Rainbow trout
Excellent
Prime. Shore fishing along the edges with bait, spinners and flies, and the rivers if the season is open.
Rubicon River Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Rubicon near Thornton: a small trout stream that the VFA treats as part of the Goulburn tailrace, with a 25 cm minimum and the Bureau’s gauge at Rubicon.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Level
0.59 m
Air / High
13 °C / 20 °C
Wind
NW 1 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 405241, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Rubicon River has cool water and fish holding a little deeper and slower. The gauge reads 0.59 m, easing 0.05 over the week. Today brings clear skies, wind NW around 2 km/h, steady pressure near 1018 hPa and a high of 21 °C. Water sits around 13 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 11:24 PM-1:24 AM and 11:52 AM-1:52 PM: the windows to build the day around.
Brown trout
Excellent
Prime. Nymphs and streamers on the rivers, and the lake edges on the overcast days.
Tie on: Blade or vibe, slow hops · Lightly weighted plastic · Whole pilchard or squid on the bottom · Suspending hardbody. Prime windows: 11:24 PM-1:24 AM, 11:52 AM-1:52 PM, 5:04 AM-6:04 AM. Warmer at 24 °C with a rain chance. 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 (06:03), sunset (19:58), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 11:24 PM-1:24 AM and 11:52 AM-1:52 PM; minor 5:04 AM-6:04 AM. New Moon, 0% 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 2026-11-07 10:00.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp13 °C
High / Low20 °C / 3 °C
WindNW 1 km/h, gusts 8 km/h
Pressure1017.5 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain10% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset06:03 / 19:58
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~13 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Rubicon River
The best day on Rubicon River this week looks like Friday 13 Nov, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today.
Best day this week: Friday, 13 Nov — good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
Today, 9 Nov — Fair
A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
- Solunar majors
- 11:24 PM-1:24 AM and 11:52 AM-1:52 PM
- Minor period
- 5:04 AM-6:04 AM
- Sun
- 06:03 to 19:58
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Partly cloudy, 10 km/h
- Rain chance
- 0%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
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
Streams from October to June in NSW and from September to June in Victoria; lakes open all year; Tasmania from the first Saturday of August
Open now Closes 15 June 2027. During the trout and salmon closed season these tailrace waters are closed to all hook-and-line fishing, whatever the species: no fish may be taken or possessed and no hook and line carried in, on or within 20 m of the water. The Goulburn below Eildon Pondage to Trawool Bridge and its tributaries, the Kiewa below Rocky Valley Dam to Keegans Bridge and its tributaries, and the Mitta Mitta below Dartmouth Pondage to Peters Bridge. Rule as read from Victorian Fisheries Authority on 2026-09-27.
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. Prime. Shore fishing along the edges with bait, spinners and flies, and the rivers if the season is open.
Brown trout
Streams from October to June in NSW and from September to June in Victoria; lakes open all year; Tasmania from the first Saturday of August
Open now Closes 15 June 2027. During the trout and salmon closed season these tailrace waters are closed to all hook-and-line fishing, whatever the species: no fish may be taken or possessed and no hook and line carried in, on or within 20 m of the water. The Goulburn below Eildon Pondage to Trawool Bridge and its tributaries, the Kiewa below Rocky Valley Dam to Keegans Bridge and its tributaries, and the Mitta Mitta below Dartmouth Pondage to Peters Bridge. Rule as read from Victorian Fisheries Authority on 2026-09-27.
The wild trout of the highland rivers and Tasmania's lakes. Spawns in autumn, hence the closed rivers through winter in NSW and Victoria. Prime. Nymphs and streamers on the rivers, and the lake edges on the overcast days.
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 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 Rubicon River today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataSun, Nov 8
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 19 °C, wind to 13 km/h.
Sat, Nov 7
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 14 °C, wind to 24 km/h.
Fri, Nov 6
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 21 °C, wind to 14 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
A Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence applies unless you are exempt; our Victoria page lists 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 comes down a forested valley to join the Goulburn in the tailrace section below Lake Eildon, a small, cold, clear stream over gravel and rock with road crossings and reserves along it. The VFA states that the Rubicon is part of the Goulburn River tailrace, with slightly different size and bag rules. The Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at Rubicon, station 405241, supplies the level and the 30-day chart on this page.
Species and seasons
Brown and rainbow trout are the fish, in the pools and runs on the fly, spinners and bait. The VFA sets a 25 cm minimum and a bag of three salmonids a day, no more than two over 35 cm. In the closed season, from the Tuesday after the King’s Birthday weekend to the Friday before the first Saturday of September and computed on the species card, all hook and line fishing is banned. Blackfish, if you hook one, are covered by separate VFA limits.
Where to fish it
Road crossings and reserves near the junction give access to the lower river; higher up, public land along the valley road gives more. It is small, wadeable water, often easier to fish from the bank. Short, upstream casts with a dry fly or a small nymph suit it best, and a light line matters: in water this clear, a heavy tippet or a splashy cast empties a pool. On a bright day, work the shaded side of the stream and the riffles, where the broken surface hides you.
Reading the report
The chart shows a small mountain river that rises after rain and falls to its gravel through summer. A fresh gets the trout moving. The water temperature estimate, which the page labels as an estimate, reads cold for most of the year, and the forest keeps the wind off.
Licence, access and rules
A Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence applies unless you are exempt; our Victoria page lists fees. Because the Rubicon is tailrace water, having a hook and line in, on or within 20 metres of it during the closed season is an offence under the VFA rules. The Goulburn tailrace at Eildon and the Goulburn near Alexandra have their own pages.
Common questions
What are the trout rules on the Rubicon?
A 25 cm minimum and three salmonids a day, no more than two over 35 cm, with a total ban on hook and line fishing in the closed season, under the VFA rules.
Why is the Rubicon treated as a tailrace?
The VFA classes it as part of the Goulburn River tailrace, so the tailrace closed-season ban applies here too.
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
- 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.