ACT · Murrumbidgee River

Headwaters to Corin Dam

Imagery © Esri

Save yourself the drive. The Cotter's headwaters, from the tussock marshes under the Brindabella Range down to Corin Dam, sit inside a catchment where the territory prohibits fishing at all times.

It is the source country of the river: creeks draining tussock marshland, fed by snow off the range, gathering into a stream that Corin Dam holds back. The closure covers everything above Bendora Dam wall, so it takes in this stretch, Corin Dam, and the river between the two reservoirs.

The nearest open water on the Cotter starts downstream at the Bendora Dam wall: the ACT lists the river from there to the Condor Creek junction as Trout Waters, open in season. That stretch has its own page. Do not come up here with a rod.

River map & ways in

The water from source to end, with mapped tracks and walking lines

permanent no-angling water numbered fishing stretch river landmark sealed road unsealed 4WD walking track and walk-in leave the road listed way in named nearby, not confirmed mapped approach, not confirmed access this stretch

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.

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.

Conditions

What the gauges say

Cotter River at Gingera

River flow

Below the seasonal median

2.017 m³/s

recorded 2026-09-08 18:00

For the same week of the year

Lowest recorded: 0.195 m³/s
Typical (median): 2.075 m³/s
Highest recorded: 15.185 m³/s

About this reading

m³/s is the volume of water passing the gauge each second. A flow reading does not establish safe wading or a flood warning.

Daily averages for the same week of the year, from 1963-07-04 to 2026-08-22, across 63 years. The median is the middle reading: half are below it and half above. Recorded extremes are not safe-flow limits. The flow scale is compressed using log(1 + flow) so very large peaks and zero readings fit together.

Gauge height0.78 m Details

Height above the gauge's reference mark, not the depth where you will fish.

recorded 2026-09-08 18:00

Water temperature

Much warmer than usual

9.7 °C

recorded 2026-09-08 18:00

For the same week of the year

About this reading

Water temperature measured at this gauge.

Daily averages for the same week of the year, from 1999-09-24 to 2026-08-22, across 26 years. The seasonal comparison uses the middle half of these readings.

Water clarity

Clear water

5.9 NTU

recorded 2026-09-08 18:00

Low cloudiness. Fish can see a fly well, so a careful approach and finer presentation matter.

About this reading

NTU measures cloudiness; lower readings mean clearer water.

These are automatic readings that have not been quality-checked, so treat them as a guide to the trend rather than exact figures.

Readings from the Bureau of Meteorology's Water Data Online, © Commonwealth of Australia, licensed CC BY 4.0. Nothing here is a forecast. Check the gauge before you rely on it.

Weather

What the sky is doing

Live weather for Cotter River at Gingera loads here. If it does not, check the Bureau of Meteorology forecast before you go.

Weather data by Open-Meteo.com

Water and habitat

The mapped headwaters run from the source to where the river enters Corin Dam. The gradient profile shows how steeply this upper river falls. Early in the season the snowmelt runs it heavy and icy.

Regulations

The Cotter River and its catchment upstream of Bendora Dam wall, including Bendora and Corin reservoirs, are Prohibited Waters under the ACT's recreational fishing rules. Fishing is not allowed at any time. Check the current ACT recreational fishing guide before you fish anywhere on the Cotter.

Access and safety

The river here runs through Namadgi National Park. Whatever the park allows for walking, fishing is prohibited on this stretch, so there is no angler access to describe.

What the record shows

Flows, river gradient, changing water levels, fish surveys and stocking

More river data The fall of the whole Cotter River, its bank survey and its wider record, with this stretch marked

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.

bedrock · 2% gravel · 74% sand · 2% variable · 1% unstated · 20% lake the river runs through

Headwater: 1755 m
Outlet: 469 m
Typical drop: 15.3 m/km
Steepest sampled stretch: 89.6 m/km, near 4 km

The flat shelves are the lakes the river runs through: Corin Dam, Bendora Dam and Cotter Dam. Hover the profile for the reading at any kilometre.

Source: Geoscience Australia.

Source details and licence

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.

Bed material: NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (Water, Surface Water Science).

Source details and licence

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.

Gauge pins identify the monitoring stations. The slope shows how steeply the river falls; it does not show rapids or safe wading routes.

The banks, seen from space

Land cover in the 120 m beside the water, Landsat 2023 to 2024 to 2025

dense forest open woodland scattered trees and scrub native grass and heath farmed or cleared bare ground lake

Along the river itself about 97% of the bank is under trees, 3% is native grass or heath and 0% is farmed. The most wooded stretch is 20 to 25 km from the source; the most open is 75 to 80 km.

Source: Geoscience Australia / Digital Earth Australia.

Source details and licence

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

electrofishing (backpack), 16 records electrofishing (other), 2 records trapping, 1 record

Capture records by decade — electrofishing, netting, trapping and rotenone surveys only; a sighting, an eDNA water sample or a stocking release is not a capture and is not counted here. A record is not an abundance estimate, and a decade with no bar is a decade with no capture survey on file, not evidence the water was empty.

Source: Atlas of Living Australia.

Source details and licence

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.

park

Namadgi National Park sets the rules here

Park roads and tracks can close at short notice for weather, fire or maintenance. Obey signs and locked gates, and check current alerts before you go: Parks ACT alerts. The notes below describe the country; they do not guarantee that a road or track is open today.

Questions anglers ask

Is there any fishing up here at all?

No. The Cotter and its catchment above Bendora Dam wall, including Bendora and Corin reservoirs, are Prohibited Waters under the ACT rules. Fishing is not allowed at any time.

Behind this page

Where next

Keep moving

Water guide Cotter River The whole river, and the one stretch of it that is open to trout fishing.

landscape

Water guide Bendora Dam to Condor Creek The trout water, downstream of this closed catchment.

Fish nearby Adelong Creek A NSW creek that flows into the Murrumbidgee, with brown and rainbow trout and a little Murray cod stocked into it, and carp and goldfish also recorded.

Fish nearby Adjungbilly Creek A NSW creek that flows into the Tumut River, with brown and rainbow trout recorded in it and stocked in recent seasons, best approached with dries and nymphs.

Headwaters to Corin Dam

River map & ways in