The Ingeegoodbee River is a trout stream on the NSW side of the Victorian border, and brown trout are the reason to come: they are on record here, and the whole river above the border is classified NSW trout water.
One line cuts the river in two: the state border. Above it, in NSW, the river and every creek feeding it are listed trout water. Below it the river crosses into Victoria and runs on to join the Suggan Buggan River. For an angler that makes two parts, each under a different state's rules.
Start on the NSW side. This is the trip we would plan first: brown trout, with rainbows also recorded, fished through the warmer months with a light rod and a small box of dries and nymphs. The access card names the NSW angler access sites, so pick one of those as your way in. The river and all its feeder creeks are classified general trout water under NSW rules, so look up what that classification means for season and limits in the current NSW guide before you set a date.
Treat the water below the border as a separate trip. Once the river crosses into Victoria the NSW listing no longer covers it, so read the current Victorian fishing guide first. In our view it is a trip for someone who already knows the country.
Check the current NSW guide, choose a site from the access card, and fish the NSW water first.
Water and habitat
The NSW listing covers the river and every creek and tributary above the Victorian border, so the trout water includes the small side streams as well as the main channel. Read it as mountain trout water: runs, pocket water behind stones, and deeper slots at the heads and tails of pools.
The gradient chart shows where the river drops hardest, and the bank cover chart shows how the country along the banks changes. In our experience the steeper stretches fish as a chain of pockets and short plunge pools, and the flatter stretches hold fish along undercut banks and in the slower water at the edges of runs.
Trout in water like this sit where the current brings food past them without making them work: behind rocks, along seams where fast water meets slow, and under overhanging banks. Fish those places and skip the thin, featureless flats.
Fish and forage
Brown trout are the fish most firmly on record in the Ingeegoodbee, and they are the ones to plan around. Rainbow trout have been recorded here too. Southern shortfin eels also live in the river; you may see one, and they are not what you came for.
In our experience trout in small mountain streams eat what the current brings them: nymphs knocked off the stones, caddis and mayflies when they hatch, and beetles and grasshoppers falling in from the banks through summer. That points to a short box of general patterns rather than exact imitations. A brown in clear water will look at a well-drifted fly and refuse a dragging one, so presentation counts for more than the pattern.
When to fish it
No month-by-month account of this river was found, so what follows is a guide's general read on small trout streams in the NSW high country.
Before anything else, check the current NSW guide for the rules on general trout waters, because the river is listed as one. Within whatever the guide allows, spring and early summer are usually comfortable on small mountain water, with the river running clear and fish willing to look up. Through the heat of summer, fish the shaded stretches and the first and last hours of the day, and try a hopper along grassy banks. Autumn can fish well as the water cools.
Pick settled weather. A small stream can rise and colour quickly after rain, and a dirty river is a poor day on trout that feed by sight.
How to fish it
Go light. A three- or four-weight rod around seven to eight feet suits narrow water, with a leader short enough to control under overhanging scrub. Expect short casts and flicks more than long presentations.
The dry-dropper is the rig we would start with. A buoyant dry such as a Royal Wulff or an Elk Hair Caddis in size 14 to 16 carries a small bead-head under it: a Pheasant Tail or a Hare's Ear in 14 to 16. Drop the pair into every pocket and let the dry tell you when a fish takes the nymph.
Fish upstream and keep low. Trout in clear, small water spook easily, so move slowly, cover the tail of each pool before the head, and give each good lie two or three clean drifts before moving on. When nothing is rising on a cool day, cut the dry and nymph the deeper runs. In late summer, a hopper slapped down tight to a grassy bank can pull a brown out from under it.
Access and safety
The access card shows the NSW angler access sites along the river, and that is where to start. A listed site is a way to the water, not permission to cross private land, so stay on public ground and check local conditions before you go.
As on any mountain stream, wet rocks near pockets and plunge pools are slippery, and a small river can rise quickly after rain upstream. Carry a map and a way to navigate that does not depend on a phone signal, tell someone where you are going and when you will be back, and turn around if the water comes up and colours.
Regulations
On the NSW side, the Ingeegoodbee River is a general trout water. The listing covers the whole of the river, its creeks and its tributaries upstream from the Victorian border, and it sits in the Monaro district of the NSW rules. For what that classification means on the water, check the current NSW fishing rules and regulations, the freshwater bag and size limits and the NSW recreational fishing fee page before you fish.
Below the border the NSW listing does not reach. The river there is in Victoria, so check the current Victorian recreational fishing guide before you fish it.
