Bream
Excellent
Prime bream weather. Cast small vibes, crankbaits and 2 to 3 inch plastics at every piece of structure on the rising tide.
Lakes Entrance Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
Where the Gippsland Lakes meet the sea: the entrance, the lakes behind it, the Ninety Mile Beach in front and a fishing town built around all three.
4/5
Good. Solid day ahead.Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
Next tide
Low 3:15 pm model
Air / High
12 °C / 16 °C
Wind
ENE 12 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Lakes Entrance is fishing in its best temperature window, with the bite spread across the day. Today brings cloud cover, wind ENE around 11 km/h, steady pressure near 1020 hPa and a high of 16 °C. Tides: high 8:20 am and 9:10 pm, low 1:48 am and 3:15 pm: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. Water sits around 22 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 11:15 PM-1:15 AM and 11:43 AM-1:43 PM: the windows to build the day around.
Flathead
Excellent
The best of it. Drift the sand and weed edges, bounce plastics or a strip of bait along the bottom, and cover ground until you find the school.
Mulloway
Good
Fish the deep holes and the rock walls through a tide change after dark; live mullet, yellowtail or a large soft plastic worked slowly.
Tailor
Good
Rock ledges and beach gutters on the rising tide; metals cast and retrieved fast, or a whole pilchard drifted through the wash.
Tie on: Soft plastic on a 1/4 oz jighead · Small hardbody, shallow diver · Squid jig, size 3.0 · Fresh pipi or worm on a small hook. Prime windows: 11:15 PM-1:15 AM, 11:43 AM-1:43 PM, 4:53 AM-5:53 AM. Similar at 18 °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 bream here? Check the size and bag limits with VFA before you keep anything; the Bream page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Lakes Entrance today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:53), sunset (19:50), the moon and today's score, with the modelled tide changes in the panel below. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 11:15 PM-1:15 AM and 11:43 AM-1:43 PM; minor 4:53 AM-5:53 AM. New Moon, 0% lit.
Water and weather
A modelled tide curve for these coordinates and the forecast for the day.
Tides (modelled)
Modelled sea level curve from Open-Meteo Marine for these coordinates, datum mean sea level. Fish the moving water either side of each change.
A model, not the official prediction: times can drift by tens of minutes inside bays and estuaries. Check the Bureau of Meteorology tide predictions for the exact times before you rely on them.
Mon
LOW1:48 am-0.43 m
HIGH8:20 am0.42 m
LOW3:15 pm-0.58 m
HIGH9:10 pm0.01 m
Tue
LOW2:13 am-0.35 m
HIGH9:00 am0.50 m
LOW3:52 pm-0.47 m
HIGH9:50 pm0.06 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp12 °C
High / Low16 °C / 8 °C
WindENE 12 km/h, gusts 23 km/h
Pressure1020.0 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain67% cloud, 62%
Sunrise / Sunset05:53 / 19:50
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~22 °C est.
Why the tide matters here: tides and fishing in Australia.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Lakes Entrance
The best day on Lakes Entrance this week looks like Thursday 12 Nov, at 5 out of 5, against 4 today.
Best day this week: Thursday, 12 Nov — excellent at 5/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
Today, 9 Nov — Good
Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
- Solunar majors
- 11:15 PM-1:15 AM and 11:43 AM-1:43 PM
- Minor period
- 4:53 AM-5:53 AM
- Sun
- 05:53 to 19:50
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 18 km/h
- Rain chance
- 62%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Lakes Entrance: seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
Bream
Year-round; summer and autumn in the estuaries, winter at the mouths
Yellowfin bream on the east coast, black bream in the southern estuaries. Structure fish: rock walls, jetty piles, oyster racks, snags and pontoons. Prime bream weather. Cast small vibes, crankbaits and 2 to 3 inch plastics at every piece of structure on the rising tide.
Flathead
Best: November to April
Dusky flathead in the eastern estuaries, sand flathead in the southern bays. An ambush predator lying on sand and mud edges waiting for whatever the tide brings. The best of it. Drift the sand and weed edges, bounce plastics or a strip of bait along the bottom, and cover ground until you find the school.
