Goorudee Rivulet

Water and habitat

A small stream feeding a big river. On water this size, cover matters more than almost anything else. Where the banks are open, trout see you coming across the grass; where they are shaded, overhanging growth gives fish somewhere to sit and drops food into the water.

In our experience, trout in a stream like this hold in the deeper water: the head of a pool where the run tips in, the seam beside faster current, an undercut bank, the slack behind a log or a boulder. Shallow, even-bottomed stretches hold fewer fish and spook them first.

Fish and forage

NSW stocking records list rainbow trout released into the rivulet over recent seasons, and the stocking chart shows the pattern. For the fishing that likely means young stocked fish, willing to take a well-presented fly, with the odd survivor that has learned to be careful. A stream this size usually keeps most trout modest.

The rest of the fly box is a guide's read. Small-stream trout feed mostly on nymphs drifting along the bottom and on whatever lands on the surface, and in warm weather that includes grasshoppers, beetles and ants off the bank. A few buoyant dries, a hopper and some bead-head nymphs in sizes 12 to 16 cover most of it.

When to fish it

Settle the rules first: take any season for the stream from the current NSW trout guide. Within whatever it allows, a small NSW trout stream usually fishes best from late spring into autumn. Late spring brings the first steady hatches and water with some push in it. Summer is the time for hoppers and terrestrials along the banks, fished early and late when the light is off the water. Autumn often brings cooler, clearer days. After heavy rain, give a small stream a day or two to drop and clear.

How to fish it

Travel light and fish upstream. A 3 or 4 weight rod of around 8 feet, a floating line and a 9 foot leader tapered to 5X is plenty. Keep low, stay back from the edge, and make short casts with as little line on the water as you can.

Start with a dry and dropper: a size 12 to 14 Royal Wulff with a size 14 to 16 bead-head Hare's Ear or Pheasant Tail under it on a short tippet. Put it in the head of each pool and let it ride down the seam. Two or three good drifts tell you whether a fish is home; then move up. In summer, swap the dry for a hopper and land it close to the bank wherever grass meets the water. In the deeper, slower pools, a small Woolly Bugger stripped past cover can move a trout that will not come up.

Access and safety

The access card names the access points. Treat them as locations, not a statement of permission, and respect any fence or sign you meet on the ground.

As on any bush stream, tell someone where you are going and when you expect to be back, carry water and a small first-aid kit, and watch your footing on wet rock and undercut banks. A small stream can rise quickly after rain, so keep an eye on the sky and never wade a crossing you are unsure of.

Regulations

Before you fish, read the current NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development trout guide, check its trout-water lists and closed-waters list for the rivulet, and take any season, bag and size limits and licence requirements from it.