Drive from Adaminaby to Jindabyne and you cross the Eucumbene twice without noticing either
time. Above the lake the river is famous. Below the wall it is a rumour: a small green river that
falls off Eucumbene Dam into a valley so heavily timbered that from the road you would not know
there was water in it. This is the trip for being left alone.
The stretch runs from the dam wall down to the Eucumbene arm of Lake Jindabyne. It drops off the
dam steeply, settles into fifteen kilometres of confined bedrock channel through the most wooded
country on the whole river, then opens across Nimmo Plain and eases toward the lake. It lives on
what the dam lets through, which is usually not much, so the pools are small and the fishing is
intimate rather than grand.
The fish are resident browns and rainbows at the size a small shaded river grows them. Nothing is
stocked, nothing is surveyed and there is no gauge, so that is a guide's read rather than a
count. Take it as a reason to go. Unstocked, unsurveyed and unfished is the description of a
river with wild fish in it.
It is a different river from the famous water in two ways that matter. The melt that keeps the
run water high and cold until November goes into the lake, not into this river, so the tailwater
can be in order on opening weekend while everyone else is waiting. And the fly-and-lure and
spawning-stream listings that govern the river above the lake do not apply below the wall; no
water-specific listing was found here, so treat it as a general trout stream and check the
current NSW closure notice before you fish.
Fish the shaded water in spring and early summer with a short rod, a dry-dropper flicked into
the white water at the head of each kitchen-sized pool, one drift, then move. From January the
plain fishes like the rest of the Monaro, with a hopper from further back than feels reasonable.
The ways in are around Nimmo Plain and off Pretty Pot Trail, through a mix of park and grazing
land where a fence is a fence. After a storm on the Monaro the side creeks bring it up fast and
dirty. Give it two dry days.
Water and habitat
The fall of the river on the whole-river page shows what happens below the wall: the steepest
drop anywhere on the Eucumbene, straight off the dam, before the river settles into a confined
bedrock channel through the timber. Fifteen kilometres of that, then the valley opens across
Nimmo Plain and the gradient eases, and the last of it drowns in the Eucumbene arm of Lake
Jindabyne.
Bedrock and boulder in the confined water, gravel and sand where it opens out. Shade for most of
the day through the timbered section, which keeps the water cooler than the open Monaro
streams in summer. The flow is small and steady when the dam is holding and it spikes after rain
on the side creeks.
Fish and forage
Brown trout and rainbow trout, at
the size a small shaded river grows them. There is no gauge and no survey to lean on here, and no
stocking record either, so what is written above is a guide's read of the water rather than a
count. Treat that as a reason to go rather than a caution. Unstocked, unsurveyed and unfished is
the description of a river with wild fish in it.
Under the timber the forage is caddis and mayfly and
whatever drops out of the canopy: beetles, cicadas in a loud summer, the odd ant fall. Across
Nimmo Plain the hoppers take over from January, as they do everywhere
on the Monaro.
When to fish it
This stretch does not have the run water's spring problem. The melt goes into the lake, not into
this river, so while the water above the wall is high and cold into November, the tailwater can
be in order from the opening of the season. Spring and early summer are the time for the shaded
water; the plain fishes best from January when the hoppers are about.
After heavy rain on the Monaro the side creeks bring it up fast and dirty. Give it two dry days.
It falls back quickly, because there is not much catchment between the wall and the lake.
How to fish it
A short rod and a short line. In the timbered water you are casting under branches to pools the
size of a kitchen, and the fish are holding at the head of them where the bedrock chute drops
in. A three or four weight, a nine-foot leader, and a dry-dropper
with a small Klinkhammer on top and a bead-head
Pheasant Tail below it. Flick it into the white water at the head of the
pool and let it drift the length. Then move. Nothing in a pool that small is going to be fooled
twice.
Out on Nimmo Plain the river opens and the fishing turns into what the rest of the Monaro
offers: walk the bank, look for the fish, cover it with a hopper or a
Royal Wulff from further back than feels reasonable. The sun is on the
water here, the banks are open, and the fish are as wary as any on the river above the lake.
Fish this stretch for the solitude and the shade, and accept that on a low release the pools
are small and the fish are careful. It is honest fishing. It just is not the fishing the
Eucumbene's name promises, and that is rather the point.
Access and safety
There is no track that follows this river. The listed ways in are around Nimmo Plain, where NSW
DPIRD names Nimmo Camp and the north and south ends of the Nimmo travelling stock reserve as
inspected angler access sites, and further downstream off Pretty Pot Trail toward the Jindabyne
arm. They are pinned on the whole-river page. Between them the
valley is a mix of park and grazing land, and a fence and a gate are the answer, not an invitation.
The confined water below the dam is steep and slippery and a long way from help. Do not enter it
on a rising river, and do not enter it in the dark. Check the dam operator's release notices
before you fish close to the wall: a release can change the river while you are standing in it.
Regulations
The fly-and-lure and spawning-stream listings that govern the Eucumbene above the lake do not
apply here; NSW DPIRD's classified extent runs upstream from the dam wall. No water-specific
listing was found for the river below the wall. Treat it as a general trout stream, with the
general NSW trout season, bag and size, and check the current NSW trout fishing closure
notification before you fish. The dates move with the public holidays and this page does not
carry them.