The Deepwater River is a clear granite stream in the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales and one of the most reliable rivers in the region for land-based, skinny-water Murray cod. The fish are not big, they are plentiful, and they will rise to a well-presented surface fly at most times of the day. That is the reason to drive here.
The river is a small-to-medium perennial stream, generally clear over granite boulders and prolific weed beds, and it passes through the small town of Deepwater on the New England Highway. The highway bridge in that town cuts the river in two. Upstream of the bridge the water has historically been treated as trout water, and it is listed as one. Downstream it is cod water.
The easiest trip is the cod below the bridge. From December to March, when the fishing is generally at its best, get onto that water; the magazine account names a travelling stock reserve about ten kilometres north of Deepwater on the highway as one way in, and the access card on this page shows where the access sites sit. Tie on a large gurgler on a 2/0 to 6/0 hook, and cast at every weed bed, boulder and rock bar you can reach. The cod average 40 to 60 centimetres and take a three and a half to five inch fly. Check the current NSW fishing guide for the Murray cod rules before you go, and whether a closed season applies to cod before you plan a spring trip.
The second trip is the trout above the bridge. NSW Fisheries stock the river every year, rainbows every season and browns most seasons, and the way into the stocked sections is further along Bezzants Road, where the magazine account finds road bridges and a few stock reserves that reach them. The water above the bridge is listed as a general trout water under the NSW trout and salmon fishing closure notification, which in practice means the general trout-waters closed season applies to it, so take the dates from the current NSW guide first. The numbers depend on the rain and on the cod, so fish for them as an extra day, not the reason for the trip.
Most of the river between those public pieces is private property, and the honest advice is to ask at the nearest house before you fish beyond a reserve.
Go in December, start below the bridge, and cast a gurgler at the first rock bar you see.
Water and habitat
A small-to-medium perennial stream on the Northern Tablelands, generally flowing clear, with granite boulders and prolific weed beds along its whole length. The magazine account calls it a very healthy system, and the gradient profile and bank cover charts on this page show a river that falls gently and runs mostly through open country. It joins the Mole River downstream.
The river is reasonably featureless, in the sense that there is no obvious pool-and-riffle structure telling you where the fish are. What there is instead is small structure everywhere: weed beds, single boulders, rock bars, and the heads and tails of the pools. A cod sits beside every one of those and waits. Read the river as a series of ambush points rather than as pools and runs, and fish each one before you move.
Two gauge readings sit on the conditions card on this page; the river is perennial, but a clear stream over granite shows every change in level, and low clear water in late summer means fish that see you before you see them.
The highway bridge in the town of Deepwater is the boundary between the two fisheries. Above it, trout water, listed as such. Below it, cod water.
Fish and forage
Murray cod first. The cod here are generally not huge, although fish approaching a metre do get caught, but they are plentiful, and they will rise to a surface fly at most times of the day. The fish average 40 to 60 centimetres. The stocking chart shows cod have been put in, and the recorded presence is strong.
Trout second. The river is often quoted as the northernmost water in NSW to sustain trout, and NSW Fisheries stock it every year in the sections the accounts reach along Bezzants Road; the chart shows rainbows going in every season and browns most seasons. How many survive is another matter. The accounts are candid that rainfall and predation by the cod make the trout population hard to judge in any given year, so treat a trout as a bonus.
Small natives fill the river: mountain galaxias, Australian smelt and southern purplespotted gudgeon are all recorded, along with eastern gambusia. That is the cod's forage, along with probably yabbies and whatever falls in, and it is why a cod fly here is a modest three and a half to five inches with some natural material in it, not the foot-long thing you would throw in an impoundment. For the trout, small-stream flies: a size 12 to 14 dry, a size 14 to 18 nymph, and a black streamer.
When to fish it
The fishing is generally best between December and March. That is the summer window when the water is warm, the cod are active through the day, and a surface fly works from breakfast to dark. It is also the window this page recommends without reservation.
