This is the winter trip on the Coxs, and the only trout water within reach of Sydney that is open
when everything else is shut. In July, August and September, while every classified stream in the
Blue Mountains is closed by law, rainbows that have grown big in Lake Burragorang push back up
into this gorge, and you can walk in and fish for them. That story is true. It is also harder
than it sounds.
The water is the last thirty-five kilometres of the river before it drowns in the top of the
storage. It starts at the Little River junction, where the farmland ends, and runs down through
closed forest with sand and gravel runs between confined walls. Two wild tributaries, the
Kowmung and the Jenolan, join along the way. There is no road anywhere near it. The trout
classification that closes the river above the junction does not apply here, which is the whole
reason this can be the winter page. The ordinary NSW freshwater rules still do, so check the
current synopsis before you go.
There are two ways to fish it. In winter you walk in for the lake fish with a Woolly Bugger and a
warm sleeping bag, and only when there is enough flow to have let them through, because a dry
winter can leave them below you. From October to April it is dry-dropper water for the resident
browns and rainbows in the pockets and runs, and you will have it to yourself.
Both ways in are proper walks. The Six Foot Track reaches the river about five kilometres from
the Aspinall Road end. The Breakfast Creek route from Dunphys campground is the other, and it is
for experienced walkers. The lowest water runs into WaterNSW's special area around Sydney's
drinking-water storage, where the water authority's rules replace the park's. There is no gauge
on this stretch. Read Island Hill on the stretch above before you walk. It is the last number you
will see.
Water and habitat
Below the Little River junction the Coxs has finished its steep drop and settles into a confined
river on sand and gravel between forested walls, easing steadily for thirty-odd kilometres into the
top of Lake Burragorang. The fall of the river on this page is the gentle tail of the whole-river
drawing. The Kowmung comes in from the south-west, bringing its own
wild gorge water with it, and the Jenolan joins on this lower water too. The drowned stem inside the
storage is the end of the map, not more of this reach.
The bank survey switches at the junction: the cultivation of the farmed water above vanishes and
dense forest takes over, three-quarters of the corridor and more. She-oaks along the edge make the
bank easier to reach than the willow country up near Lithgow, and the canopy keeps the water cool
on afternoons that would cook the tableland.
Fish and forage
The fish that make the winter walk worthwhile are rainbow trout
that have grown in the storage, bigger than the resident fish you cover from a bridge in November.
Brown trout live in this gorge too, both species in the river's survey
record. That is a read of the country and of how this river has always been fished, not a survey of
this stretch, which nobody runs. The trout classification does not apply here, but the fish do not
know that.
What the resident fish eat falls out of the forest: beetles, ants and cicadas off the closed canopy
through summer, and caddis in the gravel runs. The winter fish are not feeding
so much as reacting, and you fish them accordingly.
When to fish it
This is the winter trip on the Coxs. Rainbows push up out of the storage through July, August and
September, and that is the reason to walk. It is a long, cold day, it only happens when there is
enough flow to let the fish through, and a dry winter can leave them below you.
The classified water above the Little River is closed through those months. This stretch is not
that water. The classification does not apply here, which is what makes this the winter page and
Glenroy not; it is also not a substitute for checking the current synopsis before you go.
Summer still fishes, in a wet year and in the cooler hours, for the resident fish in the pockets
and runs. A closed gorge runs cooler than the open tableland on the same afternoon, which is a
reason to fish early and keep fish wet, not a reason to assume the water is cold. After rain in the
Kanangra country the confined water comes up fast and coloured and is genuinely dangerous. Read
Island Hill on the stretch above before you walk; it is the last gauge you will see. If the
forecast is wet, wait.
How to fish it
Same job as the Kowmung: seams along bedrock, the soft edge behind a boulder, the tail of a gravel
run, and the first cast into a pocket is usually the only one that counts.
A four or five weight covers it. In winter you are fishing for lake fish on the move, so a
Woolly Bugger or a small streamer swung through the deeper slots and
pools, and a heavier Hare's Ear dead-drifted through the tail-outs at first
light. Through the rest of the year a dry-dropper covers the resident
fish: a Stimulator you can see in broken light over a tungsten
Pheasant Tail, an Elk Hair Caddis when they
are on top in the evening, a hopper on the grassed benches before the walls
close in.
Wading is the real work. Bedrock is slick, the walls pinch in, and a fall is a long way from a
road. If you cannot see the next footing, do not take it.
Access and safety
Park and walk-in. A track on a map is not a right to walk it.
The Six Foot Track is the main way onto this water: it crosses the Coxs a few kilometres above
the Little River, around the Bowtells swing bridge, and it is the way into the wilderness water
downstream, about five kilometres' walk from the Aspinall Road end to the river. Breakfast Creek
from Dunphys campground is the other walk in, and it is for experienced walkers. There is no
public vehicle access onto this stretch, and you should not count on a phone.
The lowest water runs into WaterNSW's special area around Sydney's drinking-water storage, where
the water authority's rules replace the park's. Check current NPWS alerts and the WaterNSW
special-area rules before you plan that far.
Carry what you would need to look after someone overnight a long way from a road, tell someone
your plan and your exit day, and give yourself the daylight to get back out.
Regulations
NSW DPIRD's general trout classification on the Coxs stops at the Little River junction, and this
stretch is below it, so the classification does not apply here. That is why this gorge can be the
winter trip. It is not a reason to skip the current
NSW freshwater synopsis,
which sets the rules that do apply to the fish you catch here. The numbers move. Do not take them
from this page.