Waranga Basin Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The huge, shallow irrigation basin near Rushworth: cod, golden perch and redfin in an off-river storage the Goulburn fills, with a Bureau gauge.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Level
120.91 m406,446 ML
Air / High
17 °C / 26 °C
Wind
SSW 10 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge sp-o11534, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Waranga Basin rewards patience today, with cool water and short feeding windows. The gauge reads 120.91 m, easing 0.10 over the week. Today brings cloud cover, wind SSW around 10 km/h, rising pressure near 1024 hPa and a high of 26 °C. Water sits around 13 °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.
Murray cod
Slow
Slow it down: heavier spinnerbaits, slow-rolled swimbaits and bait on the bottom next to the deep 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 21 °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 murray cod here? Check the size and bag limits with VFA before you keep anything; the Murray cod page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Waranga Basin today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (06:05), sunset (18:18), 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 sp-o11534 (Waranga Basin).
Storage level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station sp-o11534. Latest reading 2026-09-24 15:30.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp17 °C
High / Low26 °C / 15 °C
WindSSW 10 km/h, gusts 19 km/h
Pressure1023.9 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain75% cloud, 35%
Sunrise / Sunset06:05 / 18:18
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~13 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Waranga Basin
The best day on Waranga Basin 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
- 06:05 to 18:18
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Overcast, 11 km/h
- Rain chance
- 35%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Waranga Basin: seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
Murray cod
December to August; closed September to November
Closed now Reopens 1 Dec 2026. Closed 1 September to 30 November inclusive, except in Lake Eildon, Eildon Pondage, Lake Eppalock, Cairn Curran, Lake Nillahcootie and the other waters the VFA lists. Rule as read from Victorian Fisheries Authority on 2026-09-23.
The giant of the inland rivers and the big lakes (Hume, Mulwala, Eildon). A snag fish that eats big lures, and a species with a closed season across the Murray-Darling. Slow it down: heavier spinnerbaits, slow-rolled swimbaits and bait on the bottom next to the deep snags.
Golden perch
Best: November to April
Yellowbelly. The bread-and-butter native of the Murray-Darling lakes and rivers; loves warm water, structure and a lure worked slowly past its nose. Slower. Work the deeper timber and the drop-offs with vibes and bait.
When to come: the Waranga Basin 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
Murray cod
Golden perch
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 Waranga Basin 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. Golden perch led the card at fair. High of 23 °C, wind to 11 km/h.
Wed, Sep 23
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Golden perch led the card at good. High of 21 °C, wind to 14 km/h.
Tue, Sep 22
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Golden perch led the card at good. High of 17 °C, wind to 19 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
Waranga Basin is a lake in Victoria, Australia, covered from the Victoria reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Waranga Basin: the full guide
The lake
Waranga Basin is a vast, shallow off-river storage north of Rushworth in the Goulburn Valley, filled by channel from the Goulburn Weir at Nagambie and drawn down by the irrigation channels that fan out across northern Victoria; it is one of the largest lakes in the state by area, ringed by low earth banks with a caravan park, ramps and camping on its southern shore. It is warm, wind-stirred water with cod, perch and redfin, and the Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge on the basin supplies the level and the 30-day chart on this page.
Species and seasons
Murray cod are on the VFA’s list of lakes with a bag of two and fish the rock beaching of the banks and the few drowned trees in the warm months, closed from 1 September to 30 November under the Victorian rule the species card computes; golden perch are the everyday fish along the banks and the inlet channel from spring to autumn; redfin are abundant and fill the winter; and carp are the most numerous fish, with the VFA rules. Trout are not stocked here.
Where to fish it
The caravan park, the ramps and the camping on the southern bank are the access, and the rock beaching along the banks is the structure in a lake with few trees: cast along it at dusk for perch and cod, or troll the drop-off off the banks. The inlet channel from the Goulburn brings the fish on when it runs. The basin is too big and too shallow to fish in a wind.
Reading the report
The wind row is the first thing to read: the basin is open for kilometres and a northerly stirs it to brown chop that ends the fishing; the water temperature estimate, labelled as one, warms early and the perch season runs October to April. The chart shows a draw-down of metres through the irrigation season and a refill from the Goulburn in winter and spring.
Licence, access and rules
The Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence applies unless exempt; our Victoria page has the fees. The caravan park, ramps and camping are managed by the water authority; the VFA limits, the cod slot, the lake bag and the closure are in the sources.
Common questions
Is Waranga Basin fishable in a wind?
Rarely: it is shallow and open for kilometres and a northerly stirs it to chop; the wind row on this page is the number to read first.
When is cod season at Waranga?
Open 1 December to 31 August; closed 1 September to 30 November under the Victorian rule computed on the species card.
Is fishing good at Waranga Basin 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 sp-o11534 — Waranga Basin
- 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.