Imagery © Esri
The trout water ends where Condor Creek comes in. From that junction down to the wall of Cotter Dam, including the reservoir, the Cotter is Prohibited Water under the territory's rules, and fishing is not allowed at any time.
Anglers working down the trout water need to know where to stop, and anyone arriving at the Cotter Reservoir needs to know the fishing is not there. The river below the dam has its own page.
Numbers identify fishing stretches, not access points. Tap an access diamond, its walking line, or a cross-hatched no-angling section, to open the details on the map. Nearby items within the same click range open together. Unmarked water is not a guarantee that fishing is allowed; seasonal and other rules still apply.
Permanent no angling
Fishing is not allowed at any time in the ACT's listed prohibited waters. On the Cotter River that is two separate stretches: the river upstream of the new Cotter Dam wall as far as the junction with Condor Creek, including Cotter Reservoir; and the river and its catchment upstream of Bendora Dam wall, including Bendora and Corin Reservoirs. The Cotter between the Condor Creek junction and Bendora Dam is not prohibited water: the ACT lists it as Trout Waters, open in season under the trout-water rules. The same list closes the Murrumbidgee River downstream of Angle Crossing to its junction with the Gudgenby River, and the Tidbinbilla River and its catchment within the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve.
Hatching marks the mapped river section, not the boundary of the surrounding land or catchment.
ACT Government (Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate / City and Environment Directorate) · Rule checked 2026-09-20. Check the authority’s current rules before you go.
Permanent no angling
Fishing is not allowed at any time in the ACT's listed prohibited waters. On the Cotter River that is two separate stretches: the river upstream of the new Cotter Dam wall as far as the junction with Condor Creek, including Cotter Reservoir; and the river and its catchment upstream of Bendora Dam wall, including Bendora and Corin Reservoirs. The Cotter between the Condor Creek junction and Bendora Dam is not prohibited water: the ACT lists it as Trout Waters, open in season under the trout-water rules. The same list closes the Murrumbidgee River downstream of Angle Crossing to its junction with the Gudgenby River, and the Tidbinbilla River and its catchment within the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve.
Hatching marks the mapped river section, not the boundary of the surrounding land or catchment.
ACT Government (Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate / City and Environment Directorate) · Rule checked 2026-09-20. Check the authority’s current rules before you go.
Permanent no angling
Fishing is not allowed at any time in the ACT's listed prohibited waters. On the Cotter River that is two separate stretches: the river upstream of the new Cotter Dam wall as far as the junction with Condor Creek, including Cotter Reservoir; and the river and its catchment upstream of Bendora Dam wall, including Bendora and Corin Reservoirs. The Cotter between the Condor Creek junction and Bendora Dam is not prohibited water: the ACT lists it as Trout Waters, open in season under the trout-water rules. The same list closes the Murrumbidgee River downstream of Angle Crossing to its junction with the Gudgenby River, and the Tidbinbilla River and its catchment within the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve.
Hatching follows the mapped shoreline; it does not show the boundary of the surrounding Special Area or catchment.
ACT Government (Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate / City and Environment Directorate) · Rule checked 2026-09-20. Check the authority’s current rules before you go.
Permanent no angling
Fishing is not allowed at any time in the ACT's listed prohibited waters. On the Cotter River that is two separate stretches: the river upstream of the new Cotter Dam wall as far as the junction with Condor Creek, including Cotter Reservoir; and the river and its catchment upstream of Bendora Dam wall, including Bendora and Corin Reservoirs. The Cotter between the Condor Creek junction and Bendora Dam is not prohibited water: the ACT lists it as Trout Waters, open in season under the trout-water rules. The same list closes the Murrumbidgee River downstream of Angle Crossing to its junction with the Gudgenby River, and the Tidbinbilla River and its catchment within the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve.
Hatching follows the mapped shoreline; it does not show the boundary of the surrounding Special Area or catchment.
ACT Government (Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate / City and Environment Directorate) · Rule checked 2026-09-20. Check the authority’s current rules before you go.
Permanent no angling
Fishing is not allowed at any time in the ACT's listed prohibited waters. On the Cotter River that is two separate stretches: the river upstream of the new Cotter Dam wall as far as the junction with Condor Creek, including Cotter Reservoir; and the river and its catchment upstream of Bendora Dam wall, including Bendora and Corin Reservoirs. The Cotter between the Condor Creek junction and Bendora Dam is not prohibited water: the ACT lists it as Trout Waters, open in season under the trout-water rules. The same list closes the Murrumbidgee River downstream of Angle Crossing to its junction with the Gudgenby River, and the Tidbinbilla River and its catchment within the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve.
Hatching follows the mapped shoreline; it does not show the boundary of the surrounding Special Area or catchment.
ACT Government (Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate / City and Environment Directorate) · Rule checked 2026-09-20. Check the authority’s current rules before you go.
Permanent no angling
Fishing is not allowed at any time in the ACT's listed prohibited waters. On the Cotter River that is two separate stretches: the river upstream of the new Cotter Dam wall as far as the junction with Condor Creek, including Cotter Reservoir; and the river and its catchment upstream of Bendora Dam wall, including Bendora and Corin Reservoirs. The Cotter between the Condor Creek junction and Bendora Dam is not prohibited water: the ACT lists it as Trout Waters, open in season under the trout-water rules. The same list closes the Murrumbidgee River downstream of Angle Crossing to its junction with the Gudgenby River, and the Tidbinbilla River and its catchment within the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve.