Mulloway
Best: summer and autumn, especially after rain
Jewfish. The big silver prize of the estuaries, breakwalls and surf beaches: nocturnal, tide-driven and unforgiving of noise. Fish the deep holes and the rock walls through a tide change after dark; live mullet, yellowtail or a large soft plastic worked slowly.
Tailor
Autumn and winter on the east coast; the run reaches K'gari (Fraser Island) in late winter, where the east beach from Waddy Point to Indian Head is closed to all fin fish from 1 August to 29 September
The surf and rock fish of the east coast, running north in autumn and winter. Fast, toothy and best at dawn, dusk and into the dark. Rock ledges and beach gutters on the rising tide; metals cast and retrieved fast, or a whole pilchard drifted through the wash.
When to come: the Lakes Entrance 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
Bream
Flathead
Mulloway
Tailor
SlowPeak
Water temperature through the year
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 22 °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 Lakes Entrance today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataSun, Nov 8
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Bream led the card at excellent. High of 15 °C, wind to 18 km/h.
Sat, Nov 7
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Bream led the card at good. High of 13 °C, wind to 32 km/h.
Fri, Nov 6
5/5 Excellent. Go now. Everything lines up: pressure, wind and light are in your favor. Bream led the card at excellent. High of 19 °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 is required unless exempt; our Victoria page has the 2026/2027 fees.
About this water
Lakes Entrance is a coastal town in Victoria, Australia, covered from the Victoria reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Lakes Entrance: the full guide
The entrance and the lakes
Lakes Entrance is the artificial opening, cut in 1889, between Bass Strait and the Gippsland Lakes, which the federal environment department describes as the largest navigable inland waterway in Australia, and its fishing works in three directions. Inside are the lakes themselves, Victoria, King and Wellington, and the rivers that feed them, a bream, flathead and tailor fishery of enormous size; at the entrance are the rock walls, the Cunninghame Arm, Bullock Island and the North Arm where the town’s jetties and boardwalks are; and outside is the Ninety Mile Beach, running west for as far as the name says, with the surf gutters and the offshore grounds beyond. The town is home to a commercial fleet, and the report on this page is scored for its coordinates at the entrance.
Species through the year
Bream are the lakes’ signature fish, year-round in the arms, the rivers and around the jetties, with the biggest in the cooler months; flathead lie on the sand of the arms and the lake edges through summer and autumn; tailor and salmon run the entrance and the surf beach in the cooler months, and the entrance walls fish for salmon, tailor, trevally and, at night, mulloway. The VFA’s guide points to the bridge to Bullock Island and Reeve Landing Jetty for bream, the Barrier Channel near Fraser Island for King George whiting, Eastern Beach for salmon, tailor and mullet, and the Kalimna Jetty and rock wall just west of town for bream, luderick, flathead and tailor. Outside, snapper and flathead on the offshore grounds when the bar allows.
Reading this report here
The entrance is tidal and the lakes are not much, so the tide panel on this page, a modelled curve for these coordinates labelled as a model, matters most at the walls and in the arms, where the run-in brings the fish; the Bureau of Meteorology has the official times. The VFA warns that the bar can be dangerous with strong tides and asks skippers to contact the local coastguard and do a radio check before crossing. The wind row decides between the beach and the lakes: a south-westerly makes the beach hard work and the lakes fine, an easterly does the opposite. Pressure and sky complete the score, and the seven-day planner picks the day to go.
Licence and access
Victoria’s Recreational Fishing Licence is required unless exempt; our Victoria page has the 2026/2027 fees. Access is easy: the town jetties and boardwalks along the arms, the entrance walls, the beach across the footbridge, and, on the Boating Vic list, three ramps on the North Arm in town plus Shaving Point at Metung and several at Paynesville for the lakes. The species cards are rated from the month and today’s conditions; the limits are on the VFA page in the sources.
Common questions
What can I catch at Lakes Entrance?
Bream and flathead in the arms and the lakes, salmon, tailor and trevally on the entrance walls, mulloway at night, and salmon, tailor and gummy shark on the Ninety Mile Beach.
Do I need a licence at Lakes Entrance?
Yes, unless exempt: Victoria’s Recreational Fishing Licence covers the lakes, the entrance and the beach.
Is fishing good at Lakes Entrance right now?
Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
Nearby waters
Where this page's numbers come from
- Tide curve (modelled)
- Open-Meteo Marine, sea level height including tides
- 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.