Australia Fly Guide
NSW · Upper Murray River

Mitta Mitta River

Imagery © Esri

One name, three rivers. The Mitta Mitta rises in the Victorian high country south of Omeo and runs two hundred and thirty kilometres to the Murray at Lake Hume, and it is worth knowing because within that one name you can choose a wild alpine trout stream, a cold tailwater that fishes through February, or a lowland cod river. The month and the mood decide which.

The thing that splits it is Lake Dartmouth, sitting across the middle of the river. Above the lake is one river, below the wall is a second, and where the river slows toward Lake Hume it becomes a third. They have almost nothing in common, and each has its own gauge, its own rules and its own page.

The alpine river above the lake is the mountain trip. From the headwaters down through Hinnomunjie Bridge to the inflow it is pockets and runs and gravel bars, wild browns by the hundred in the survey record with rainbows among them, and nothing upstream has ever held the water, so it fishes to the weather. A four weight and a dry-dropper from late spring to the April frosts.

The tailrace below the wall is the summer trip. For sixty kilometres past Tallandoon and Eskdale to Peters Bridge the flow is what the dam lets down: cold, even, strong on a release, and easy to reach because the Omeo Highway follows it. Trout hold in it through weeks that shut the valley streams around it. It is the one stretch with a closed season of its own, and that page states it.

The lower river below Peters Bridge is the native trip. The water slows into snags and deep bends, Murray cod, stocked here in most years since 2006 and wild here for far longer, take the best lies, and the browns hold on in the cooler bends. A six weight, big flies, first and last light, and the cod's own season to check.

Open the stretch, not this page. Read its gauge, not another stretch's, and check the current Victorian guide before you fish any of it.

Choose your stretch

Numbered from the source; each opens its own guide

Choose your stretch of the Mitta Mitta River

  1.  Stretch 1 · 58.9 km Hinnomunjie to Dartmouth Fifty-nine kilometres of Victorian alpine trout river from the headwaters through Hinnomunjie Bridge country to the Lake Dartmouth inflow — wild browns and rainbows, Big River and the Gibbo coming in, and a gauge at Hinnomunjie that reads temperature as well as flow. Murray Cod Rainbow Trout Brown TroutLive gauge
  2. Stretch 2 · 58.4 km Pondage to Peters Bridge Fifty-eight kilometres of cold regulated tailrace below Dartmouth Dam — from the Banimboola pondage past Tallandoon, Bowlers Lane and Eskdale to Peters Bridge, three gauges to read the release by, wild browns on the regulated flow, and Victoria's trout and salmon closed season. Murray Cod Rainbow Trout Brown TroutLive gauge
  3. Stretch 3 · 39.7 km Peters Bridge to Hume The last forty kilometres of the Mitta Mitta before Lake Hume — slower, broader water where Murray cod and golden perch take the snags, trout still hold the cooler bends, Snowy Creek comes in and Pigs Point sits on the bank. Murray Cod Rainbow Trout Brown Trout

River map

Numbered from the source; a name is a link where that water has a page

River map of Mitta Mitta River

Murray River Spring Creek Spring Creek Four Mile Creek Nine Mile Creek Scrubby Creek Eight Mile Creek Eight Mile Creek Humpy Creek Deep Gully Bullhead Creek Little Scrubby Creek Wombat Creek Livingstone Creek Big River Wilsons Creek Snowy Creek Glencoe Creek Larsen Creek Toke Creek Bethanga Creek Cobungra River Tallangatta Creek Jarvis Creek Little Snowy Creek Fernvale Creek Washaway Creek Watchingorra Creek Eustace Gap Creek Mount Tabor Creek Banimboola Creek Punch Creek Gibbo River Munjie Bingo Creek Soldier Creek Dart River Sandy Creek Hinnomunjie to Dartmouth Pondage to Peters Bridge Peters Bridge to Hume Mitta Mitta River Murray River Spring Creek Spring Creek Four Mile Creek Nine Mile Creek Scrubby Creek Eight Mile Creek Eight Mile Creek Humpy Creek Deep Gully Bullhead Creek Little Scrubby Creek Wombat Creek Livingstone Creek Big River Wilsons Creek Snowy Creek Glencoe Creek Larsen Creek Toke Creek Bethanga Creek Cobungra River Tallangatta Creek Jarvis Creek Little Snowy Creek Fernvale Creek Washaway Creek Watchingorra Creek Eustace Gap Creek Mount Tabor Creek Banimboola Creek Punch Creek Gibbo River Munjie Bingo Creek Soldier Creek Dart River Sandy Creek 1 Source 1. Source 2 Hinnomunjie 2. Hinnomunjie 3 Dartmouth inflow 3. Dartmouth inflow 4 Pondage 4. Pondage 5 Tallandoon 5. Tallandoon 6 Peters Bridge 6. Peters Bridge 7 Hume inflow 7. Hume inflow

