The Macdonald is a NSW river that runs into the Namoi, and it is worth the drive for trout on a fly rod with the odd Murray cod as an unlikely extra.
Fish it as one river and let the water tell you where to stop: the runs and deeper holes are where the time goes.
Start on the trout in the warmer months with a dry and a small nymph under it. Choose a spot from the access card, walk in and fish upstream. Read the current NSW trout guide before you pick a date, because it decides when you can fish and what you can keep.
Water and habitat
A river feeding a bigger one. In our experience trout hold where the current tips into a pool, along the seam beside faster water, under undercut banks and behind boulders or logs. Open, even shallows hold fewer fish and spook them first. Any deep, timbered hole is worth a look for a cod.
Fish and forage
The Atlas of Living Australia records brown trout, rainbow trout, Murray cod and river blackfish in the river, along with mountain and common galaxias, western carp gudgeon, and introduced goldfish and eastern gambusia. The small native fish are a reason to carry a few small streamers.
The rest of the fly box is a guide's read. River 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 bead-head nymphs in sizes 12 to 16 cover most of it.
When to fish it
Settle the rules first: take any season from the current NSW trout guide. Within whatever it allows, a NSW trout river usually fishes best from late spring into autumn. Spring brings the first steady hatches. Summer is the time for hoppers along the banks, fished early and late when the light is off the water. Autumn often brings cooler, clearer days when browns get busier. After heavy rain, give the river a day or two to drop and clear.
How to fish it
Fish upstream, stay low and keep casts short. A 4 or 5 weight rod of around 9 feet, a floating line and a 9 foot leader tapered to 4X or 5X is plenty.
Start with a size 12 to 14 Royal Wulff and 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. In summer, swap the dry for a hopper and land it close to the bank wherever grass meets the water. In deeper, slower water, a Woolly Bugger stripped past cover can move a brown that will not come up, and a bigger one worked along timber is the way to meet a cod.
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 river, 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 river 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 guide, check its trout-water lists and closed-waters list, and take any season, bag and size limits and licence requirements from it.
