Rainbow trout
Excellent
Prime. Shore fishing along the edges with bait, spinners and flies, and the rivers if the season is open.
Lake Wartook Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
A forested Grampians reservoir on the MacKenzie River that supplies Horsham: stocked brown and rainbow trout, redfin, a five-knot limit and a campground a few kilometres away.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Level
441.20 m24,865 ML
Air / High
14 °C / 20 °C
Wind
NNE 6 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge LAKE-WARTK-HG, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Lake Wartook is in its cool-water rhythm: slower presentations and the warmest hours of the day. The gauge reads 441.20 m, holding steady. Today brings clear skies, wind NNE around 6 km/h, steady pressure near 1016 hPa and a high of 20 °C. Water sits around 13 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 11:38 PM-1:38 AM and 12:06 PM-2:06 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: 11:38 PM-1:38 AM, 12:06 PM-2:06 PM, 5:18 AM-6:18 AM. Warmer at 26 °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 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 Wartook today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (06:17), sunset (20:11), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 11:38 PM-1:38 AM and 12:06 PM-2:06 PM; minor 5:18 AM-6:18 AM. New Moon, 0% lit.
Water and weather
Live readings from Bureau of Meteorology station LAKE-WARTK-HG (Wartook).
Storage level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station LAKE-WARTK-HG. Latest reading 2026-11-09 09:00.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp14 °C
High / Low20 °C / 5 °C
WindNNE 6 km/h, gusts 14 km/h
Pressure1015.7 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain12% cloud, 2%
Sunrise / Sunset06:17 / 20:11
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~13 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Lake Wartook
Today is the pick of the week on Lake Wartook, at 3 out of 5.
Best day this week: today, 9 Nov — fair at 3/5, steady pressure, neither help nor hindrance.
Today, 9 Nov — Fair
A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
- Solunar majors
- 11:38 PM-1:38 AM and 12:06 PM-2:06 PM
- Minor period
- 5:18 AM-6:18 AM
- Sun
- 06:17 to 20:11
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Overcast, 13 km/h
- Rain chance
- 2%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Lake Wartook: 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 Wartook 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 Wartook today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataSun, Nov 8
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 14 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 13 °C, wind to 21 km/h.
Fri, Nov 6
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 19 °C, wind to 23 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 exempt; the costs are listed on our Victoria page.
Storage levels
Compare it with every other storage in the state on Victoria dam levels today.
About this water
Lake Wartook is a lake in Victoria, Australia, covered from the Victoria reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Lake Wartook: the full guide
The lake
Lake Wartook lies on the MacKenzie River in the central Grampians, inside the national park according to the VFA angling guide, and is the primary water source for Horsham and Natimuk as well as part of the Wimmera Mallee Pipeline system. GWMWater describes it as popular with locals for fishing. The angling guide describes a forest-fringed lake with a mud bottom and many submerged tree stumps, and notes that the deepest water lies near the wall and between Bear Island and the western shore. This page’s level reading and 30-day chart use the Bureau of Meteorology’s Wartook station.
Species and seasons
The VFA database records rainbow and brown trout releases almost every year, the latest in August 2026, and no native fish releases. The angling guide lists brown trout, redfin, river blackfish and tench, and describes catches as sometimes spasmodic. Lakes in Victoria have no closed season for trout and a daily limit of five; the MacKenzie River below the dam is a stream and follows the river closure, which in 2026 ran from 9 June to 4 September.
Where to fish it
Most fishing takes place around the wall, according to the VFA angling guide, which also mentions a gravel road around much of the shore. Its advice to try a variety of baits and lures is sound on a lake where the bite can be patchy. Work the drop-off near the wall and the channel towards Bear Island from a small boat, or fish the margins with bait under a float or a small bladed spinner at dawn and dusk.
Reading the report
This is cool upland water, and the estimated water temperature row sits in the trout bands through much of the year. The chart shows how far the lake is drawn down; lower water exposes stumps that are a hazard for boats. In the early morning, a light wind row is the time to have the water to yourself.
Licence, access and rules
Bring a Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence unless exempt; the costs are listed on our Victoria page. GWMWater, the boating authority, sets a five-knot limit and does not permit swimming, campfires, duck shooting or dogs. The sources include the VFA page with the trout limits and the stream season.
Planning a visit
GWMWater notes a camping ground about 5 kilometres from the lake, and the VFA angling guide names Smiths Mill, south of the reservoir on Old Mill Road, as the nearest camp. Because the lake is surrounded by forest and national park, bring what you need for the day, respect park rules on the approach roads and allow extra time on gravel. Submerged stumps are the main boating hazard, so go slowly outside known channels, especially when the level is down.
Common questions
What can I catch at Lake Wartook?
Stocked brown and rainbow trout, plus redfin, river blackfish and tench, according to the VFA.
Is there a speed limit on Lake Wartook?
Yes. GWMWater sets a five-knot limit for boats and does not allow swimming, campfires or dogs.
Is fishing good at Lake Wartook 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 LAKE-WARTK-HG — Wartook
- 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.