The Coxs begins as a small trout stream in open farm country north of Wallerawang, about two
hours from Sydney, with willows on the banks and the power station on the skyline. Most anglers
drive past it on the way to somewhere else. In October that is a mistake.
This stretch is the first seventeen kilometres of the river, from its headwaters down to Lake
Wallace, the first of the two dams. It is small, flat, easy-access water with a road never far
away. The fish are wild brown and rainbow trout, some of them fish that have spent a year in the
lake below and come back up, which makes a brown of surprising size possible in water this
size.
It is an early-season river. This is a general trout water, closed from the June long weekend to
the October one, and the weeks after the October opening are the trip: pools full from winter,
the water still cool, and fish that have not seen a fly since June. From Christmas the hoppers
come off the paddocks. In a dry summer the stream runs low and warm and you are better off on the
permanent pools below Lyell or on the lakes. Do not come in July. The winter fish are in the gorge
far below.
Access is roadside on mixed ground, with farms and power-station land along the bank, and a gate
and a fence are the answer to any question about where you may walk. The gauge at the power
station reads water temperature and turbidity as well as flow, which is more than most trout
streams in the state can say, and its readings sit under Conditions. This water colours before it
rises, so give it a few dry days after rain.
Water and habitat
A valley-fill stream in laterally open country, easing gently through its whole length: the fall
of the river on this page is the flattest water on the whole Coxs above the storage. Fine-grained
bed, grassed banks, willow thickets that make casting awkward and hold fish in their shade, and
the occasional gravel run where the stream tightens. The Wallerawang Power Station gauge sits
about fourteen kilometres down, just above the lake.
The bank survey draws this as open woodland with a third of the corridor in grass and a tenth
under cultivation, which is a way of saying farm country. There is no forest here, and no shade
you did not bring. On a hot afternoon the water warms with the paddocks, and the willows are where
the fish are.
Fish and forage
Brown trout and rainbow trout are
the fish this Lithgow country is known for, and both are in the river's survey record from the
1990s on. The fish here have used Wallace and Lyell as much as they have used the stream, and a
brown that has spent a year in the lake can be a surprise in water this size. Redfin, goldfish and
gambusia turn up in the slower pools, as they do on any farmed tableland river. The department's
general trout classification is a rule about how you fish, not a headcount.
Caddis in the evening runs, small mayfly on the slow pools, and from
Christmas the grasshoppers off the paddock banks. A fish under a willow
in the afternoon is waiting for a beetle or a hopper to fall.
When to fish it
Early season is the trip. The classified water opens on the October long weekend, and from then
until the summer low this small water is at its best. In a wet year it keeps producing through
summer; in a dry one it runs low and warm, and you are better on the permanent pools below Lyell
or on the lakes.
Read the Conditions card on this page before you drive. Wallerawang reads flow, height and water
temperature, and turbidity as well: after rain in the Lithgow country the river colours before it
rises. Give it a few dry days. A water temperature in the low twenties is a reason to fish first
light and keep fish wet, or to leave the river alone until it cools.
This stretch is closed from the June long weekend to the October one with the rest of the
classified water. If you came for trout in July, you want the gorge below Little River, not here.
How to fish it
Small water, fish that have seen a few anglers, and willows behind you. Keep the first cast
honest. A four or five weight, a floating line, and a leader short enough to roll under the
branches.
An Adams and a hot-spot Pheasant Tail as a
dry-dropper is the starting rig and will often be the finishing one.
On this water the Pheasant Tail with a bright tag is the nymph that earns its place. A
hopper along the grassed banks once the paddocks dry off. When the river is
carrying colour, a small Woolly Bugger or a worm pattern is more use than
a tiny dry.
Fish the shaded banks and the deeper bends. The open, sunlit runs are for the first hour of the
morning; the willows are for the rest of the day.
Access and safety
Mixed country: roads, farms, power-station land. A gate and a fence are the answer, not an
invitation to find a way around. Confirm who holds the bank before you walk it. The Wallerawang
entry near Main Street and the Castlereagh Highway sits just upstream of the power station; do not
walk the fenced ground or the station land without the land manager's word. The Lidsdale State
Forest side gives a second way onto the upper water.
Lake Wallace is the bottom of this stretch, not more of it. The lake has its own page.
Regulations
NSW DPIRD classifies the Coxs as a general trout water upstream from its junction with the Little
River, and this stretch is far above that junction. A general trout water carries the NSW trout
season, which closes this water from the June long weekend to the October long weekend, and the
general-trout-water size and bag limits.
The dates follow the public holidays and the numbers move. Take them from the current
NSW freshwater synopsis
and the trout closure notification, not from this page.