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.
Pykes Creek Reservoir Fishing Report
Updated Sat, 26 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Werribee catchment reservoir near Ballan: trout, redfin and golden perch in a lake beside the Western Freeway, with a Bureau gauge.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Level
396.58 m22,145 ML
Air / High
7 °C / 12 °C
Wind
SSE 15 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 231222A, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Pykes Creek Reservoir is in its winter rhythm: deep, slow and around the middle of the day. The gauge reads 396.58 m, holding steady. Today brings cloud cover, wind SSE around 14 km/h, falling pressure near 1035 hPa and a high of 12 °C. Water sits around 8 °C for the season (estimated). With the full moon, the solunar majors run 11:16 PM-1:16 AM and 11:16 AM-1:16 PM: 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: 11:16 PM-1:16 AM, 11:16 AM-1:16 PM, 5:46 AM-6:46 AM. Similar at 12 °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 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 Pykes Creek Reservoir today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (06:06), sunset (18:22), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 11:16 PM-1:16 AM and 11:16 AM-1:16 PM; minor 5:46 AM-6:46 AM. Full Moon, 100% lit.
Water and weather
Live readings from Bureau of Meteorology station 231222A (KORJAMNUNNIP C-PYKES).
Storage level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station 231222A. Latest reading 2026-09-25 13:00.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp7 °C
High / Low12 °C / 7 °C
WindSSE 15 km/h, gusts 28 km/h
Pressure1034.7 hPa, falling
Sky / Rain93% cloud, 100%
Sunrise / Sunset06:06 / 18:22
MoonFull Moon, 100%
Water temp (seasonal)~8 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Pykes Creek Reservoir
The best day on Pykes Creek 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, 26 Sept — Fair
A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
- Solunar majors
- 11:16 PM-1:16 AM and 11:16 AM-1:16 PM
- Minor period
- 5:46 AM-6:46 AM
- Sun
- 06:06 to 18:22
- Moon
- Full Moon, 100% lit
- Sky and wind
- Storms, 23 km/h
- Rain chance
- 100%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Pykes Creek 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 Pykes Creek 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 Pykes Creek Reservoir today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataFri, Sep 25
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at slow. High of 22 °C, wind to 19 km/h.
Thu, 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 23 °C, wind to 18 km/h.
Wed, Sep 23
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at slow. High of 17 °C, wind to 10 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; our Victoria page has the fees.
About this water
Pykes Creek Reservoir is a lake in Victoria, Australia, covered from the Victoria reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Pykes Creek Reservoir: the full guide
The lake
Pykes Creek Reservoir is a Southern Rural Water storage on Pykes Creek near Myrniong, between Ballan and Bacchus Marsh beside the Western Freeway, an irrigation storage for the Werribee district with open, grassy shores, a picnic area, a ramp and shore access, and one of the closest lakes to Melbourne where a boat can be launched. The Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at 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, trolled from small boats; redfin are abundant and are the summer numbers fish; golden perch are stocked and fish the warm months along the drop-offs; and carp are present under the VFA rules. There is no trout closure on the reservoir, and any cod, being south of the Divide, would be open all year under the VFA rule.
Where to fish it
The picnic area and the ramp on the northern shore give bank and boat access, and the drop-off along the dam wall is the summer water; the grassy edges at the upstream end fish for trout at dawn in the cool months, and a small boat trolls the length of the lake in an hour. The freeway noise is part of the setting.
Reading the report
The lake is open and the wind crosses it, so the wind row decides the launch; the water temperature estimate, labelled as an estimate, gives the trout band from autumn to spring and the perch band in summer, and the chart shows the irrigation draw-down that shrinks the lake by autumn. Pressure and sky fill the score.
Licence, access and rules
The Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence applies unless exempt; our Victoria page has the fees. The picnic area and the ramp are managed by the water authority with speed limits on the water; the VFA limits and the trout rules are in the sources.
The Werribee lakes
Pykes Creek is one of a pair of Southern Rural Water storages in the Werribee catchment, with Melton Reservoir below it on the Werribee River, and the two fish as a set within an hour of the city: Pykes Creek for the trout in the cool months and the launchable water, Melton for golden perch, redfin and cod in a lake that warms earlier. A boat can be on Pykes Creek before the freeway traffic builds.
Common questions
Can I launch a boat at Pykes Creek?
Yes, from the ramp on the northern shore, under the water authority’s speed rules.
What can I catch at Pykes Creek?
Stocked trout in the cool months, redfin in summer and golden perch in the warm months.
Is fishing good at Pykes Creek 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 231222A — KORJAMNUNNIP C-PYKES
- 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.