The Nymboida is a river in the Coffs District of NSW that runs into the Mann, and the reason to fish it with a fly rod is Australian bass eating off the top after dark. Bring a surface fly and plan to stay out past sunset.
Think of it as a river in two parts. The line between them is where Wild Cattle Creek comes in. Above that junction the river and its creeks are a listed general trout water; below it, the river runs on down to the Mann. The gradient chart shows where the bed runs steep and where it lays back, and the slower, flatter water is where you want to be for bass and catfish.
The first trip, and the easiest, is bass on the surface from one of the access sites the card names. Go on a warm night between November and March, fish a bulky surface fly slowly along the edges as the light fades, and keep fishing once it is dark. The river holds eastern freshwater cod as well as bass, and at night you often cannot tell which fish took the fly until it is at your feet, so read what the current NSW guide says about cod before your first cast.
The second trip is freshwater catfish on the same evening. They are recorded here and feed along the bottom of pools, so switch to a weighted dark fly on a sinking tip, let it reach the sand and gravel, and inch it back. A good bet while you wait for full dark.
The third is the upper river. Because it is a listed general trout water from the Wild Cattle Creek junction upstream, you need the current NSW guide to know what that listing means for when you may fish it. Trout are not among the fish recorded in the Nymboida, so we would not drive up for the headwaters; start lower, in bass water.
Pack a head torch and a box of surface flies, check the current NSW guide, and be on the water an hour before dark.
Water and habitat
The Nymboida flows into the Mann. Along its length the character is set by slope: the gradient profile shows the steeper and flatter stretches, and the flow charts show how often the river runs high or low and how that shifts through the year. In our experience bass in a river like this hold under overhanging trees, beside fallen timber and in the slack water off the edge of a run, then move out over the shallows at night to feed. The bank cover chart gives you a sense of how much of the river is shaded and treed.
Catfish want a different kind of water: longer pools with a soft or gravelly floor, and the tail of a pool where the bottom comes up to meet a run.
In our experience it is warm water that puts bass on the surface at night, so plan a trip here around the warm months.
Fish and forage
Australian bass are the fish to plan around, and they share the river with eastern freshwater cod. Both will come up to a noisy fly at night. Freshwater catfish are the other realistic fly target, feeding by feel along the bottom. Longfin eels are also recorded here, and if you fish after dark one may take a bottom fly now and then.
Underneath them is a list of small natives recorded in the river: Australian smelt, several kinds of gudgeon, crimson-spotted rainbowfish, Marjorie's hardyhead and mountain galaxias. These are the forage, and a slim streamer in olive or grey is the closest thing the river has to a universal fly.
Carry a few bulky surface flies in 2 to 6 for bass at night, dark Woolly Buggers in 6 to 10, weighted, for catfish, and some small baitfish patterns in 10 to 12 for the edges in daylight.
When to fish it
Summer is our pick. From November through March the nights are warm and bass feed on top, often best from the last of the light into the first couple of hours of dark. Spring can fish as the water warms. Winter is slow for surface fishing in a river like this, and we would leave it.
Watch the rain. After heavy rain a river like this can run high and coloured for days; the live conditions card is the place to check the level before you leave. Give it time to drop and clear.
How to fish it
A six- or seven-weight with a floating line covers the surface fishing. Use a short, stout leader, because at night the fish are not leader shy and the timber is close.
Cast tight to the edges and into the shade, let the fly sit until the rings die, then bring it back in slow pops and long pauses. At night, slow down further and fish by sound. When you hear the take, wait for the weight before you set, because a bass or cod that has only swirled at the fly will often come back for it.
For catfish, change to a sinking tip, cast across and slightly upstream into the slower water, and bring the fly back in short, slow pulls with long pauses along the bottom. Where trees crowd the bank, a roll cast saves flies. In daylight, work a small baitfish pattern along shaded banks with a slow strip; the streamer guide covers the retrieve.
Access and safety
The access card names the places to start. It describes where the river can be reached; it is not permission to walk the banks beyond it. Assume the banks beyond are private, ask before you cross a paddock, and leave every gate as you found it.
As on any river fished after dark, learn the bank in daylight before you fish it at night, carry a head torch and a spare, and tell someone where you have gone. Check, clean and dry your boots and gear before you fish another river.
Regulations
Under NSW's trout and salmon fishing rules, the Nymboida is classified as a general trout water in the Coffs District. The listing starts where Wild Cattle Creek joins and takes in everything above that point: the main river, every creek and tributary feeding it, and Wild Cattle Creek as well. Check the current NSW guide for the season that applies to general trout waters before you fish that part of the river.
For the rest of the river, and for bass, cod and catfish anywhere on it, check the current NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development guide, including its closed-waters list and anything it says about eastern freshwater cod, before you fish.
Before you leave, open the current NSW fishing rules and regulations, confirm the fishing fee and exemptions and check the freshwater bag and size limits.