When things happen

The guide's calendar for this water

When things happen

The year on this water

A guide's calendar, not a rulebook

  • Alpine dry-fly season · Nov to Apr Above the lake, once the spring rain and melt have gone through. A dry over a nymph in the pockets, and the Hinnomunjie gauge to tell you when.
  • Hoppers and beetles · Dec to Mar The open valley flats above and below the lake are terrestrial country through summer. A hopper tight to the grassed bank in the afternoon.
  • Caddis in the evening · Nov to Apr The tailrace runs come alive at dusk when the release is steady. An Elk Hair Caddis until dark.
  • Cod in the lower river · Dec to May Warm water below Peters Bridge, big flies against the snags, first and last light. Check the current Victorian cod season first.

Water and habitat

Two hundred and twenty-eight kilometres of mapped mainstem. The alpine river runs the first fifty-nine kilometres from the headwaters to the lake inflow, Hinnomunjie Bridge country, with Big River and the Gibbo joining on the way; the Hinnomunjie gauge reads flow, height, water temperature and conductivity. Lake Dartmouth then holds the river for forty kilometres of drowned valley.

The tailrace is the fifty-eight kilometres from the Banimboola pondage below the wall down to Peters Bridge, past Tallandoon, Bowlers Lane and Eskdale, each with a gauge. When the dam is releasing the river is even, cold and strong; when it is not, you are on a smaller river in the same bed.

The lower river is the forty kilometres from Peters Bridge down to the top of Lake Hume, slower and broader in the holds, Snowy Creek coming in, Pigs Point on the bank. The drowned stem inside Hume is the end of the map, not a fourth page.

Fish and forage

Brown trout dominate the survey record, hundreds of them electrofished through the 2000s and 2010s, with rainbow trout alongside in smaller numbers. Both are wild here; the Victorian Fisheries Authority's stocking database records no trout released into the river. Twospine blackfish are almost as common in the record as the browns, redfin are everywhere below the lake, and gambusia and gudgeon fill the slower water. Murray cod appear in wild surveys from the 1970s and have been stocked in most years since 2006, about two hundred and twenty-five thousand fish, with trout cod released in the mid 1990s; both records are whole-river totals drawn on the timeline further down this page. That is what was counted and what was put in, not a headcount for tomorrow.

The species change is why the cuts exist. Above the lake you are in trout country. On the tailrace the trout hold on the regulated flow. Below Peters Bridge Murray cod and golden perch come into the mix, with trout still about. Trout cod are a threatened native and not a target.

The trout eat caddis and mayfly in the runs, and through summer the grasshoppers and beetles off the open valley flats above and below the lake. The cod eat whatever comes past the snag.

When to fish it

Fish the stretch in front of you, and read its gauge, not another stretch's. Above the lake the river runs to the mountain calendar: spring rain and melt hold it high and cold, and from late spring to the April frosts it drops into small, clear pocket water. The tailrace runs to the dam's calendar, and a release can lift it while the sky is clear. The lower river runs to both, and carries colour longest after rain.

The tailrace has a closed season of its own for the trout and salmon season, and that page states it. The other two stretches do not share that rule. Open the stretch before you pack.

