildon Fishing Report
Updated Sat, 26 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
Victoria’s big lake in the foothills: Murray cod and golden perch in the timber, trout in the cold arms, and a level that moves the fishing every season.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Level
277.73 m1,963,420 ML
Air / High
13 °C / 20 °C
Wind
SW 5 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge sp-o10334, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Lake Eildon has cool water and fish holding a little deeper and slower. The gauge reads 277.73 m, up 0.10 over the week. Today brings cloud cover, wind SW around 5 km/h, steady pressure near 1025 hPa and a high of 21 °C. Water sits around 13 °C for the season (estimated). With the full moon, the solunar majors run 11:16 PM-1:16 AM and 11:16 AM-1:16 PM: 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: 11:16 PM-1:16 AM, 11:16 AM-1:16 PM, 5:46 AM-6:46 AM. Cooler at 17 °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 Lake Eildon today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:59), sunset (18:15), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 11:16 PM-1:16 AM and 11:16 AM-1:16 PM; minor 5:46 AM-6:46 AM. Full Moon, 100% lit.
Water and weather
Live readings from Bureau of Meteorology station sp-o10334 (Lake Eildon).
Storage level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station sp-o10334. Latest reading 2026-09-25 14:31.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp13 °C
High / Low20 °C / 10 °C
WindSW 5 km/h, gusts 22 km/h
Pressure1024.8 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain62% cloud, 85%
Sunrise / Sunset05:59 / 18:15
MoonFull Moon, 100%
Water temp (seasonal)~13 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Lake Eildon
The best day on Lake Eildon 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.
Today, 26 Sept — Fair
A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
- Solunar majors
- 11:16 PM-1:16 AM and 11:16 AM-1:16 PM
- Minor period
- 5:46 AM-6:46 AM
- Sun
- 05:59 to 18:15
- Moon
- Full Moon, 100% lit
- Sky and wind
- Storms, 16 km/h
- Rain chance
- 85%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Lake Eildon: 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 Lake Eildon 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 Lake Eildon 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 Lake Eildon today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataFri, Sep 25
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Golden perch led the card at fair. High of 24 °C, wind to 11 km/h.
Thu, Sep 24
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 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.
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
Bring a Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence unless you are under 18, 70 or over or hold an exempting card; our Victoria page has the 2026/2027 prices.
About this water
Lake Eildon is a lake in Victoria, Australia, covered from the Victoria reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Lake Eildon: the full guide
The lake
Lake Eildon is a large storage on the Goulburn River in the foothills north-east of Melbourne, a branching reservoir of drowned valleys and standing timber with the towns of Eildon, Bonnie Doon, Goughs Bay and Jamieson on its arms. It is a two-story fishery: Murray cod, golden perch and redfin in the warm, timbered arms and the shallows, and brown and rainbow trout in the deeper, colder water and the arms fed by the mountain rivers. The level rises through winter and spring and draws down through summer for irrigation, and the fishing moves with it. This page shows the Bureau of Meteorology’s Water Data Online reading for the storage, timestamped.
Species by season
Murray cod are the prize, from the timber and the rock walls in the warmer months on big lures and bait, with the closed season from September to November that the Victorian Fisheries Authority publishes and this site links; golden perch fish the timber and the points from spring to autumn; redfin school in the arms and the bays all year; and trout are the cool-season fish, trolled along the drop-offs and taken from the banks in the arms through autumn, winter and spring. Carp are present and the VFA has rules on their release.
Reading this report for Eildon
Two things run this lake: the level, which is in the report and the 30-day chart, because a rising lake floods new ground and a falling one pulls the fish to the points and the timber edges; and the wind, because the arms are long and a northerly or a south-westerly makes the open water rough while the sheltered arms stay fishable. Pressure and sky build the score; the water temperature is an estimate for a foothill lake and the page says so; the planner shows which day to take.
Licence, access and rules
Bring a Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence unless you are under 18, 70 or over or hold an exempting card; our Victoria page has the 2026/2027 prices. The lake has ramps and foreshore access at Eildon, Bonnie Doon, Goughs Bay, Jamieson and the arms, much of it inside a national park with its own rules; the VFA limits, the cod closed season and the trout rules are on the pages in the sources.
Common questions
When is Murray cod season on Lake Eildon?
Cod are closed from September to November under the Victorian rules the VFA publishes; the species card rates the month and today’s conditions.
Do I need a licence to fish Lake Eildon?
Yes, unless exempt: the Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence applies.
Is fishing good at Lake Eildon 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-o10334 — Lake Eildon
- 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.