Australian bass
Excellent
Prime. Cast spinnerbaits, small hardbodies and surface lures tight to structure in the rivers; sound up the schools in the dams.
Tarwin River at Meeniyan Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Tarwin at Meeniyan in South Gippsland: bass and bream country in a slow dairy-land river toward Anderson Inlet, with the Bureau’s gauge at the town.
4/5
Good. Solid day ahead.Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
Level
1.93 m
Air / High
11 °C / 19 °C
Wind
ENE 16 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 227202, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Tarwin River at Meeniyan is fishing in its best temperature window, with the bite spread across the day. The gauge reads 1.93 m, up 0.50 over the week. Today brings a mixed sky, wind ENE around 16 km/h, steady pressure near 1019 hPa and a high of 19 °C. Water sits around 21 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 11:23 PM-1:23 AM and 11:51 AM-1:51 PM: the windows to build the day around.
Bream
Excellent
Prime bream weather. Cast small vibes, crankbaits and 2 to 3 inch plastics at every piece of structure on the rising tide.
River blackfish
Closed today
Reopens 1 Jan 2027. River blackfish and two-spined blackfish cannot be taken or possessed in, on or next to Victorian waters south of the Great Dividing Range from 1 September to 31 December inclusive.
Tie on: Soft plastic on a 1/4 oz jighead · Small hardbody, shallow diver · Squid jig, size 3.0 · Fresh pipi or worm on a small hook. Prime windows: 11:23 PM-1:23 AM, 11:51 AM-1:51 PM, 4:60 AM-5:60 AM. Warmer at 24 °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 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 (05:59), sunset (20:00), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 11:23 PM-1:23 AM and 11:51 AM-1:51 PM; minor 4:60 AM-5:60 AM. New Moon, 0% 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 2026-11-07 10:00.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp11 °C
High / Low19 °C / 8 °C
WindENE 16 km/h, gusts 26 km/h
Pressure1019.1 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain58% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset05:59 / 20:00
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~21 °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 Thursday 12 Nov, at 5 out of 5, against 4 today.
Best day this week: Thursday, 12 Nov — excellent at 5/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
Today, 9 Nov — Good
Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
- Solunar majors
- 11:23 PM-1:23 AM and 11:51 AM-1:51 PM
- Minor period
- 4:60 AM-5:60 AM
- Sun
- 05:59 to 20:00
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Overcast, 19 km/h
- Rain chance
- 0%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
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 1 May to 31 August in NSW rivers, and dams stay open
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. Prime. Cast spinnerbaits, small hardbodies and surface lures tight to structure in the rivers; sound up the schools in the dams.
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. Prime bream weather. Cast small vibes, crankbaits and 2 to 3 inch plastics at every piece of structure on the rising tide.
River blackfish
Victoria: closed 1 September to 31 December south of the Great Dividing Range; an evening and night fish the rest of the year
Closed now Reopens 1 Jan 2027. River blackfish and two-spined blackfish cannot be taken or possessed in, on or next to Victorian waters south of the Great Dividing Range from 1 September to 31 December inclusive. Rule as read from Victorian Fisheries Authority on 2026-09-29.
A slimy, mottled native of cool, snag-filled streams on both sides of the Divide in Victoria, feeding mainly at night, late evening and early morning. The VFA sets a 30 cm minimum and a combined bag of 2 blackfish, and closes them from 1 September to 31 December south of the Great Dividing Range.
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
River blackfish
SlowPeak
Water temperature through the year
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 21 °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 dataSun, Nov 8
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Australian bass led the card at excellent. High of 14 °C, wind to 18 km/h.
Sat, Nov 7
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Australian bass led the card at excellent. High of 12 °C, wind to 35 km/h.
Fri, Nov 6
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Australian bass led the card at excellent. High of 19 °C, wind to 31 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
Anglers aged 18 to 69 generally need a Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence, subject to the exemptions on our Victoria page.
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 dairy country between Leongatha and Foster toward Anderson Inlet, slow, deep and willow-lined, with the town bridge and reserves beside it and Tarwin Lower further down. The Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at Meeniyan, station 227202, supplies the level and the 30-day chart on this page.
Species and seasons
Australian bass and bream are the species this page follows: bass in the snags and deep bends of the fresh reaches in the warm months, bream in the lower, tidal river toward the inlet. Both have their own VFA limits. The river is south of the Great Dividing Range, where the VFA’s Murray cod closed season does not apply, though cod are not the fishery here.
Where to fish it
The bridge and public reserves give bank access at the town, and a kayak covers the slow river downstream. For bass, cast small hardbodies and spinnerbaits tight to snags and willow roots at dawn and dusk; for bream, fish lightly weighted baits or small soft plastics along the banks lower down. Inverloch, on the inlet, has its own page.
Reading the report
The chart shows a lowland river that rises after rain and falls slowly through summer. A fresh colours the water and often gets fish moving. The water temperature shown is a modelled estimate that gives the warm-water band from November to April.
Licence, access and rules
Anglers aged 18 to 69 generally need a Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence, subject to the exemptions on our Victoria page. Much of the river runs through private farmland: use public access points or ask first. The VFA limits are linked from this page.
The inlet below
Anderson Inlet at Inverloch, where the Tarwin ends, is the estuary half of the same system and has its own page. When a fresh comes down the river, watch the inlet as well as the river: coloured water at the river mouth is where bream and other estuary fish often feed. Bass, by contrast, tend to push upstream into fresh water in the warm months and drop back toward the brackish reaches as it cools.
Common questions
What can I catch in the Tarwin River?
Australian bass in the fresh reaches in the warm months and bream toward the tidal river and the inlet.
Is there a cod closed season on the Tarwin?
No. The VFA’s Murray cod closure does not apply to waters south of the Great Dividing Range, the Yarra excepted.
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: Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
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
- 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.