How to fish it

Above the lake, mountain-river fishing: a four or five weight, a dry-dropper with a Royal Wulff or a Stimulator over a tungsten Pheasant Tail, one cast per pocket and a step upstream. On the tailrace, regulated-river fishing: look for the seam off the main push, the inside bend and the tail of a run, with heavier nymphs when the release is on and a parachute Adams or an Elk Hair Caddis when it eases and the fish look up. Below Peters Bridge, snags and shade and a six weight for the natives, a Woolly Bugger for the trout in the deeper bends. The stretch pages take each of these further.

Access and safety

North-east Victoria: alpine and foothill country, mixed public and private banks, the Omeo Highway following the river through Tallandoon and Eskdale. A gate and a fence are the answer, not an invitation to find a way around. Confirm who holds the bank before you walk it. The Victorian Fisheries Authority's northern inland angling guide for this basin is the authority listing for access points; a pin on that map is not a right of entry. Named ways in sit on the stretch pages. Lake Dartmouth, Lake Banimboola and Lake Hume are other waters, and so are Big River and Snowy Creek.

On the tailrace the hazard is the release: a river that was wadeable at breakfast can be waist-deep and pushing by lunch with no cloud in the sky. On the alpine river it is the weather and the distance from help. Carry what you would need a long way from a sealed road, and give yourself the daylight to get back out.

Regulations

Victorian rules apply on every stretch. The trout and salmon closed season applies on the pondage-to-Peters Bridge stretch, where the river is closed to all hook-and-line fishing for the season, and that page is where it is stated. This page does not copy it, and it does not apply above the lake or below Peters Bridge. Murray cod carry their own season, size and bag in Victoria, and trout cod are a threatened native to be released.

Check the current Victorian recreational fishing guide before you fish. The dates and numbers move. Do not take them from this page.

Questions anglers ask

Which stretch should I fish?

Open the stretch, not this page. Above the lake is alpine trout water, small and wild. Below the pondage, down to Peters Bridge, is the regulated tailrace, a bigger, colder river paced by the dam. Below Peters Bridge the river slows and natives come into the mix. The map on this page is the directory.

Is the whole river closed in winter?

No. Victoria's trout and salmon closed season applies on the pondage-to-Peters Bridge stretch, and that page is where it is stated. The alpine river and the lower river do not share that rule. Check the current Victorian recreational fishing guide before you fish any of it; the dates move.

What has been stocked?

The Victorian Fisheries Authority's stocking database records Murray cod released into the river in most years from 2006 to 2019, around two hundred and twenty-five thousand fish, and trout cod in the mid 1990s. Both are held as whole-river totals, and the timeline is drawn on this page. Trout are not stocked into the river; the browns and rainbows in it are wild.

What about Lake Dartmouth, Lake Hume, Big River and Snowy Creek?

Those are other waters, not stretches of this river. They show on the map. This page is the Mitta Mitta mainstem.

Behind this page

Stocking on record

What the authority records say

20 stocking records between 1993 and 2019. These are individual release records. The source record is not a promise that stocking continues, and not evidence of what is in the water now.

  • Murray Cod — 225000 fish across 16 records (2019, 2018, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2017)
  • Trout Cod — 56400 fish across 4 records (1996, 1995, 1993)

Sources

  1. 1 Atlas of Living Australia — freshwater fish occurrence records (open licences, with coordinates), Creative Commons (open licences only: CC0, CC-BY, CC-BY 3.0 Au, CC-BY 4.0 Int, CC-BY-SA 4.0 Int), retrieved 2026-08-13.
  2. 2 Geofabric v3.x — national stream topology, Bureau of Meteorology, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International, retrieved 2026-08-13.
  3. 3 VFA — Victorian Recreational Fishing Guide (freshwater rules), State of Victoria (Victorian Fisheries Authority), retrieved 2026-08-20.
  4. 4 Victorian Fisheries Authority fish stocking database, retrieved 2026-08-21.
  5. 5 Geofabric v3.x — river regions (RiverRegion), national, Bureau of Meteorology, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International, retrieved 2026-08-23.