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.
Lauriston Reservoir Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Coliban River storage near Kyneton: a trout and redfin lake with cod on the VFA’s lake list, shore access, and the level read by the Bureau.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Level
479.15 m19,070 ML
Air / High
12 °C / 23 °C
Wind
SSE 14 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge LAURISTON, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Lauriston Reservoir is a cold-water proposition today: bait on the bottom and a long soak. The gauge reads 479.15 m, holding steady. Today brings cloud cover, wind SSE around 14 km/h, rising pressure near 1025 hPa and a high of 23 °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 15 °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 Lauriston Reservoir today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (06:08), sunset (18:21), 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 LAURISTON (Lauriston Reservoir).
Storage level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station LAURISTON. Latest reading 2026-09-23 00:00.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp12 °C
High / Low23 °C / 12 °C
WindSSE 14 km/h, gusts 27 km/h
Pressure1025.1 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain74% cloud, 43%
Sunrise / Sunset06:08 / 18:21
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~8 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Lauriston Reservoir
The best day on Lauriston Reservoir 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
- 06:08 to 18:21
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Storms, 14 km/h
- Rain chance
- 43%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Lauriston Reservoir: 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 Lauriston Reservoir 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 Lauriston Reservoir 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 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 18 °C, wind to 13 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 13 °C, wind to 26 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
The Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence applies unless exempt; fees on our Victoria page.
About this water
Lauriston Reservoir is a lake in Victoria, Australia, covered from the Victoria reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Lauriston Reservoir: the full guide
The lake
Lauriston Reservoir is a Coliban Water storage on the Coliban River near Kyneton, downstream of Malmsbury and Upper Coliban, a lake of open shores and timbered bays that supplies Bendigo and Castlemaine and that the VFA stocks with trout and lists among the lakes with a two-cod bag. It is a bank fishery near the Calder Highway, and the Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge on the reservoir supplies the level and the 30-day chart on this page.
Species and seasons
Brown and rainbow trout are stocked and fish the edges and the drop-offs from autumn to spring on bait, lures and flies; redfin are the numbers fish; Murray cod are stocked and hold in the timber in the warm months, closed from 1 September to 30 November under the Victorian rule the species card computes, with the lake bag of two; golden perch have been stocked; and carp are present with the VFA rules. The Coliban above and below is trout stream water under the stream closure.
Where to fish it
Shore access runs along the western and southern shores near the road and the wall, and the drop-off near the dam is the summer water; the timbered bays upstream hold the cod and fish from the bank at dusk. Boating is restricted on the supply reservoir and it is a bank fishery.
Reading the report
The Central Highlands are cool and the water temperature estimate, labelled as an estimate, gives the trout band from autumn to spring and a short warm band for the cod; the chart shows the supply draw-down. The open shores catch the wind and a westerly is cold; pressure and sky fill the score.
Licence, access and rules
The Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence applies unless exempt; fees on our Victoria page. Shore access is open under the water authority’s rules, with boating restricted; the VFA limits, the trout rules, the cod closure and the lake bag are in the sources.
The three Coliban lakes
Lauriston is the lowest of the three Coliban Water storages, with Malmsbury and Upper Coliban above it on the same river, and the three fish as a set: the highest is the coldest and the most trout-minded, the middle the shallowest and quickest to warm, and Lauriston the deepest and the one with the most cod water in its timbered bays. An angler with a day can walk the banks of all three.
Common questions
What fish are in Lauriston Reservoir?
Stocked trout in the cool months, redfin, and cod in the timber in the warm months, closed September to November.
Can I use a boat at Lauriston?
Boating is restricted on the supply reservoir under the water authority’s rules; it fishes from the bank.
Is fishing good at Lauriston Reservoir 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 LAURISTON — Lauriston Reservoir
- 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.