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.
Lake Toolondo Fishing Report
Updated Sat, 26 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Wimmera’s trophy trout lake south of Horsham: big browns under their own minimum size, redfin and cod, with a Bureau gauge on a level that decides everything.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Level
156.70 m11,168 ML
Air / High
12 °C / 13 °C
Wind
S 19 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge TOOLO-RES-HG, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Lake Toolondo is a cold-water proposition today: bait on the bottom and a long soak. The gauge reads 156.70 m, holding steady. Today brings cloud cover, wind S around 19 km/h, steady pressure near 1027 hPa and a high of 13 °C. Water sits around 8 °C for the season (estimated). With the full moon, the solunar majors run 11:16 PM-1:16 AM and 11:16 AM-1:16 PM: 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: 11:16 PM-1:16 AM, 11:16 AM-1:16 PM, 5:46 AM-6:46 AM. Similar at 14 °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 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 Lake Toolondo today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (06:16), sunset (18:31), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 11:16 PM-1:16 AM and 11:16 AM-1:16 PM; minor 5:46 AM-6:46 AM. Full Moon, 100% lit.
Water and weather
Live readings from Bureau of Meteorology station TOOLO-RES-HG (Toolondo).
Storage level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station TOOLO-RES-HG. Latest reading 2026-09-25 09:00.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp12 °C
High / Low13 °C / 8 °C
WindS 19 km/h, gusts 38 km/h
Pressure1027.4 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain93% cloud, 100%
Sunrise / Sunset06:16 / 18:31
MoonFull Moon, 100%
Water temp (seasonal)~8 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Lake Toolondo
The best day on Lake Toolondo 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, 26 Sept — Fair
A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
- Solunar majors
- 11:16 PM-1:16 AM and 11:16 AM-1:16 PM
- Minor period
- 5:46 AM-6:46 AM
- Sun
- 06:16 to 18:31
- Moon
- Full Moon, 100% lit
- Sky and wind
- Storms, 19 km/h
- Rain chance
- 100%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Lake Toolondo: 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 all year No closed season in lakes and reservoirs; the winter closure applies to rivers and streams. 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 all year No closed season in lakes and reservoirs; the winter closure applies to rivers and streams. 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 Lake Toolondo 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 Lake Toolondo today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataFri, Sep 25
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at slow. High of 22 °C, wind to 11 km/h.
Thu, Sep 24
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 24 °C, wind to 16 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 21 °C, wind to 10 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; fees on our Victoria page.
About this water
Lake Toolondo is a lake in Victoria, Australia, covered from the Victoria reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Lake Toolondo: the full guide
The lake
Lake Toolondo is a GWMWater storage south of Horsham in the Wimmera, a shallow, weedy, off-river lake filled by channel that became Victoria’s best-known trophy trout water when it holds enough water, and a dry bed when it does not; the VFA stocks it with brown and rainbow trout and sets a 45 cm minimum for browns and 30 cm for rainbows there to grow trophy fish, and the lake has emptied and refilled more than once in the last twenty years. The Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge on the lake supplies the level and the 30-day chart on this page, and they decide whether Toolondo is a fishery this season.
Species and seasons
Brown trout to trophy size are the reason for the lake, along the weed edges and the drowned timber from autumn to spring on bait, lures and flies, with the rainbows alongside; redfin are abundant and take small lures; Murray cod and golden perch have been stocked and, as Wimmera-basin water, the cod are open all year under the VFA exemption computed on the species card; and carp are present. There is no trout closure on the lake.
Where to fish it
The camping areas and the ramp on the eastern shore are the access, and the weed edges and the drowned red gums are the trout water at dawn and dusk, fished from the bank, from a wading position along the flats or from a kayak; the deeper channel near the outlet holds the fish in summer. Polaroiding the flats on a bright day finds the big browns cruising.
Reading the report
Read the chart first: Toolondo’s level decides whether there is a lake, and a filling lake after a wet year is the start of a trophy cycle. The wind crosses the shallow water and stirs it; the water temperature estimate, labelled as one, is in the trout bands from autumn to spring and warm enough in summer for the natives. Pressure and sky fill the score.
Licence, access and rules
The Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence applies unless exempt; fees on our Victoria page. The camping areas and the ramp are managed by the water authority; the VFA trout rules with Toolondo’s own minimum sizes, and the Wimmera cod exemption, are in the sources.
Common questions
What is the minimum size for trout at Lake Toolondo?
45 cm for brown trout and 30 cm for rainbow trout, set by the VFA to grow trophy fish; the VFA page is linked in the sources.
Does Lake Toolondo have water?
The level chart on this page, read from the Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge, shows the current level and the last 30 days; the lake has emptied and refilled more than once in twenty years.
Is cod open all year at Toolondo?
Yes: Toolondo is Wimmera-basin water and the VFA exempts it from the September to November closure.
Is fishing good at Lake Toolondo 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 TOOLO-RES-HG — Toolondo
- 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.