Hatching marks the mapped river section, not the boundary of the surrounding land or catchment.
ACT Government (Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate / City and Environment Directorate) · Rule checked 2026-09-20. Check the authority’s current rules before you go.
Vehicle track — high-clearance/4WD, about 0.2 km on foot from Sinclair Circuit. The mapped track comes within about 92 m of the channel. Nobody has described this as a way in; it is what the road layer shows, and it may end at a fence.
Vehicle track — high-clearance/4WD, about 0.2 km on foot from Nine Mile Track. The mapped track comes within about 145 m of the channel. Nobody has described this as a way in; it is what the road layer shows, and it may end at a fence.
Vehicle track — high-clearance/4WD, about 0.3 km on foot from Sinclair Circuit. The mapped track comes within about 99 m of the channel. Nobody has described this as a way in; it is what the road layer shows, and it may end at a fence.
Vehicle track — high-clearance/4WD, about 2.3 km on foot from Bullock Paddock Road. The mapped track comes within about 166 m of the channel. Nobody has described this as a way in; it is what the road layer shows, and it may end at a fence.
Vehicle track — high-clearance/4WD, about 0.6 km on foot from Sinclair Circuit. The mapped track comes within about 5 m of the channel. Nobody has described this as a way in; it is what the road layer shows, and it may end at a fence.
Vehicle track — high-clearance/4WD, about 1.4 km on foot from Dry Creek Road. The mapped track comes within about 191 m of the channel. Nobody has described this as a way in; it is what the road layer shows, and it may end at a fence.
Vehicle track — high-clearance/4WD, about 0.2 km on foot from Concrete Road. The mapped track comes within about 182 m of the channel. Nobody has described this as a way in; it is what the road layer shows, and it may end at a fence.
Vehicle track — high-clearance/4WD, about 0.9 km on foot from Boggy Road. The mapped track comes within about 249 m of the channel. Nobody has described this as a way in; it is what the road layer shows, and it may end at a fence.
Vehicle track — high-clearance/4WD, about 0.3 km on foot from Concrete Road. The mapped track comes within about 137 m of the channel. Nobody has described this as a way in; it is what the road layer shows, and it may end at a fence.
Vehicle track — high-clearance/4WD, about 0.9 km on foot from Boggy Road. The mapped track comes within about 162 m of the channel. Nobody has described this as a way in; it is what the road layer shows, and it may end at a fence.
Vehicle track — high-clearance/4WD, about 0.7 km on foot from Concrete Road. The mapped track comes within about 193 m of the channel. Nobody has described this as a way in; it is what the road layer shows, and it may end at a fence.
Vehicle track — high-clearance/4WD, about 0.3 km on foot from Priors Road. The mapped track comes within about 239 m of the channel. Nobody has described this as a way in; it is what the road layer shows, and it may end at a fence.
A track shown here is not a guarantee of access — check current closures and gate status with the land manager before you rely on it, and ask where the way in crosses private ground. A meeting is counted where the mapped track comes within 250 m of the mapped channel.
The stretch runs from the Condor Creek junction down to the wall of Cotter Dam, and takes in the Cotter Reservoir.
The Cotter River upstream of Cotter Dam wall to the junction of Condor Creek, including the Cotter Reservoir, is Prohibited Water under the ACT's recreational fishing rules. Fishing is not allowed at any time. The ACT Government lists it under the Fisheries Act 2000; check the current ACT recreational fishing guide before you fish anywhere nearby.
There is no fishing access on this stretch: all of it, the reservoir included, is closed to fishing at all times. The nearest open water upstream is the trout water above the Condor Creek junction, which the ACT lists as Trout Waters, open in season under the trout-water rules.
The fall of the river
Elevation along the river, source to end
Falls 1287 m over 84 km, gravel bed, floodplain pockets for much of its length.
Geoscience Australia — 1 second SRTM-derived DEM-H v1.0 (NCI tile store). Geoscience Australia, 1 second SRTM-derived DEM-H v1.0, © Commonwealth of Australia, CC BY 4.0. retrieved 2026-08-16.
NSW River Styles spatial dataset — geomorphic character and dominant bed material. NSW River Styles spatial dataset, © State Government of NSW and NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water 2023. retrieved 2026-08-21.
The banks, seen from space
Land cover in the 120 m beside the water, Landsat 2023 to 2024 to 2025
DEA Land Cover (Landsat) — Level 4 classification, continental mosaics. © Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia). DEA Land Cover (Landsat), Digital Earth Australia. retrieved 2026-08-19.
How well this water has been surveyed
19 capture records, 2 decades of 2 on file
Atlas of Living Australia — freshwater fish occurrence records (open licences, with coordinates). Occurrence records from the Atlas of Living Australia and its contributing datasets, including the Victorian Biodiversity Atlas, NSW BioNet Atlas, Sustainable Rivers Audit, Murray-Darling Basin fish monitoring programs, OZCAM museum collections and iNaturalist Australia. Each record carries its own licence and originating dataset. retrieved 2026-08-13.
At the junction with Condor Creek. From that junction down to Cotter Dam wall, including the Cotter Reservoir, the river is Prohibited Water and fishing is not allowed at any time.