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.
Wellington Dam Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The big Collie River dam with the mural wall: redfin by the thousand, stocked trout, marron in season, a freshwater licence and a Bureau gauge.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Water temp
~8 °C est.
Air / High
10 °C / 16 °C
Wind
ESE 23 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge PI_321995.1, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Wellington Dam is a cold-water proposition today: bait on the bottom and a long soak. Today brings clear skies, wind ESE around 23 km/h, steady pressure near 1029 hPa and a high of 16 °C. Water sits around 8 °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.
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: 10:25 AM-12:25 PM, 10:25 PM-12:25 AM, 4:55 AM-5:55 AM. Similar at 14 °C with likely rain: fish ahead of the front. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.
Before you go
Western Australia requires a fishing licence for most fishing, from A$40.00. Western Australia fishing licence: cost, rules and where to buy →
Chasing rainbow trout here? Check the size and bag limits with DPIRD WA before you keep anything; the Rainbow trout page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Wellington Dam today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (06:02), 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 PI_321995.1 (Wellington Dam Daily Dam Water Level, Bunbury, Sou).
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 temp10 °C
High / Low16 °C / 9 °C
WindESE 23 km/h, gusts 49 km/h
Pressure1029.0 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain9% cloud, 8%
Sunrise / Sunset06:02 / 18:14
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~8 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Wellington Dam
The best day on Wellington Dam this week looks like Saturday 26 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: Saturday, 26 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
- 06:02 to 18:14
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 27 km/h
- Rain chance
- 8%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Wellington Dam: 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
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
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 Wellington Dam 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 Wellington Dam 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. Rainbow trout led the card at slow. High of 18 °C, wind to 13 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 18 °C, wind to 14 km/h.
Tue, Sep 22
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at slow. High of 19 °C, wind to 13 km/h.
Before you go
Licence
Western Australian recreational fishing licences, from A$40.00, 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 DPIRD WA and change: confirm the current rules on the agency page linked from the Western Australia licence page before you keep anything.
Access
A Western Australian Recreational Freshwater Angling Licence, A$50, is required in the south-west’s fresh waters, and a marron licence for the marron season; our Western Australia licence page has the fees read from DPIRD.
About this water
Wellington Dam is a lake in Western Australia, Australia, covered from the Western Australia reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Wellington Dam: the full guide
The lake
Wellington Dam holds the Collie River in the Darling Scarp east of Bunbury, the largest storage in the south-west, a long, forested lake in Wellington National Park with the painted dam wall, a kiosk, camping at Potters Gorge and Honeymoon Pool, ramps and a level that irrigation and salinity management move. It is redfin water above all, with stocked trout and marron, and the Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at the dam supplies the level and the 30-day chart on this page.
Species and seasons
Redfin are the lake’s fish, in numbers that make Wellington the state’s redfin water, along the drop-offs and the timber through the year on small lures and bait; rainbow trout are stocked by DPIRD and fish the cool months; marron are a licensed pot and snare fishery in the short summer season DPIRD sets; and cobbler are present. The Collie River below the dam and Honeymoon Pool are trout stream water.
Where to fish it
Potters Gorge has the camping and a ramp, the wall has the kiosk and bank access, and the fishing is a boat fishery along the drop-offs and the timbered arms for redfin and trout; the bank near the wall and at the camps fishes at dawn. Honeymoon Pool on the river below is a bank fishery for trout and marron in season.
Reading the report
The scarp is hot and dry in summer and cool and wet in winter, and the water temperature estimate, labelled as one, gives the trout their band from May to October and the redfin the whole year; the chart shows the draw-down. The long lake funnels the wind; pressure and sky fill the score.
Licences, access and rules
A Western Australian Recreational Freshwater Angling Licence, A$50, is required in the south-west’s fresh waters, and a marron licence for the marron season; our Western Australia licence page has the fees read from DPIRD. The camps and ramps are inside Wellington National Park under Parks’ and the water authority’s rules; DPIRD’s freshwater rules are in the sources.
Common questions
What is Wellington Dam known for?
Redfin in numbers, with stocked trout in the cool months and marron in the summer season; and the painted dam wall.
Do I need a licence at Wellington Dam?
Yes: the Western Australian Recreational Freshwater Angling Licence, A$50, and a marron licence for the marron season.
Is fishing good at Wellington Dam 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
- 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.