Three Mile Dam is a small alpine lake in Kosciuszko National Park, listed with Kiandra as its nearest town, and the reason to drive up is a chance at a brook trout.
Think of it as a single piece of still water with no parts to choose between. The fishing classification covers the dam; the creeks around it, including nearby Eight Mile Creek, are separate waters you should check in the current NSW guide before you fish them.
The easiest trip is a summer evening from the bank for brook trout and rainbows. NSW DPIRD classes the lake as a general trout dam open to trout all year, which in practice means there is no closed trout season to plan around; bag, size and licence rules still come from the current NSW guide. Pick a site from the access card, set up on the shore with the breeze coming at you, and wait for the rise. Trout can be seen rising here into the evening.
Know before you go that many of those rising fish sit well beyond a cast from the bank. That is why the second trip is an early-season session in spring, working the margins with a slow wet fly while fish are still cruising the edges. In our experience that is the better bet for a first brook trout than chasing rings you cannot reach.
A cold-month visit is open to you under the classification. As with any high-country trip in winter, check the park's current road and weather advice first, and keep it to the middle of the day.
In our experience a high lake like this earns its drive in summer, when the country lower down the range is hot.
Check the current NSW DPIRD freshwater guide, pick a site from the access card, and plan to be on the bank when the light starts to go.
Water and habitat
This is a small high lake in the Kosciuszko high country. The wet-surface chart shows how much of its footprint has held water over time.
On a small alpine stillwater, trout feed where the margin drops into deeper water and along the bank the wind is blowing onto, where drowned insects collect. Start there. The open middle is where rising fish often show, but from the bank you fish the edges and let the fish come to you.
Fish and forage
The stocking chart shows brook trout and rainbow trout released here in recent seasons. FlyLife also reports wild brook trout in the lake. Read the release history as a guide to what you might meet, not a head count.
Trout in a cold high lake feed on what the water and the wind give them: midges, damselfly nymphs, snails, and beetles and ants blown onto the surface on warm days. A first-visit box can stay small. Carry a few size 12 to 16 nymphs such as a Hare's Ear, a small dark Woolly Bugger, some size 16 to 18 midge emergers, and an Adams for the evening.
When to fish it
Summer is the obvious time, and the evening rise is the event you plan the day around.
Spring, once you can get up there, is our pick for the edges: fish tend to cruise the margins before the water warms. Autumn evenings can still bring a rise, though they get cold quickly. The dam stays open to trout through winter; whether you fish it then comes down to the park's current road and weather advice, not the rules.
How to fish it
Treat it as a small stillwater. A 5- or 6-weight with a floating line and a long leader covers most days, and a longer rod helps you reach fish that stay out.
From the bank, walk and cast rather than planting yourself. In daylight, a slow loch-style team of wets or a single nymph on a slow figure-of-eight retrieve searches the margins well. When the evening rise starts, go to a single small emerger on a fine tippet and cast ahead of a cruising fish, not onto the ring it just left. If the fish stay out of range, be patient: in our experience some move closer as the light fades.
Access and safety
The access card names the sites, drawn from NSW DPIRD's angler access listings. Those listings describe where people reach the water; they are not a promise that a site is open on the day you arrive. The lake sits in Kosciuszko National Park, so check current NPWS advice before you go.
As on any alpine water, weather can turn fast even in summer. Carry a warm layer and a rain shell, tell someone where you are going, and leave the water before dark catches you on an unfamiliar track.
Regulations
NSW DPIRD classes Three Mile Dam, near Kiandra, as a general trout dam that is open to trout fishing all year round, so you can fish the dam for trout in any month.
That classification is for the dam. Before you fish any creek near it, check how that stream is treated in the current NSW guide and its closed-waters list. For bag limits, size limits and licence requirements, check the current NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development freshwater fishing guide before you fish.
