Leather Barrel Creek is a small, scrubby creek that runs into the Murray River, and the reason to make the drive is trout. FlyLife's writers describe them as plentiful and spread right through the creek, so finding a fish is rarely the problem; getting a fly to it is.
One thing splits the creek into two very different halves: the road. By FlyLife's account it is the only road that reaches the water, and the creek changes character on either side of it. Downstream it opens out, with easier casting and blackberries to fight along the banks. Upstream it closes into a tunnel of trees and log jams, so low in places that you cannot wade standing up.
There are two trips here, and the first is the one to make.
Start below the road. Fish the lower creek for trout with a small bead-head Woolly Bugger, working the deep pools under low branches that FlyLife's writers single out, and walk it slowly from the access point on the card. Go early in the season rather than late, as the same writers suggest, but not when the spring flows are at their highest. No rule specific to this creek was found, so check the current NSW guide first.
The second trip is the push upstream. FlyLife's writers describe a few hundred metres of hard going above the road, through the worst of the overgrowth and the log jams, before the creek opens briefly into classic pool, riffle and pool water. Save it for a second visit, when you know the lower creek.
Pack tough clothing and a short rod, find the way in on the access card, and start in the first deep, shaded pool below the road.
Water and habitat
A small creek that runs to the Murray River. FlyLife's writers describe two kinds of water. Below the road the creek is more open, with room to cast but banks thick with blackberries in places. Above it the creek is heavily overgrown, with log jams and trees so low in places that wading upright is impossible, until it opens out briefly into pool and riffle water.
In our experience, a covered creek like this puts its fish where cover and depth meet: the deep pools under low branches, the slow water tucked behind a log jam, the head of each pool where the riffle drops in. Those are the places to aim at, and on a creek this tight, most of them can only be fished from directly above or below.
Fish and forage
Mountain galaxias, a small native fish, has been recorded in the creek. Treat any you hook gently and put them straight back.
FlyLife's writers describe trout in good numbers everywhere along the creek, though they do not name the species. No insect survey was found for the creek, so the fly box is a guide's read. A small bead-head Woolly Bugger covers the deep pools and doubles as a small fish or a drifting nymph. For the brief open water upstream, add a small Hare's Ear nymph and a buoyant dry such as an Elk Hair Caddis in size 14 or 16, and you have most days covered.
When to fish it
FlyLife's writers say the creek fishes reliably except in the highest spring flows, when wading becomes very difficult, and they point to the first couple of months of the season as the safer bet. Read that together with the regulations: when the season opens, and whether a closed season applies at all, is settled by the current NSW guide.
Our read on the rest of the year: once the spring water drops, the lower creek is the reliable option on any day. Warm summer afternoons are a good time for the open pocket upstream, where a dry fly has room to drift.
How to fish it
A short rod, two to four weight, with a floating line and a leader short enough to control under the branches. Long casts are rarely on; most of the fishing is a flick, a dap or a drop.
The tactic FlyLife's writers describe for the deep, tree-covered pools of the lower creek is the one to learn. A natural dead drift is close to impossible under those branches, so drop a small bead-head Woolly Bugger into the pool from above, let it sink through on the drift, then retrieve it slowly straight back upstream. Work each pool this way before you move on, and keep low: in water this tight, the fish are close.
Where the creek opens out above the road, switch to a small dry or a nymph and fish upstream in the ordinary way.
Access and safety
The access card names the way in. Treat it as a place to reach the water, not as permission to cross private ground; where a fence or a sign says otherwise, respect it.
FlyLife's writers describe thick, deep blackberries along parts of the lower creek that make travel painful, and overgrowth and log jams above the road. Wear long sleeves and tough trousers or waders, and take your time on the log jams. As on any small bush creek, tell someone where you are walking, and stay out of the water when it is running high and coloured.
Regulations
No rule specific to Leather Barrel Creek was found. Check the current NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development recreational fishing guide before you fish: whether the creek is listed as a trout water, whether a closed season applies, and the licence, bag and size limits. Take all of those from the guide.
