Golden perch
Excellent
Prime. Hop soft plastics and vibes around the timber, or fish shrimp and worms on the bottom.
Loddon River at Newstead Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
The upper Loddon at Newstead: natives and trout in the pools above Cairn Curran, between Castlemaine and Maryborough, with the Bureau’s gauge at the town.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Level
0.90 m
Air / High
12 °C / 21 °C
Wind
E 7 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 407215, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Loddon River at Newstead sits in the warm band: moving baits, moving tides and fish on the edges. The gauge reads 0.90 m, holding steady. Today brings clear skies, wind E around 6 km/h, steady pressure near 1017 hPa and a high of 21 °C. Water sits around 19 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 11:31 PM-1:31 AM and 11:59 AM-1:59 PM: the windows to build the day around.
Murray cod
Closed today
Reopens 1 Dec 2026. Closed 1 September to 30 November inclusive, except in Lake Eildon, Eildon Pondage, Lake Eppalock, Cairn Curran, Lake Nillahcootie and the other waters the VFA lists.
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: 11:31 PM-1:31 AM, 11:59 AM-1:59 PM, 5:11 AM-6:11 AM. Warmer at 26 °C. 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 murray cod here? Check the size and bag limits with VFA before you keep anything; the Murray cod page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Loddon River at Newstead today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (06:10), sunset (20:05), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 11:31 PM-1:31 AM and 11:59 AM-1:59 PM; minor 5:11 AM-6:11 AM. New Moon, 0% lit.
Water and weather
Live readings from Bureau of Meteorology station 407215 (LODDON @ NEWSTEAD).
River level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station 407215. Latest reading 2026-11-07 10:00.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp12 °C
High / Low21 °C / 6 °C
WindE 7 km/h, gusts 12 km/h
Pressure1016.6 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain24% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset06:10 / 20:05
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~19 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Loddon River at Newstead
The best day on Loddon River at Newstead this week looks like Tuesday 10 Nov, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today.
Best day this week: Tuesday, 10 Nov — good at 4/5, steady pressure, neither help nor hindrance.
Today, 9 Nov — Fair
A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
- Solunar majors
- 11:31 PM-1:31 AM and 11:59 AM-1:59 PM
- Minor period
- 5:11 AM-6:11 AM
- Sun
- 06:10 to 20:05
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Overcast, 13 km/h
- Rain chance
- 0%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Loddon River at Newstead: seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
Murray cod
Closed 1 September to 30 November in NSW, Victoria and the ACT, and 1 August to 31 October in Queensland; check the exempt lakes
Closed now Reopens 1 Dec 2026. Closed 1 September to 30 November inclusive, except in Lake Eildon, Eildon Pondage, Lake Eppalock, Cairn Curran, Lake Nillahcootie and the other waters the VFA lists. Rule as read from Victorian Fisheries Authority on 2026-09-23.
The giant of the inland rivers and the big lakes (Hume, Mulwala, Eildon). A snag fish that eats big lures, and a species with a closed season across the Murray-Darling.
Golden perch
Best: November to April
Yellowbelly. The bread-and-butter native of the Murray-Darling lakes and rivers; loves warm water, structure and a lure worked slowly past its nose. Prime. Hop soft plastics and vibes around the timber, or fish shrimp and worms on the bottom.
When to come: the Loddon River at Newstead 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
Murray cod
Golden perch
SlowPeak
Water temperature through the year
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 19 °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 Loddon River at Newstead 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. Golden perch led the card at excellent. High of 17 °C, wind to 18 km/h.
Sat, Nov 7
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Golden perch led the card at excellent. High of 14 °C, wind to 26 km/h.
Fri, Nov 6
5/5 Excellent. Go now. Everything lines up: pressure, wind and light are in your favor. Golden perch led the card at excellent. High of 21 °C, wind to 19 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 lists the prices.
About this water
Loddon River at Newstead is a river in Victoria, Australia, covered from the Victoria reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Loddon River at Newstead: the full guide
The reach
The Loddon at Newstead is the upper river above Cairn Curran, running through the old goldfields town between Castlemaine and Maryborough over rock pools, gravel and willows, with the Guildford and Strangways country upstream. The Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at Newstead, station 407215, supplies the level and the 30-day chart on this page.
Species and seasons
Murray cod and golden perch are the species on this page, holding in the deeper pools in the warm months; the VFA river rule for cod is one a day between 55 and 75 cm, with the 1 September to 30 November closure computed on the species card. Trout, where present, fall under the Victorian stream closure, which bans taking trout from the Tuesday after the King’s Birthday weekend to the Friday before the first Saturday of September.
Where to fish it
Public reserves and the bridge give bank access at the town, and road crossings reach the river upstream; elsewhere, ask before crossing private land. A kayak covers the pools downstream toward the Cairn Curran backwater. In a small river like this, cast to the deepest water you can find, usually on the outside of a bend or under a fallen tree. Scrub-bashing along the banks spooks fish in low water, so approach each pool quietly, fish it thoroughly from one spot and then move on to the next.
Reading the report
The chart shows an unregulated upper river that rises after rain and can nearly stop in a dry summer, when fish crowd into the permanent pools. A fresh gets everything moving. The water temperature here is an estimate from a model; it gives a warm band for the natives in summer and a cool one through winter. After a long dry spell the first decent rise is worth planning around, as fish that have been confined to shrinking pools spread out and feed.
Licence, access and rules
Victoria’s Recreational Fishing Licence applies unless you are exempt; our Victoria page lists the prices. The VFA cod and trout rules are linked below. Cairn Curran, downstream, is exempt from the cod closure and has its own page.
Common questions
What can I catch in the Loddon at Newstead?
Murray cod outside the spring closure and golden perch in the deeper pools in summer; trout are subject to the stream closed season.
Is Cairn Curran under the cod closure?
No. The VFA lists Cairn Curran Reservoir among the waters where the Murray cod closed season does not apply.
Is fishing good at Loddon River at Newstead 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 407215 — LODDON @ NEWSTEAD
- 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.