The Clarence is a big northern NSW river, and the reason to bring a fly rod is Australian bass, which have been stocked into it. Add freshwater catfish, oxeye herring and a long list of small baitfish, and it is a river worth a few days.
Think of it in two parts, split by a line on the water rather than a dam. Upstream from a power line above the town of Copmanhurst, all the way to the source, NSW rules ban nets other than a landing net. Below that line, check the current NSW guide for net rules; public boat ramps give you a way onto the water. The fish list is partly salty, too: sea mullet, pinkeye mullet and estuary glassfish are all found in the river.
Start with bass. They are the easiest fly fish to plan a trip around, and the stocking chart shows the releases. In our experience the warm months, fished at dawn and dusk against timber and shaded banks, are the time. Launch from one of the ramps the access card names, drift the edges and cast tight to cover. If you fish above Copmanhurst, the net ban means you bring your bait or buy it, since a cast net is out; your fly rod is untouched by it.
The second trip is catfish. Freshwater catfish are recorded here, and in our experience they feed along the bottom of slow pools. Crawl a weighted dark fly over sand and gravel on a summer evening. It is slow fishing, and it suits the hours after the bass go quiet.
The third trip is a curiosity. Oxeye herring are found here too; they are silver, they jump, and they will chase a small bright fly where you see them working. FlyLife's writers also describe big bream schooling on deep coffee-rock reefs in winter when the tidal flow runs hard. We would treat that as a lead worth exploring by boat, not a sure thing.
Pack a six-weight, a floating line and a sinking tip, check the current NSW guide, and pick a ramp from the access card.
Water and habitat
The Clarence is a large river, and its character changes along its length. The gradient profile shows where it runs steep and where it lays back; the flatter water is where you want to be for bass and catfish alike. Look for timber in the water, undercut and shaded banks, and the deeper bends where current slows. The bank cover chart gives you a sense of how much of the river is shaded and treed. In our experience, shade and snags in a warm river usually mean fish.
The mix of fish tells you the river meets salt water somewhere below you. Sea mullet and estuary glassfish sit in the same list as rainbowfish and gudgeons, so expect conditions to change as you move downstream.
The flow chart shows how the river behaves across the year. Big coastal rivers in general run coloured after heavy rain. Check the live conditions card before you drive; high brown water is a day to leave.
Fish and forage
Australian bass are the main event. They ambush from cover, eat small fish and insects from the surface, and hit a fly hard. Bass have been stocked here, and the chart shows which seasons fish went in.
Freshwater catfish are bottom feeders. In our experience they eat shrimp, snails and yabbies off the bottom far more than anything swimming past, so the fly needs to be heavy and slow.
Oxeye herring are a bonus fish that jump when hooked. Mullet, both sea and pinkeye, are grazers and rarely take a fly with conviction. Longfin eels are here too, and a big one will occasionally grab a fly meant for a catfish.
The forage list is long: Australian smelt, several gudgeons, Mariana's and Marjorie's hardyheads, Agassiz's and estuary glassfish, crimson-spotted rainbowfish and Pacific blue-eyes. A slim streamer in the size and colour of a smelt or a hardyhead is about as close to a universal fly as this river has.
Carry small surface flies and dark streamers in sizes 4 to 8 for bass, weighted Woolly Buggers in 6 to 10 for catfish, and a few bright size 8 to 12 baitfish patterns for herring.
When to fish it
We would plan around the warm months. From late spring through summer, bass move up against the banks and feed on the surface at first and last light, and catfish are at their most active in the evenings. Autumn can still be good while the water holds its warmth.
Winter is a different river. In our experience bass drop back downstream as the water cools; check the current NSW guide before you plan a winter trip. Winter is also when FlyLife's writers place those bream on the deep reefs.
Watch the rain. After a big downpour, give the river time to drop and clear, and use the live conditions card to see the level before you leave.
How to fish it
A six-weight handles everything here. Carry a floating line for surface work and a sinking tip for catfish and deeper bass.
For bass, fish from a boat or kayak and cast tight to the timber and the shaded bank. Let a surface fly sit, give it a twitch, and wait; a bass often takes on the pause. With a streamer, strip it back in short pulls along the edge of the cover, as shown in streamer fishing. Use a stout leader: bass head straight back into the snag they came from, so turn them hard.
For catfish, cast across into slow water, let the fly reach the bottom, and inch it back with long pauses. The take is usually a slow weight; lift into it steadily.
For herring, look for fish breaking the surface and put a small bright fly just ahead of them with a quick strip.
Access and safety
The access card names the public boat ramps and one angler access site. They describe where you can reach the water; they are not permission to walk the banks beyond them. Assume land beside the river is private, ask before you cross a paddock, and leave gates as you found them.
On a big river fished from a boat, wear a lifejacket, tell someone your plan, and watch for submerged timber, especially when the water is coloured. As on any warm river fished at dusk, carry a head torch and expect snakes in the grass through the warm months. Check, clean and dry your gear before you fish another river.
Regulations
NSW rules ban nets, other than a landing net, in the Clarence River and its tributaries upstream from the power line upstream from Copmanhurst to its source. That affects bait gathering, not fly fishing: line fishing is not closed by that notice.
For everything else, including bag and size limits and any seasonal rules, open the current NSW fishing rules and regulations and its closed-waters list, confirm the fishing fee and exemptions, and check the freshwater bag and size limits before you fish.
