Species · Anguilla australis
Southern Shortfin Eel
Every shortfin eel in a Tasmanian lake or a Victorian creek started life as a transparent leaf drifting down the coast from the Coral Sea, and every one of them is trying to go back.
Family
Anguillidae
Origin
Native
Spawns
Nov–Dec (Tasmania)
How to tell it
The southern shortfin eel is the eel of the south: of Tasmanian lagoons, Victorian swamps and slow lowland rivers, of farm dams a long way from the sea. Native Fish Australia describes it as widespread and common in coastal river systems from southern Queensland through New South Wales and Victoria to Tasmania and the larger Bass Strait islands. If you fish lowland water in the south-east at night, sooner or later one will take something meant for a trout.
It has the strangest life of any fish an Australian freshwater angler is likely to catch. The adults leave fresh water, swim to sea and spawn in deep water in or near the Coral Sea, then die, as the Inland Fisheries Service in Tasmania describes. The larvae drift back towards the coast, become transparent glass eels, enter the estuaries from late spring, colour up as elvers and work their way upstream over several years. Native Fish Australia adds that elvers can get past dams and waterfalls by travelling overland in damp conditions, and that a female may spend 35 years in fresh water before she turns for the sea.
Most anglers meet one by accident, on a worm or a soft plastic meant for something else, and Native Fish Australia is plain that eels are not generally fished for on purpose. This page is honest about that.
The quick read
A native, long-lived, mostly nocturnal eel of still and slow water. The Australian Museum says it is the only freshwater eel in southern Australian waters with a uniform body colour, which is the quickest way to tell it from the mottled longfin. It eats almost anything that lives in the water. It can be kept under bag and size limits in Victoria, Tasmania and Queensland. Bait is the usual method; eels will take a streamer at night, but it is not a fly fishery.
Range in Australia
Coastal and southern. Native Fish Australia gives southern Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and the larger Bass Strait islands, and calls it rare in South Australia. The Inland Fisheries Service says it is found right across Tasmania, common and widespread in coastal and lowland rivers. Because the young must swim up from the sea, big dams cut eels off: the Inland Fisheries Service names hydro-electric dams as a limit on their distribution, says it moves eels upstream of large dams, and notes that commercial fishermen stock elvers into impoundments including farm dams.
In this guide the species is recorded across the Tasmanian midlands, in the Macquarie River, the Meander River, the South Esk and the Tyenna River, and in Arthurs Lake in 2002. On the mainland it is recorded in the Merri River, the Snowy River and the Coxs River. These are survey and sighting records, not fisheries.
Habitat and behaviour
Still water by preference. The Inland Fisheries Service lists rivers, creeks, lakes and swamps but says the species generally prefers still water; Native Fish Australia names lakes, dams and swamps, and says it is also common in rivers wherever the current is slow. The Inland Fisheries Service gives a maximum of 1.1 metres and 3.2 kilograms, with most fish smaller.
Confusing species
The longfin eel is the only real confusion, and in Tasmania and Victoria the two overlap. Two features settle it:
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Colour. The shortfin is plain: the Inland Fisheries Service describes adults as dark brown to black on the back and sides with a lighter or silvery belly. The longfin is mottled or spotted.
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Where the back fin starts. Lay the eel straight. On a shortfin, the Inland Fisheries Service says the dorsal fin begins about level with, or slightly in front of, the start of the anal fin. On a longfin it starts clearly further forward.
A shortfin heading to sea develops a silver-white belly, the Inland Fisheries Service notes, which is where the old name “silver eel” comes from. A freshwater catfish also has an eel-like tail, but it has whiskers around the mouth and a spined fin on the back.
Fishing for them
Eels are caught at night on bait, and Native Fish Australia says they readily take bait meant for other species. NSW DPIRD describes eels as commonly caught at night on baited hooks, particularly pieces of fish and earthworms.
Eels will take a fly. On the Orvis fly fishing podcast, the Australian guide Angus Reynolds describes eels attacking a large streamer stripped through a waterfall pool on an eight-weight rod, and catching them again in other waters. If you want to try it deliberately, the same logic applies to a shortfin in a lowland lagoon: after dark, a dark, bulky fly such as a Woolly Bugger fished slowly near the bottom where the eel feeds, on a leader strong enough to stop it backing into weed. See streamer fishing for the retrieve.
Bring a wet cloth to hold it and long-nosed pliers for the hook. Native Fish Australia describes the slime coat as heavy, and that slime is what makes an eel so hard to hold.
Spawning season
There is no freshwater spawning season. The Inland Fisheries Service explains that eels spawn only once, at sea, after a downstream migration when they mature, and die afterwards. Native Fish Australia says females may wait until about 35 years old and males 25, though some start the migration much younger. The fish you catch in a river or lake is a feeding, growing eel, years or decades from that journey.
Rules that apply
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Victoria: the Victorian Fisheries Authority lists no minimum size and a combined bag limit of 10 shortfin and longfin eels (as published in October 2026).
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Tasmania: the Inland Fisheries Service fact sheet (2024) gives a daily bag of 12, a possession limit of 24 and a minimum length of 300 millimetres. Check the current Inland Fishing Code.
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Queensland: the Queensland Government lists a minimum size of 30 centimetres and a combined possession limit of 10 across all eel species (as published in October 2026).
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New South Wales: NSW DPIRD’s freshwater bag and size limits (checked October 2026) set a 30 cm minimum, a bag of 10 and a possession limit of 10, open all year.
Frequently asked questions
Shortfin or longfin?
Look at the colour and the back fin. Plain dark brown with the dorsal fin starting about level with the anal fin is a shortfin; mottled with the dorsal fin starting well forward is a longfin.
How did an eel get into a lake above a dam?
Either it climbed past the barrier as an elver, as Native Fish Australia describes, or it was carried. The Inland Fisheries Service moves eels above large dams in Tasmania, and commercial fishermen stock elvers into impoundments.
Can I fish for them on fly?
You can, and eels will take a streamer at night. Expect it to be occasional rather than a reliable method.