This is the day-trip end of a river that otherwise demands a pack and two days. The Kowmung
starts as two creeks off the Boyd plateau, nine hundred metres up in snow-gum and sandstone
country where the fog sits in the valleys until mid-morning, and for its first twelve kilometres
it is a headwater stream in the strict sense: a bedrock gorge dropping harder than anywhere else
on the river, pockets and plunge pools and slots between boulders.
Two things make it the approachable end. A fire trail off Kanangra Walls Road actually reaches
it, which nothing below can say. And the canopy is a little more open than the dark forest
downstream, so light gets to the water in patches, you can see your fly, and a fish can see a
beetle land.
The fish are unproven. Nobody has counted them, nothing has ever been stocked, and no survey has
looked at this stretch. What you have is the classification and the country: this water is a
general trout water, which says what the authority expects to find here, and cold, shaded, steep
and rarely fished is where wild brown trout persist in the Blue Mountains. Fish it as small water,
one careful cast to a pocket and a step upstream, and expect the river to be honest about what
it holds.
The season is the trip. The classification closes this water from the June long weekend to the
October one, so fish it from the October opening until the first heavy frosts, with a dry you can
see in dappled light and a beetle or an ant in mind through summer. There is no gauge up here.
The only one on the river is far below at Cedar Ford, and this water rises long before it knows
about it. Read the plateau forecast and the river in front of you, and if either is against you,
do not go in.
Water and habitat
Bedrock and boulders, confined between steep banks, falling steadily from the plateau. The fall of
the river on this page is the top of the whole-river drawing, and it is the steepest part of it:
this is where the Kowmung loses height fastest. Pockets between boulders, short plunge pools,
bedrock slots, and the occasional gravel tail where a side creek comes in. Nowhere is it wide.
The bank survey draws the headwaters as mostly open woodland rather than the closed canopy of the
gorge, with the sky visible above the river more often than not. That is the one advantage this
stretch has over the water below: you can see your fly, and the fish can see a beetle land.
Three tributaries matter. The Tuglow and the Hollanders make the river. Morong Creek marks the
end of this stretch and is itself included in the trout classification.
Fish and forage
Brown trout are the fish the classification is written for, and the
kind of water this is. Nothing has ever been stocked in the Kowmung and no survey has looked at
this stretch, so there is no count to give you. A small, cold, steep headwater with light in it
and nobody fishing it is as good a place for wild trout as the Blue Mountains offers.
Food comes off the trees and out of the gravel. Beetles and ants through summer, the odd cicada
from the tall timber, and small caddis and mayfly nymphs under every stone in the tails. In water
this small the fish are opportunists and a well-presented dry is rarely refused for being the
wrong pattern.
When to fish it
From the October long weekend, when the trout season opens, until the first heavy frosts. Late
spring can be wet and the river responds to a plateau storm within hours; a few dry days and it is
clear and low again. Summer is good under the trees and the shade keeps it cool. Autumn is the
quiet best of it.
There is no gauge up here. Cedar Ford is far below and reads the whole catchment, so when it is
rising this stretch has already risen. Read the forecast for the Boyd plateau and the river in
front of you, and if either is against you, do not go in.
How to fish it
Small-stream fishing at its most literal. A short four weight if you have one, a leader you can
roll and flick under the canopy, and one rig for the day. A Royal Wulff
or a small Stimulator you can pick out in dappled light, with a tungsten
Pheasant Tail a foot or two beneath it if the pockets are deep enough to
warrant it. A dry-dropper covers both without a change.
Fish upstream, one cast to a pocket, then a step. The fish are in the soft water beside the
current, in the tail of each plunge pool, and under the boulder shadows. In water this small
your approach matters more than the fly: stay low, keep the rod tip out of the light, and never
wade a pocket you can fish from below.
Wading is slow and slick. Bedrock in a shaded gorge grows a film that felt or studs only partly
answer. If you cannot see the next footing, do not take it.
Access and safety
The fire trails off Kanangra Walls Road are the way in. The Kowmung River Fire Trail reaches the
river near the top, about ten kilometres of four-wheel-drive track from the road, or a shorter
walk in from the Dingo Dell side. The Ben Lomond Fire Trail off Sheepstation Forest Road touches
the Hollanders just above the junction. The Morong Falls trail ends a few hundred metres short of
the river and finishes on foot. All of these are inside Kanangra-Boyd National Park and are
closed after fire or heavy rain; a track on a map is not a right to drive it today, so check the
current park alerts before you leave.
Remote headwater country, no signal, cold at any time of year. Carry a first-aid kit you know how
to use, tell someone where you are going, and leave time to get out in daylight.
Regulations
NSW DPIRD classifies the Kowmung as a general trout water upstream of, and including, Morong
Creek. That is this stretch, and Morong Creek with it. A general trout water carries the NSW trout
season, which closes the river from the June long weekend to the October long weekend, and the
general-trout-water size and bag limits. Those are the rules an angler here fishes under.
The dates follow the public holidays and the numbers move. Take them from the current
NSW freshwater synopsis
and the trout closure notification, not from this page.