Tailor
Excellent
The main run. Fish the gutters and headlands into the evening; ganged pilchards, metals, and a wire-free trace only if you accept the bite-offs.
Tambo River Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
A Gippsland river of bream and bass, from the mountains down to Lake King: the Tambo fishes its lower reaches on the tide and its upper ones on the snags.
2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Water temp
~18 °C est.
Air / High
13 °C / 27 °C
Wind
N 6 km/h
Sources: Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Tambo River has cool water and fish holding a little deeper and slower. Today brings clear skies, wind N around 6 km/h, rising pressure near 1024 hPa and a high of 27 °C. Water sits around 18 °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.
Bream
Fair
Slow the retrieve right down: blades and lightly weighted plastics along the deeper rock walls and drop-offs, or unweighted bait drifted into the snags.
Flathead
Fair
Fish the deeper channels and the last of the run-out; slower hops with a heavier jighead, and a bait on the bottom as back-up.
Mulloway
Fair
The estuary fish move to the deeper reaches. Long, quiet sessions on the bottom with fresh bait across the top of the tide.
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 14 °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 bream here? Check the size and bag limits with VFA before you keep anything; the Bream page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Tambo River today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:53), sunset (18:06), 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
Conditions here are modelled from weather, season and the nearest stations.
No live gauge on this water
Water readings appear when a Bureau of Meteorology station covers it. Until then the seasonal curve below is the estimate.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp13 °C
High / Low27 °C / 13 °C
WindN 6 km/h, gusts 12 km/h
Pressure1024.2 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain14% cloud, 73%
Sunrise / Sunset05:53 / 18:06
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~18 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Tambo River
The best day on Tambo River this week looks like Thursday 1 Oct, at 4 out of 5, against 2 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: Thursday, 1 Oct — good at 4/5, rising pressure behind a front, typically the slowest.
Today, 25 Sept — Tough
Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
- Solunar majors
- 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM
- Minor period
- 4:55 AM-5:55 AM
- Sun
- 05:53 to 18:06
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Storms, 11 km/h
- Rain chance
- 73%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Tambo River: seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
Bream
Year-round; summer and autumn in the estuaries, winter at the mouths
Yellowfin bream on the east coast, black bream in the southern estuaries. Structure fish: rock walls, jetty piles, oyster racks, snags and pontoons. Slow the retrieve right down: blades and lightly weighted plastics along the deeper rock walls and drop-offs, or unweighted bait drifted into the snags.
Flathead
Best: November to April
Dusky flathead in the eastern estuaries, sand flathead in the southern bays. An ambush predator lying on sand and mud edges waiting for whatever the tide brings. Fish the deeper channels and the last of the run-out; slower hops with a heavier jighead, and a bait on the bottom as back-up.
Mulloway
Best: summer and autumn, especially after rain
Jewfish. The big silver prize of the estuaries, breakwalls and surf beaches: nocturnal, tide-driven and unforgiving of noise. The estuary fish move to the deeper reaches. Long, quiet sessions on the bottom with fresh bait across the top of the tide.
Tailor
Autumn and winter on the east coast; August to September on Fraser Island
The surf and rock fish of the east coast, running north in autumn and winter. Fast, toothy and best at dawn, dusk and into the dark. The main run. Fish the gutters and headlands into the evening; ganged pilchards, metals, and a wire-free trace only if you accept the bite-offs.
When to come: the Tambo 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
Bream
Flathead
Mulloway
Tailor
SlowPeak
Water temperature through the year
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 18 °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 Tambo 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. Tailor led the card at excellent. High of 28 °C, wind to 10 km/h.
Wed, Sep 23
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Tailor led the card at excellent. High of 22 °C, wind to 11 km/h.
Tue, Sep 22
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Tailor led the card at excellent. High of 16 °C, wind to 16 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 has the fees.
About this water
Tambo River is a river in Victoria, Australia, covered from the Victoria reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Tambo River: the full guide
The river
The Tambo rises in the Victorian Alps and runs south through Swifts Creek, Ensay and Bruthen to enter Lake King at the eastern end of the Gippsland Lakes. Its lower reaches, from Bruthen to the mouth at Tambo Bluff, are tidal, slow and lined with snags and reed beds, and that is the water most people search for: the bream fishery of the lower Tambo, one of the best in the state, worked from the bank at the bridges and the reserves and from boats and kayaks along the reaches. Above Bruthen the river is faster and clearer and holds bass and, higher still, trout. The report on this page is scored for the lower river; the lakes it feeds have their own page.
Species and seasons
Bream are the river’s fish, all year in the lower reaches around the snags and the deeper bends, with the biggest in the cooler months and a spring run up the river to spawn; estuary perch hold in the same water and feed at dusk; Australian bass fish the middle river through the warmer months; and flathead and tailor push up from the lake in summer. Higher up, brown trout in the cold water, with the Victorian trout rules to check. Carp are present and the VFA has rules on their release.
Reading this report for the Tambo
The lower river is sheltered and the wind matters less than on the lakes; the tide panel, a modelled curve for these coordinates labelled as a model, is for the direction of the run in the tidal reaches, which is slight and delayed, and the river’s level after rain matters more than either: a fresh colours the water and moves the bream. Pressure and sky build the score and the planner shows the day.
Licence and access
Victoria’s Recreational Fishing Licence applies unless you are exempt; our Victoria page has the fees. Bank access at the Bruthen and Tambo Upper bridges, the Swan Reach reserve and the mouth at Tambo Bluff is public, with a ramp at Swan Reach; the VFA limits are on the page in the sources.
Common questions
What is the Tambo River known for?
Black bream in the lower, tidal reaches around the snags, with estuary perch, and bass and trout further up.
Do I need a licence on the Tambo?
Yes, unless exempt: the Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence applies.
Is fishing good at Tambo River right now?
Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Nearby waters
Where this page's numbers come from
- 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.