The Campbells River is a small tableland trout stream in the country around Bathurst that holds some very large brown and rainbow trout, and the reason to drive to it is a big brown from the Swallows Nest stretch in the week after rain.
Think of it as a river in two parts, cut by a dam. It rises in forest and farm country, gathers a handful of small creeks, and is caught by Ben Chifley Dam. Below the wall a short reach runs down to meet the Fish River, and the two together become the Macquarie. This page is about the river, not the dam.
Its character is set by rain. The river is often in drought, and after about two months without a good fall it breaks into isolated pools, at times with long dry stretches between stagnant ones. So the first decision is not where but when: watch the weather and go in the week or two after a decent fall, whatever the month.
There is one named way in. The local fishing website reaches the river from Swallows Nest Road, which leaves Mount David Road on the southern edge of Dog Rocks State Forest, and that is the stretch it names for very large browns. In the warm months the fish are looking up for beetles, hoppers and ants, so a Royal Wulff or a red tag along the grass edge is the way to start. At the cool ends of the season fish a small nymph through the runs, especially after a little rain. That route is the website writers' route and much of the river is farmland, so stay off private land.
The river has a past. A magazine writer recalls a time when a day on the Campbells meant a dozen browns of fifty centimetres, and the same magazine names it with the Fish, the Turon and the Duckmaloi among the rivers of this country that have fished well. That is the memory; the present is a small river that rewards timing.
No water-specific rule was found for the Campbells, and trout streams in NSW commonly carry a classification that closes them through winter and sets size and bag limits, so read the current NSW fishing guide before you go.
Watch the rain, read the guide, and go in the week after a fresh.
Water and habitat
The Campbells drains forest and farmland in the country around Bathurst, fed by small creeks, and is held by Ben Chifley Dam before the short reach below the wall joins the Fish River to form the Macquarie. The gradient chart on this page shows the fall from the headwater country to the junction, and the bank cover chart shows how much of the river runs under trees rather than open paddock.
This is a river that shrinks. When the rain stops the runs go first, then the shallow pools, until the river is a string of deep holes joined by dry gravel. The fish that live through a dry spell are in the deepest, shadiest pools, under the banks and the fallen timber, and they are wary because they have nowhere else to be. When the rain comes back the river reconnects, the fish spread into the runs and the pool heads to feed, and that is the river you want to meet.
Read the river accordingly. In good water fish the heads of the pools and the runs between them. In low water leave the shallow pools alone and spend your time on the deep ones, approaching from below and low to the ground.
Fish and forage
The river is described as holding some very large brown and rainbow trout, and the Swallows Nest stretch is named for very large browns in particular. Rainbows are recorded in the river with high confidence. So are redfin, carp, goldfish and eastern gambusia, none of which you will be pleased to meet, and mountain galaxias, the small native fish that a big brown eats between hatches.
Above the water the food is terrestrial. The local website's warm-months list is beetles, hoppers, ants, Royal Wulffs and red tags, which tells you the fish are looking up for whatever falls off the grass and the trees from late spring to early autumn. At the cool ends of the season the website fishes nymphs, especially after a little rain, which is when the runs are moving and the fish are back in them.
For a fly box that means a Royal Wulff and a red tag in a couple of sizes, a beetle pattern, a hopper for late summer and a small black ant. Add a Pheasant Tail and a Hare's Ear with a bead for the runs, and a small olive or black Woolly Bugger to swim past the deep holes as a galaxias. Whether the trout population still runs to the size the old accounts describe is not something this page can say; fish it as though it does.
When to fish it
Nobody has written down when this river fishes best, so what follows is a guide's judgement built on the flies the local website fishes by season and on how the river behaves in drought.
The calendar is written by the rain. Whatever the month, the river fishes in the week or two after a decent fall, when the pools are joined and the fish are in the runs, and it goes dead again after a couple of months without one. Plan around the forecast, not the diary.
Late spring through summer is the dry-fly time: beetles and ants early, hoppers along the grass once the paddocks dry off in late summer. Fish the mornings and the last light in the hot weeks, because a small tableland river warms quickly.
Autumn and the start of the season are nymph time, through the runs and the pool heads, and the first good rain of autumn is the trip to book. The website's talk of early and late season implies a trout-stream season applies here; whether it does, and what it closes, is for the current NSW guide.
How to fish it
Fish a four-weight, or a five if you want a little more authority over a big brown in timber, with a floating line and a leader longer than the river looks like it needs. The water is small and the fish that survive its dry spells are wary, so the first cast to each pool is the one that counts. Approach from downstream, stay low, and use the bank cover.
In the warm months tie on a Royal Wulff or a red tag and work upstream, dropping the fly along the grass edge and under the overhanging branches where beetles and ants land. When the hoppers are thick, a hopper pattern slapped down hard near the bank draws fish from a long way off. Give a dry-fly presentation this simple a good drag-free drift and the fish will do the rest.
At the cool ends of the season fish a small bead-head nymph, a Pheasant Tail or a Hare's Ear, through the runs and the heads of the pools. A dry-dropper rig with a Royal Wulff on top covers both jobs when you are not sure which the fish want.
For the big browns of the Swallows Nest stretch, fish the deep holes at first light and last light with a small Woolly Bugger swum slowly along the timber and the undercut bank. In low water they will not move far for a fly, so put it in front of them.
Carry a net big enough for the fish you are hoping for, keep a big brown in the water while you unhook it, and put it back.
Access and safety
There is no signposted angler access here. The notes below describe how the local website's writers reach the river; they are not a statement that any route is open to you, and much of the river runs through private farmland.
The one entry the website names is Swallows Nest Road, which leaves Mount David Road along the southern edge of Dog Rocks State Forest. Treat the state forest as public and the paddocks beside the river as private unless you have asked. Check for logging and fire closures in the forest before you drive in.
The river itself is small and will not drown you in ordinary conditions, but any small tableland river can come up after a storm, so do not camp in the bed. Treat it in summer as you would any bush water: watch for snakes in the long grass, and remember that the stagnant pools of a dry spell are not drinking water; carry your own. Do not count on phone coverage; tell someone where you are going.
Regulations
No water-specific rule was found for the Campbells. Trout streams in New South Wales commonly carry a classification that sets a winter closure and size and bag limits, and the Campbells may be one of them; whether it is, and what applies where, is a question for the fishing department, not this page.
Before you fish, read the current NSW fishing rules and regulations, the freshwater bag and size limits and the general freshwater closures, and confirm the fishing fee.
