Rainbow trout
Slow
Winter lakes: bait on the bottom in the deeper bays through the middle of the day, or polaroiding the shallows on the bright days in Tasmania.
Lake Wartook Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The oldest Grampians reservoir, high on the MacKenzie River: a cold, shallow trout and redfin lake in the ranges with a Bureau gauge.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Level
441.08 m23,824 ML
Air / High
12 °C / 21 °C
Wind
SE 8 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 winter rhythm: deep, slow and around the middle of the day. The gauge reads 441.08 m, holding steady. Today brings cloud cover, wind SE around 8 km/h, rising pressure near 1025 hPa and a high of 21 °C. Water sits around 8 °C for the season (estimated). With the full moon, the solunar majors run 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM: the windows to build the day around.
Brown trout
Slow
The lake fishery: bait or slow lures in the deeper bays; the rivers are closed in NSW and Victoria.
Tie on: Bait on the bottom, running sinker · Heavy blade, deep · Slow-rolled swimbait · Live bait, deepest hole. Prime windows: 10:25 AM-12:25 PM, 10:25 PM-12:25 AM, 4:55 AM-5:55 AM. Cooler at 12 °C with likely rain: fish ahead of the front. 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 (06:15), sunset (18:28), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM; minor 4:55 AM-5:55 AM. Full Moon, 99% 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 2026-09-25 09:00.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp12 °C
High / Low21 °C / 12 °C
WindSE 8 km/h, gusts 12 km/h
Pressure1025.1 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain80% cloud, 53%
Sunrise / Sunset06:15 / 18:28
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~8 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Lake Wartook
The best day on Lake Wartook 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, 25 Sept — Fair
A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
- Solunar majors
- 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM
- Minor period
- 4:55 AM-5:55 AM
- Sun
- 06:15 to 18:28
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 11 km/h
- Rain chance
- 53%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
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
Open season from October to June in NSW and Victoria; Tasmania from 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. Winter lakes: bait on the bottom in the deeper bays through the middle of the day, or polaroiding the shallows on the bright days in Tasmania.
Brown trout
Open season from October to June in NSW and Victoria; Tasmania from 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. The lake fishery: bait or slow lures in the deeper bays; the rivers are closed in NSW and Victoria.
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 8 °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 dataThu, Sep 24
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at slow. High of 22 °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. Rainbow trout led the card at fair. High of 19 °C, wind to 10 km/h.
Tue, Sep 22
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Rainbow trout led the card at fair. High of 14 °C, wind to 14 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; our Victoria page has the fees.
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 is the GWMWater storage on the MacKenzie River in the northern Grampians, the oldest of the range’s reservoirs, a shallow, cold lake on a plateau above the Wartook Valley with the Mount Zero road along its shore, a ramp and picnic areas, and MacKenzie Falls below its dam. It is trout water in the mountains, and the Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge on the lake supplies the level and the 30-day chart on this page.
Species and seasons
Brown and rainbow trout are stocked and fish the shallow edges, the weed and the drowned timber from autumn to spring on bait, lures and flies, with the browns growing well in the rich, shallow water; redfin are abundant and take small lures and worms through the year; and carp are present under the VFA rules. Cod and perch are not the fishery at this altitude. There is no trout closure on the lake, and the MacKenzie below the dam follows the stream rule.
Where to fish it
The picnic areas and the road along the northern shore give bank access to the weed edges where the trout feed at dawn and dusk, and the ramp puts a small boat onto a lake that trolls well along the drop-off; the drowned timber at the eastern end holds the browns. Fog on a winter morning is part of the fishing.
Reading the report
The lake is high and cold and the water temperature estimate, labelled as one, sits in the trout bands for most of the year; the chart shows the draw-down that exposes the flats. The plateau is exposed and a westerly crosses the shallow water; pressure and sky fill the score and the planner picks the morning.
Licence, access and rules
Victoria’s Recreational Fishing Licence applies unless exempt; our Victoria page has the fees. The picnic areas and the ramp are managed by the water authority; the VFA trout rules are in the sources.
Getting there
The lake is reached from Horsham by the Wartook Valley and the Mount Zero road, or from Halls Gap over the range, and the road along the northern shore gives the only easy access; the southern shore is forest and a walk. In winter the plateau road can be icy in the early morning, and the fishing at first light is worth the care.
Common questions
What can I catch at Lake Wartook?
Stocked brown and rainbow trout in the cool months and redfin through the year.
Is there a closed season at Lake Wartook?
No, on the lake; the MacKenzie River below the dam follows the Victorian stream closure computed on its rule.
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
- 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.