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Burrendong Dam

Reservoir · Fresh water · in New South Wales

A large impoundment 20 km east of Wellington at the junction of the Cudgegong and Macquarie rivers, its old riverbeds lined with drowned trees that the department calls its main fish structure. Access is through Lake Burrendong State Park in the main basin, Mookerawa Waters Park on the Macquarie arm and the Cudgegong River Holiday Park; the department's inside tip is the Meroo Creek arm.

Safety: boat safety — can cause injury needing treatment.

What each one does, and what reduces it ↓

FishingHQ describes what this place is, not whether you may fish it. Access, permits and who to ask.

What you can catch here

Documented at this place, grouped by how you would be fishing, with how strongly the sources support each one. This is what has been written down, not a forecast, and being listed is never permission to fish.

From the shore · 6

From a boat · 4

What these strengths mean
Regular local target
Fishing sources describe this as a normal local target here, not merely as caught.
Seasonal
Well supported, and concentrated in part of the year rather than spread through it.
How breadth is counted
A fish documented at six marks is shown as six marks: breadth never raises the strength on its own. A fishery account describes the fishing; a recorded catch reports one specific catch. How evidence is weighed.

How people fish it

Practised here: Lure fishing.

Methods the sources name for this ground. Each one is explained in full on its own page.

  • Trolling

    Towing lures or baits behind a moving boat to cover large volumes of water and locate scattered fish.

  • Spinning

    Casting an artificial lure and retrieving it so that it moves like something alive — the most direct form of lure fishing.

  • Ledgering

    Fishing a bait on the bottom held by a weight, with no float — the simplest way to fish at distance, in depth, or in wind.

Baits and lures for these fish

The baits and lures each of the fish above is commonly taken on, from that fish’s own page. This is what works for the fish, not a report of what people use on this particular water — local knowledge and the conditions on the day still decide.

Baits

Lures

How to catch them: Carp fishing · Perch fishing

The ground and the water

The ground
A large impoundment 20 km east of Wellington at the junction of the Cudgegong and Macquarie rivers, its old riverbeds lined with drowned trees that the department calls its main fish structure. Access is through Lake Burrendong State Park in the main basin, Mookerawa Waters Park on the Macquarie arm and the Cudgegong River Holiday Park; the department's inside tip is the Meroo Creek arm.

Through the year

Golden perch all year, best September to December among the timber; Murray cod December to August, with a closed season in spring; native fish school in the river arms in spring before moving upstream to spawn.

Safety

Boat safety — Can cause injury needing treatment

The department warns of submerged rocks, trees and shallow areas on the dam, particularly at lower water levels, among the drowned timber that lines the old riverbeds.

What reduces it: Slow down in timbered and shallow water, especially when the dam is low, and read the state's inland boating guidance before going.

Rules and access

Licence

The NSW recreational fishing fee must be paid, and the receipt carried, in fresh water as in salt. The state fisheries department collects it.

Permission to fish

Separate. The fee is not permission to fish a particular water. The department says most of the Snowy Mountains fishery is in Kosciuszko National Park, whose rules apply too.

Particular to this water: Murray cod have a closed season in spring; check the dates with the department. The department asks that big cod be netted, kept in the water until ready, held by the lower jaw and supported horizontally, without lip grips. Opera house yabby traps are not permitted in any NSW water; open-top pyramid nets and hoop nets are the permitted alternatives. Bowfishing for carp is allowed here only under the department's conditions, among them a current fishing fee receipt, an upright bow with a reeled line, daylight hours and distances from people, camps and dwellings.

Beyond what is stated above, FishingHQ does not know the current access position here. The New South Wales fishing fee applies in fresh water too, trout rivers and streams have a closed season and some are lure and fly only, and much of the high country is national park. All of it changes. Check the current position with the NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development before going.

Who holds the answer:

  • The NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, which publishes the freshwater rules and trout seasons.
  • The National Parks and Wildlife Service, where the water is inside a national park.
  • The NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, which sets the recreational fishing fee and its exemptions and publishes the rules, closures, marine park zoning and freshwater seasons.
  • Service NSW, the state's service through which the licence is bought.
  • The National Parks and Wildlife Service, where the water or shore is inside a national park such as Kosciuszko.
  • The NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development: collects the fishing fee and publishes the bag and size limits, closures and zoning for this water.

Sources for this place

  • Go Freshwater Fishing — Burrendong Dam — NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, 2024 (Government fisheries body)Relied on for: The department's Burrendong Dam guide: the dam, its fish and their seasons and methods, the access areas, the closed season, gear rules and the boating warning.States this directlyPassage read and verified
  • Recreational fishing fee — NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (Government fisheries body)Relied on for: That the NSW recreational fishing fee must be paid, and a receipt carried, when fishing in any NSW water.States this directlyPassage read and verified

How FishingHQ labels evidence is explained in the evidence policy. Last reviewed 2026-10-23.

Before you go

Fish documented here
10 at this place itself. See them.
Getting there
Not recorded. FishingHQ holds no sourced description of the way in.
Rules particular to this water
  • Murray cod have a closed season in spring; check the dates with the department. The department asks that big cod be netted, kept in the water until ready, held by the lower jaw and supported horizontally, without lip grips. Opera house yabby traps are not permitted in any NSW water; open-top pyramid nets and hoop nets are the permitted alternatives. Bowfishing for carp is allowed here only under the department's conditions, among them a current fishing fee receipt, an upright bow with a reeled line, daylight hours and distances from people, camps and dwellings. Dated 2024: NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development and NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development. Whether it still applies is not established. Applies to: Burrendong Dam.

Nothing here is watched for change. Sources and who to ask.

Hazards particular to this place
1 recorded. Safety.

Check before you travel

  • Whether you may fish here, and whether a licence or permit is needed — start with the NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development.
  • Who holds the fishing right on the water you mean to fish.
  • Anything recorded here was true when it was read; it is not watched for change.
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