Doon Doon Creek is a small NSW creek with freshwater catfish recorded in it, and in our experience the reason to come is to put a fly in front of a fish few anglers target on purpose.
A dam wall cuts the creek in two. Above it sits Clarrie Hall Dam, the impoundment the creek feeds. Below it, the creek runs on as a stream to its junction with the Tweed River, the bigger river it flows into. The fishing described here is that lower stretch, from the wall down to the Tweed.
There is one trip worth planning, and it is the lower creek outside the closed months. The fish is the freshwater catfish; check where the access point on the access card sits against the dam wall, then work the deepest, slowest pools you can reach. The creek below the dam and its tributaries are closed to all fishing each year from August to October inclusive, which in practice means you plan your trips around the other nine months. In our experience catfish feed hardest in the warm months, so the early part of that window, through summer, is the time to go.
Do not plan a trip around the water above the dam wall. The closure covers only the stretch below it, and for the dam and anything above it you should take the rules from the current NSW guide.
Pack a 5 or 6 weight, a floating line with a long leader, and a handful of weighted dark flies, and read the current NSW guide and its closed-waters list before you drive out.
Water and habitat
The gradient and bank cover charts follow the creek's mapped line from its headwaters down into the dam, so read them as a picture of the creek above the wall, not of the stretch you fish below it.
In our experience a freshwater catfish is a bottom fish that likes still, deeper water with a soft or gravel floor. On a creek this size, look for the pools rather than the runs: the tail of a long pool where the current slackens, a deep hole beside a bank, or the quiet water behind a snag. Fast, shallow riffles are water to walk past.
Fish and forage
Freshwater catfish have been recorded in the creek. We would treat them as the target and anything else as a surprise.
The fly selection is a guide's read. Catfish in our experience forage along the bottom, nosing through the silt and gravel for small creatures, so a fly has to get down and stay there. Carry weighted flies in dark colours, olive, brown and black, around size 6 to 10: a Woolly Bugger with a bead or cone, a simple shrimp or yabby pattern, and a heavy nymph or two.
When to fish it
The calendar starts with the closure. From August to October inclusive, the creek below the dam is closed to all fishing, so plan your trips for the rest of the year.
Within those months, in our experience catfish are most active in the warmer weather, from late spring through summer and into early autumn, and often feed best in low light, in the evening and after dark where that is allowed. In the cooler months they tend to slow down, and a trip then is a gamble. After heavy rain, give a small creek a few days to settle and clear before you bother.
How to fish it
This is slow fishing. A 5 or 6 weight rod and a floating line with a 9 to 12 foot leader will let you put a weighted fly on the bottom of most creek pools; if the pool is deep, add weight rather than change line.
Cast across and upstream into the head of a pool, let the fly sink until the leader stops moving, then crawl it back in short, slow pulls, pausing often. The take is usually a soft weight or a leader that stops, not a hit, so set on anything unusual. Work each pool thoroughly before you move, and fish the last hour of light when you can.
Access and safety
The access card names the access point. Treat it as a location, not a statement of permission, and respect any fence, sign or locked gate you meet on the ground.
As on any bush creek, tell someone where you are going and when you expect back, carry water and a small first-aid kit, and watch your footing on wet rock and soft banks. If you are fishing into the evening, take a headlamp and know your way back before the light goes.
Regulations
Under a NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development closed-waters notice, Doon Doon Creek and its tributaries from the Clarrie Hall Dam wall downstream to the junction with the Tweed River are closed to fishing by all methods each year from August to October inclusive. Outside that period the notice imposes no closure. The notice does not reach the water above the dam wall. For licences, bag and size limits and the general rules on every part of the creek, read the current NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development fishing guide and its closed-waters list before you fish.
