Rainbow trout
Excellent
Prime. Shore fishing along the edges with bait, spinners and flies, and the rivers if the season is open.
Lake William Hovell Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
A small, steep King River storage 18 km south of Cheshunt: stocked brown and rainbow trout and redfin in mountain bushland, with a ramp and no camping on the foreshore.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Level
408.07 m13,642 ML
Air / High
10 °C / 21 °C
Wind
SSW 5 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge sp-o11590, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Lake William Hovell rewards patience today, with cool water and short feeding windows. The gauge reads 408.07 m, holding steady. Today brings clear skies, wind SSW around 5 km/h, steady pressure near 1018 hPa and a high of 21 °C. Water sits around 13 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 11:21 PM-1:21 AM and 11:49 AM-1:49 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: 11:21 PM-1:21 AM, 11:49 AM-1:49 PM, 5:02 AM-6:02 AM. Warmer at 23 °C with a rain chance. 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 William Hovell today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (06:01), sunset (19:55), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 11:21 PM-1:21 AM and 11:49 AM-1:49 PM; minor 5:02 AM-6:02 AM. New Moon, 0% lit.
Water and weather
Live readings from Bureau of Meteorology station sp-o11590 (Lake William Hovell).
Storage level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station sp-o11590. Latest reading 2026-11-08 14:25.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp10 °C
High / Low21 °C / 4 °C
WindSSW 5 km/h, gusts 12 km/h
Pressure1017.6 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain1% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset06:01 / 19:55
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~13 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Lake William Hovell
The best day on Lake William Hovell this week looks like Thursday 12 Nov, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today.
Best day this week: Thursday, 12 Nov — good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
Today, 9 Nov — Fair
A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
- Solunar majors
- 11:21 PM-1:21 AM and 11:49 AM-1:49 PM
- Minor period
- 5:02 AM-6:02 AM
- Sun
- 06:01 to 19:55
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Partly cloudy, 14 km/h
- Rain chance
- 0%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Lake William Hovell: 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 William Hovell 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 William Hovell 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 18 °C, wind to 16 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 26 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 21 °C, wind to 13 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
You need a Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence unless exempt; our Victoria page has the fees.
Storage levels
Compare it with every other storage in the state on Victoria dam levels today.
About this water
Lake William Hovell is a lake in Victoria, Australia, covered from the Victoria reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Lake William Hovell: the full guide
The lake
Lake William Hovell sits on the King River 18 kilometres south of Cheshunt in north-eastern Victoria, about an hour’s drive south of Wangaratta, set in mountain bushland. Goulburn-Murray Water completed the storage in 1973; it holds 13,690 megalitres over 113 hectares and supplies irrigators along the King River as far as Wangaratta. GMW notes its flip-bucket spillway, which throws floodwater clear of the embankment in a spray. The Bureau of Meteorology’s station on the lake, sp-o11590, supplies the level and the 30-day chart on this page.
Species and seasons
The VFA’s stocking database shows brown and rainbow trout released most years, most recently in 2026, and the angling guide describes a lake with abundant redfin and a self-sustaining trout population fed by spawning in the river above. Trout in Victorian lakes have no closed season and a daily limit of five. Macquarie perch were moved here from Dartmouth in past decades, the guide records, but they are now protected everywhere in Victoria and must be released. There are no Murray cod or golden perch releases in the record since 2010.
Where to fish it
The VFA angling guide singles out the top end of the reservoir as the most productive trout water, especially in winter and spring as the lake refills and the inflow brings food. A lure or fly cast into the colour line where the river meets the lake is worth trying after rain. Near the wall the water is deep; a small boat trolling the steep edges covers it well. Redfin can be found schooling off points and respond to small plastics and worms.
Reading the report
Cold water from the ranges keeps the estimated water temperature in trout territory for much of the year. The chart shows the summer release for irrigation and the refill; a rising lake is the time to fish the top end. The narrow valley shelters the water from most wind, and after heavy rain in the mountains the rain row warns of dirty inflows that can make the lower lake the better choice for a few days.
Licence, access and rules
You need a Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence unless exempt; our Victoria page has the fees. GMW lists a boat ramp, picnic area, electric barbecues and toilets, but no camping or fires on its foreshore land. The VFA’s trout limits are linked in the sources.
Common questions
What fish are in Lake William Hovell?
Stocked brown and rainbow trout and plentiful redfin; Macquarie perch are present from past translocations but are protected and must be released.
Is there camping at Lake William Hovell?
No. Goulburn-Murray Water does not allow camping or fires on its foreshore land at the lake.
Is fishing good at Lake William Hovell 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-o11590 — Lake William Hovell
- Open-Meteo forecast model
- https://open-meteo.com/
- Moon and solunar windows
- Calculated on this site
- Pages checked
- g-mwater.com.au/water-operations/storages/ovens/lakewilliamhovell
- vfa.vic.gov.au/recreational-fishing/fish-stocking/db/fishstockdatabase
- vfa.vic.gov.au/recreational-fishing/fishing-locations/inland-angling-g
- vfa.vic.gov.au/recreational-fishing/recreational-fishing-guide/trout-a
- vfa.vic.gov.au/recreational-fishing/recreational-fishing-guide/catch-l
- bom.gov.au/waterdata
- 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.