Goulburn Fishing Festival 2026
***IMPORTANT UPDATE as at 4/9/2026 ***
Event info
River trout season 2026 officially opens on Saturday 5 September!
Get out and celebrate with friends and family at our annual Goulburn Fishing Festival. This is a free event with something fun for everyone - recreational fishers and the general community - for people of all ages.
For those wanting to experience that fish of a lifetime, the Goulburn River (between Eildon and Molesworth) and Eildon Pondage will once again be stocked with 2,000 massive ‘stonker’ rainbow trout weighing 3-4kg, at numerous sites, guaranteed to create lifelong memories for lots of fishers and their families.
Details
When: Saturday 5 September 2026
Where: Lions Park, Riverside Drive, Eildon
Time of main event: 9am - 2pm
This is a FREE event!
Activities
- Market stalls, spinning wheel with prizes and live performances
- Kids fishing classes with bait and tackle provided, guided by Fishcare. Bookings essential! Register here.
- Enjoy a tour of the Snobs Creek fish hatchery down the road. No booking required! Please take a bus from Eildon Community Centre, from 9:30am - 1pm. Buses arrive every 30 mins.
- Trout cooking demonstrations.
- Help our Snobs Creek hatchery team stock Eildon Pondage with trout.
- Aquaculture hub featuring free tastings of locally grown trout.
- Kids plaster arts painting, games run by our education team and face painting.
- Try your luck at catching a trophy trout at one or more spots on this year's stonker trout trail along the Goulburn.
- Meet and chat to our Fisheries Officers and the Women in Recreational Fishing and Boating (WIRFAB) leaders.
- Lure painting with VRFish
- Food and drink vans onsite throughout the day
- Fireworks over the pondage at 7pm.
The 2026 trout and salmon closed season in rivers and streams is from Tuesday 9 June until Friday 4 September inclusive. The first open day is on Saturday 5 September 2026.