Australian bass
Fair
Dam fish school deep; vertical jig plastics and blades over them. Rivers slow, and closed in NSW from June.
Tarwin River at Meeniyan Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Tarwin at Meeniyan in South Gippsland: estuary perch, bass and eels in a slow dairy-country river toward Anderson Inlet, with the Bureau’s gauge at the town.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Level
1.02 m
Air / High
12 °C / 21 °C
Wind
ESE 1 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 227202, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Tarwin River at Meeniyan is in its cool-water rhythm: slower presentations and the warmest hours of the day. The gauge reads 1.02 m, easing 0.16 over the week. Today brings cloud cover, wind ESE around 2 km/h, rising pressure near 1026 hPa and a high of 21 °C. Water sits around 16 °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.
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 13 °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 australian bass here? Check the size and bag limits with VFA before you keep anything; the Australian bass page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Tarwin River at Meeniyan today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (06:01), sunset (18:14), 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 227202 (TARWIN @ MEENIYAN).
River level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station 227202. Latest reading 2026-09-24 10:00.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp12 °C
High / Low21 °C / 12 °C
WindESE 1 km/h, gusts 3 km/h
Pressure1025.6 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain63% cloud, 76%
Sunrise / Sunset06:01 / 18:14
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~16 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Tarwin River at Meeniyan
The best day on Tarwin River at Meeniyan 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
- 06:01 to 18:14
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 16 km/h
- Rain chance
- 76%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Tarwin River at Meeniyan: seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
Australian bass
September to April in the rivers; closed June to August in NSW rivers
The native sportfish of the east-coast rivers and the stocked dams. Surface lures in summer, deep in winter, and a river closed season for spawning. Dam fish school deep; vertical jig plastics and blades over them. Rivers slow, and closed in NSW from June.
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.
When to come: the Tarwin River at Meeniyan 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
Australian bass
Bream
SlowPeak
Water temperature through the year
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 16 °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 Tarwin River at Meeniyan 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. Australian bass led the card at fair. High of 23 °C, wind to 13 km/h.
Wed, Sep 23
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Australian bass 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. Australian bass led the card at good. High of 16 °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
The Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence applies unless exempt; our Victoria page has the fees.
About this water
Tarwin River at Meeniyan is a river in Victoria, Australia, covered from the Victoria reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Tarwin River at Meeniyan: the full guide
The reach
The Tarwin at Meeniyan is the South Gippsland river as it winds through the dairy flats between Leongatha and Foster toward Anderson Inlet at Inverloch, slow, deep and willow-lined with the town bridge, the reserves and the Tarwin Lower reaches below. It is estuary perch and bass water above the tide and bream water below, and the Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at Meeniyan supplies the river level and the 30-day chart on this page.
Species and seasons
Estuary perch are the fish, in the snags and the deep bends from spring to autumn on lures and bait, with their own VFA rules; Australian bass, stocked into the Tarwin, fish the same water in the warm months; eels are a bait fishery; bream and mullet push up from the inlet on the tide; and carp and redfin are present under the VFA rules. Being south of the Divide, any cod would be open all year, though cod are not the fishery here.
Where to fish it
The bridge and the reserves give bank access at the town, and a kayak covers the slow river downstream toward Tarwin Lower and the inlet; the snags and the deep bends are the perch and bass water, and the tidal reaches near Tarwin Lower fish for bream. Inverloch, on the inlet, has its own coast.
Reading the report
The chart shows a lowland river that rises after the South Gippsland rain and falls slowly through summer; a fresh colours the river and moves the perch. The water temperature estimate, labelled as one, gives the perch and bass band from November to April; the open dairy country lets the wind cross the river; pressure counts on the summer evenings.
Licence, access and rules
The Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence applies unless exempt; our Victoria page has the fees. The bridge and the reserves are public; the VFA limits, the estuary perch and bass rules are in the sources.
The inlet below
Anderson Inlet at Inverloch, where the Tarwin ends, is a bream, whiting and flathead estuary with its own page on this site, and the river’s perch and bass water at Meeniyan and Tarwin Lower is the other half of the same system; a fresh that colours the river at Meeniyan reaches the inlet a day later and moves the bream.
Common questions
What can I catch in the Tarwin River?
Estuary perch and stocked bass from spring to autumn, eels, and bream and mullet in the tidal reaches toward the inlet.
Do I need a licence at Meeniyan?
Yes, unless exempt: the Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence.
Is fishing good at Tarwin River at Meeniyan 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 227202 — TARWIN @ MEENIYAN
- 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.