Lake Nillahcootie Fishing Report
Updated Sat, 26 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Broken River storage south of Benalla: a year-round Murray cod fishery by VFA rule, golden perch and trout, with the level read by the Bureau.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Level
264.51 m40,463 ML
Air / High
14 °C / 21 °C
Wind
S 17 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge sp-o10930, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Lake Nillahcootie has cool water and fish holding a little deeper and slower. The gauge reads 264.51 m, holding steady. Today brings cloud cover, wind S around 18 km/h, rising pressure near 1027 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 18 °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 Nillahcootie today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (06:00), 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-o10930 (Lake Nillahcootie).
Storage level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station sp-o10930. Latest reading 2026-09-25 15:10.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp14 °C
High / Low21 °C / 10 °C
WindS 17 km/h, gusts 42 km/h
Pressure1027.2 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain98% cloud, 67%
Sunrise / Sunset06:00 / 18:15
MoonFull Moon, 100%
Water temp (seasonal)~13 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Lake Nillahcootie
The best day on Lake Nillahcootie 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
- 06:00 to 18:15
- Moon
- Full Moon, 100% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 21 km/h
- Rain chance
- 67%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Lake Nillahcootie: 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 Nillahcootie 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 Nillahcootie 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 Nillahcootie 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 26 °C, wind to 13 km/h.
Thu, Sep 24
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Golden perch led the card at fair. High of 23 °C, wind to 18 km/h.
Wed, Sep 23
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Golden perch led the card at fair. High of 21 °C, wind to 8 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
Victoria’s Recreational Fishing Licence applies unless exempt; the fees are on our Victoria page.
About this water
Lake Nillahcootie is a lake in Victoria, Australia, covered from the Victoria reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Lake Nillahcootie: the full guide
The lake
Lake Nillahcootie is the Goulburn-Murray Water storage on the Broken River between Benalla and Mansfield in north-east Victoria, a lake of open, grazing shores and timbered bays beside the Midland Highway, with ramps, camping and picnic areas around it and a level that irrigation draws down through summer. Since the VFA removed the cod closure here it has been one of the state’s year-round cod fisheries, and the Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge on the lake supplies the level and the 30-day chart on this page.
Species and seasons
Murray cod are stocked and are the drawcard, along the timber, the rock and the points in the warm months and slower in winter, and the VFA’s closed season does not apply here, so the chip on the species card reads open all year with the rule linked; golden perch fish the same structure from spring to autumn; brown and rainbow trout are stocked and fish the cool months along the edges; redfin are abundant; and carp are present with the VFA rules. The Broken River below the dam is trout and native water under its own rules.
Where to fish it
The camping and picnic areas along the highway side give bank access to the points and the bays, and the ramps put a boat onto the main basin and the timbered arms toward the inflow, where the cod hold; the drop-offs near the dam fish through the summer draw-down. A kayak reaches the timber that a boat cannot.
Reading the report
The chart shows the summer draw-down that concentrates the cod in the deep timber and the winter refill that floods the edges for the perch; the water temperature estimate, labelled as an estimate, sets the cod band from October to April. The open shores catch the wind and a northerly is the one that makes the basin rough; pressure counts on the summer evenings.
Licence, access and rules
Victoria’s Recreational Fishing Licence applies unless exempt; the fees are on our Victoria page. The ramps, camping and picnic areas are managed by the water authority; the VFA limits, the cod slot and the year-round cod exemption are in the sources.
Common questions
Is Murray cod open all year at Lake Nillahcootie?
Yes. The VFA lists Nillahcootie among the waters where the September to November closure does not apply; the species card shows open all year with the rule linked.
Do I need a licence at Nillahcootie?
Yes, unless you are exempt: the Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence.
Is fishing good at Lake Nillahcootie 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-o10930 — Lake Nillahcootie
- 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.