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 Wendouree Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
Ballarat’s lake in the middle of town: stocked trout and redfin in a shallow, weedy water that fishes from the footpath.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Water temp
~8 °C est.
Air / High
13 °C / 21 °C
Wind
SE 8 km/h
Sources: Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Lake Wendouree has cold water and fish that move for very little; fish the sunniest hours. Today brings cloud cover, wind SE around 8 km/h, rising pressure near 1026 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 Wendouree today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (06:10), sunset (18:23), 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
Conditions here are modelled from weather, season and the nearest stations.
No live gauge on this water
Water readings appear when a Bureau of Meteorology station covers it. Until then the seasonal curve below is the estimate.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp13 °C
High / Low21 °C / 13 °C
WindSE 8 km/h, gusts 22 km/h
Pressure1025.9 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain100% cloud, 45%
Sunrise / Sunset06:10 / 18:23
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~8 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Lake Wendouree
The best day on Lake Wendouree 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
- 06:10 to 18:23
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 18 km/h
- Rain chance
- 45%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Lake Wendouree: 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 Wendouree 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 Wendouree 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 21 °C, wind to 23 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 18 °C, wind to 11 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 12 °C, wind to 18 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 you are exempt; our Victoria page has the fees.
About this water
Lake Wendouree is a lake in Victoria, Australia, covered from the Victoria reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Lake Wendouree: the full guide
The lake
Lake Wendouree is the shallow, weedy lake in the middle of Ballarat, ringed by a footpath, gardens and boat sheds, and it is one of the most accessible trout waters in Victoria: stocked with brown and rainbow trout by the Victorian Fisheries Authority, holding redfin and the occasional Murray cod and golden perch from later stockings, and fished from the banks, the jetties and small boats and kayaks between the rowing lanes and the weed beds. It dried out in the drought of the 2000s and was refilled with recycled water; the weed that came back is where the trout feed. The level is managed by the council and is not read from Water Data Online, so this page has no gauge.
Species and seasons
Brown and rainbow trout are the lake’s fish, stocked each year and taken along the weed edges and the drop-offs from autumn through spring on bait, lures and flies, with the cooler months the season and the summer heat a lull in a lake this shallow; redfin school around the weed and the jetties all year and are the everyday catch; and the cod and golden perch stocked in recent years are a summer fishery in the deeper water. The VFA publishes the stocking and the limits, and the lake has a family-fishing character with events through the year.
Reading this report for Wendouree
The lake is small and sheltered and the wind matters less than on the storages; the water temperature matters more, because a shallow lake warms fast in summer and the trout go quiet, and the seasonal curve on this page is an estimate for a highland lake and says so. Pressure and sky build the score and the planner shows the day; there is no tide and no gauge, and the page does not pretend either.
Licence and access
Victoria’s Recreational Fishing Licence applies unless you are exempt; our Victoria page has the fees. The footpath, the jetties and the boat sheds are public, with ramps for small boats and kayaks; the VFA limits and the trout rules are on the page in the sources.
Common questions
What fish are in Lake Wendouree?
Stocked brown and rainbow trout, redfin, and Murray cod and golden perch from recent stockings; the species cards rate them by month.
Do I need a licence to fish Lake Wendouree?
Yes, unless exempt: the Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence applies.
Is fishing good at Lake Wendouree 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
- 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.