Malmsbury Reservoir Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Coliban reservoir at Malmsbury: golden perch, redfin and stocked trout in a shallow lake beside the old railway viaduct, with a Bureau gauge.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Level
447.93 m12,118 ML
Air / High
12 °C / 23 °C
Wind
SSE 14 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge MALMSBURY, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Malmsbury Reservoir is in its cool-water rhythm: slower presentations and the warmest hours of the day. The gauge reads 447.93 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 13 °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.
Murray cod
Slow
Slow it down: heavier spinnerbaits, slow-rolled swimbaits and bait on the bottom next to the deep snags.
Tie on: Blade or vibe, slow hops · Lightly weighted plastic · Whole pilchard or squid on the bottom · Suspending hardbody. 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 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 Malmsbury 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 MALMSBURY (Malmsbury Reservoir).
Storage level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station MALMSBURY. 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, 49%
Sunrise / Sunset06:08 / 18:21
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~13 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Malmsbury Reservoir
The best day on Malmsbury 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
- 49%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Malmsbury Reservoir: seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
Murray cod
December to August; closed September to November
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. Slow it down: heavier spinnerbaits, slow-rolled swimbaits and bait on the bottom next to the deep snags.
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. Slower. Work the deeper timber and the drop-offs with vibes and bait.
When to come: the Malmsbury 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
Murray cod
Golden perch
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 Malmsbury 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. Golden perch led the card at fair. 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. Golden perch led the card at good. 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. Golden perch led the card at good. 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
Victoria’s Recreational Fishing Licence applies unless exempt; our Victoria page has the fees.
About this water
Malmsbury Reservoir is a lake in Victoria, Australia, covered from the Victoria reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Malmsbury Reservoir: the full guide
The lake
Malmsbury Reservoir is the middle of the three Coliban Water storages on the Coliban River, beside the town of Malmsbury and its bluestone railway viaduct on the Calder Highway, a shallow, open lake that supplies Bendigo and that the dry years have drawn down to a fraction of its size. It is a town lake with shore access from the road and the recreation reserve, and the Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge on the reservoir supplies the level and the 30-day chart on this page.
Species and seasons
Golden perch are stocked and are the warm-month fish along the drop-offs and the few trees; redfin are abundant through the year; brown and rainbow trout are stocked and fish the cool months along the edges; Murray cod have been stocked and are closed from September to November under the Victorian rule the species card computes, Malmsbury not being on the VFA’s exempt list; and carp are present with the VFA rules.
Where to fish it
The recreation reserve and the road along the northern shore give bank access, and the water near the wall is the deepest and holds the fish through summer; the shallow upstream end fishes in spring when the lake is up over the grass. Boating is restricted and it is a bank fishery.
Reading the report
A shallow lake on a cool tableland, Malmsbury warms fast in spring and cools fast in autumn, and the water temperature estimate, labelled as one, moves between the trout and the perch bands with the season; the chart shows the supply draw-down. The wind crosses the open water and stirs the shallows; pressure and sky fill the score.
Licence, access and rules
Victoria’s Recreational Fishing Licence applies unless exempt; our Victoria page has the fees. Shore access is open under the water authority’s rules; the VFA limits, the trout rules and the cod closure are in the sources.
The three Coliban lakes
Malmsbury sits between Upper Coliban above and Lauriston below on the same river, the shallowest and the quickest to warm of the three, which makes it the perch and redfin water of the set in summer and the one that shrinks most in a dry year; the other two have their own pages and fish better for trout in the cold months.
Common questions
What can I catch at Malmsbury Reservoir?
Golden perch in the warm months, redfin through the year, stocked trout in the cool months and cod outside the September to November closure.
Do I need a licence at Malmsbury?
Yes, unless you are exempt: the Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence.
Is fishing good at Malmsbury 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 MALMSBURY — Malmsbury 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.