Cod can be caught right through the cooler months, slower and deeper, and a fish in June is a real possibility on a sub-surface fly worked with long pauses. Before any trip outside summer, check the current NSW guide for the Murray cod rules and for whether a closed season applies to cod; the answer decides whether a spring trip is a trip at all.
The trout above the bridge have their own season. The stretch is a listed general trout water, so the general trout-waters closure applies to it; take the open and closed dates from the current NSW guide. Within the open season, the warm months when the weed beds are full are the time to walk it.
How to fish it
For the cod, an eight or nine weight with a floating line and a short, strong leader. The flies are surface flies first: a large gurgler on a 2/0 to 6/0 hook, or a bulky pattern with natural fibre in it, three and a half to five inches long. The magazine account's view, which matches the size of the fish, is that anything with a bit of natural material on a 2/0 to 6/0 hook will draw a cod here. Cast at structure, every piece of it: the edge of a weed bed, the shadow side of a boulder, the lip of a rock bar, the head and the tail of each pool. Pop the fly, let it sit, pop it again, and expect the take on the pause. Because the fish rise at most times of the day, you do not have to wait for dusk, but the light early and late is still the best of it.
When a cod follows and refuses, or in the cooler months, swap to a sub-surface fly of the same size and fish it deeper and slower over the same structure. A strip, a long pause, a strip. The water is clear, so approach from downstream and keep your shadow off the pool.
For the trout above the bridge, a four or five weight and a floating line. A Royal Wulff in size 12 to 14 is the searching dry over the pocket water and the weed beds, a Klinkhåmer in size 14 to 18 when fish are taking in the film, and a Red Tag in size 14 to 16 for a fussy fish on a flat. Under the surface, a Pheasant Tail in size 14 to 18 through the runs, and a black Woolly Bugger in size 10 to 14 swung past the boulders and along the tails of the pools. Remember that a cod lives in the same water and will eat the Woolly Bugger; tie it on a leader you can land a cod on.
Handle every cod in the water, keep it wet, and let it go quickly. The size of the fish here is the point, not the problem.
Access and safety
The river runs through the town of Deepwater on the New England Highway, and the town has what a travelling angler needs. Most of the river beyond it flows through private property, and the public water is a set of travelling stock reserves and road bridges. The access card on this page names the sites to use.
Two routes in from the angling accounts, described as the accounts describe them and not as any statement of permission. One is a travelling stock reserve about ten kilometres north of Deepwater on the New England Highway, which the magazine account names as a way in without saying which stretch it lands on; check it against the access card. The other, for the trout, is further along Bezzants Road, where road bridges and a few stock reserves reach the stocked sections. Beyond those, the magazine account's advice is to check with the nearest house before you fish, and it is the right advice.
What will get you into trouble here is the water itself: clear, over granite, with weed beds you cannot see the bottom through. Wade only where you can see the next step, and remember that a clear stream on a bright day shows the fish everything you do. Cod have big mouths and sharp gill plates; use pliers, not fingers, and grip the fish by the lower jaw with your other hand under its belly.
Regulations
One water-specific rule was found, and it applies to the trout stretch. The whole of the Deepwater River, its creeks and tributaries upstream of the New England Highway road bridge near Deepwater, in the County of Gough, is listed as a general trout water in Schedule 2, Table B1 of the Fisheries Management (Trout and Salmon - Fishing Closure) Notification 2023, and the NSW fishing guide for the New England district lists it the same way. The listing covers the tributaries too, but not the backed-up waters of any impoundment on them. In practice that means the general trout-waters closed season applies to the river above the bridge; take the open and closed dates, and the trout bag and size limits, from the current NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development recreational fishing guide before you fish.
Below the bridge the trout-water listing does not reach, and no rule specific to that stretch was found. Murray cod carry their own statewide rules in NSW, and this page does not state them: check the current NSW guide for the cod size and bag limits and for whether a closed season applies to cod before you plan a trip, and take the licence requirement from the same place.
