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.
Rubicon River Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Rubicon near Thornton: a small trout stream with its own 25 cm minimum, part of the Goulburn tailrace rules, with the Bureau’s gauge at Rubicon.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Level
0.63 m
Air / High
15 °C / 26 °C
Wind
WSW 2 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 405241, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Rubicon River is a cold-water proposition today: bait on the bottom and a long soak. The gauge reads 0.63 m, holding steady. Today brings cloud cover, wind WSW around 2 km/h, rising pressure near 1024 hPa and a high of 26 °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 19 °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 Rubicon River today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (06:02), sunset (18:15), 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 405241 (RUBICON @ RUBICON).
River level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station 405241. Latest reading 2026-09-24 10:00.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp15 °C
High / Low26 °C / 14 °C
WindWSW 2 km/h, gusts 5 km/h
Pressure1024.2 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain73% cloud, 42%
Sunrise / Sunset06:02 / 18:15
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~8 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Rubicon River
The best day on Rubicon River 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
- 06:02 to 18:15
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 8 km/h
- Rain chance
- 42%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Rubicon River: 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 now Closes 15 June 2027. Rivers and streams close from the Tuesday after the King’s Birthday weekend to the Friday before the first Saturday in September. Lakes and reservoirs stay open all year. 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 now Closes 15 June 2027. Rivers and streams close from the Tuesday after the King’s Birthday weekend to the Friday before the first Saturday in September. Lakes and reservoirs stay open all year. 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 Rubicon River 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 Rubicon River 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 23 °C, wind to 13 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 20 °C, wind to 6 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 17 °C, wind to 6 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
Rubicon River is a river in Victoria, Australia, covered from the Victoria reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Rubicon River: the full guide
The reach
The Rubicon runs off the Cathedral Range and the Rubicon hydro scheme through a forested valley to join the Goulburn near Thornton, a small, cold, clear stream over gravel and rock with the road crossings, the reserves and the old hydro tramway beside it. It is a trout stream that the VFA treats as part of the Goulburn tailrace, with its own size and bag rules, and the Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at Rubicon supplies the river level and the 30-day chart on this page.
Species and seasons
Brown and rainbow trout are the fish, wild and stocked, in the pools and the runs on the fly, spinners and bait, with a 25 cm minimum and a bag of three under the VFA’s Rubicon rules, and a total ban on hook and line fishing in the closed season, from the Tuesday after the King’s Birthday weekend to the Friday before the first Saturday of September, computed on the species card; blackfish are in the deeper pools under their own rules. The Goulburn tailrace at Eildon has its own page.
Where to fish it
The road crossings and the reserves near Thornton give access to the lower river, the hydro road upstream gives the middle river, and the river is a wader’s water in the runs and the pool heads, small enough to fish from the bank; dawn and dusk are the trout hours. The hydro scheme’s releases shape the upper river.
Reading the report
The chart shows a small mountain river that rises after rain and with the hydro releases and falls to its gravel through summer; a fresh moves the trout. The water temperature estimate, labelled as one, is cold for most of the year; the forest shelters the water; 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 crossings, the reserves and the hydro road are public; the VFA Rubicon rules, with the minimum size, the bag and the closed-season ban, are in the sources.
Common questions
What are the trout rules on the Rubicon?
A 25 cm minimum and a bag of three, with a total ban on hook and line fishing in the closed season, under the VFA’s Rubicon rules linked in the sources; the season is computed on the species card.
Do I need a licence on the Rubicon?
Yes, unless exempt: the Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence.
Is fishing good at Rubicon River 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 405241 — RUBICON @ RUBICON
- 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.