Below the Brumbys Creek junction the Macquarie has one more job before it ends: twenty-two kilometres past the Cressy pumps to Longford, where it meets the South Esk and stops being a river of its own. This is the lower Macquarie, and two things make it different from the meadow water above. Brumbys Creek joins at the top of it, a tailwater fed by the Poatina power station whose releases can lift this stretch while the river above is unchanged, and Inland Fisheries Service keeps it open a month longer than the rest of the Macquarie, to the end of May, alongside the lower Brumbys, the Meander and the South Esk. The fish are the same wild browns, with rainbows among them here in the lower reaches, and the water is the same slow, clear glide-and-pool country between cut banks and cropping paddocks, with the Cressy gauge to read it by. It fishes the same way as the meadow water in spring and autumn, spinners and duns then hoppers, and it gives you an extra month at the end when the browns above have been left alone: cold water, deep pools, a wet fly or a streamer swung slow, and the season's last fish. Longford and Cressy are the towns, the access is IFS-negotiated and signed, and the South Esk at the bottom is another river with its own page.
Brumbys Creek to the South Esk
Imagery © Esri
Not published
River map
River map of Macquarie River
Conditions
Macquarie Rv - at Cressy Pumps
5.186 m³/s
recorded 2026-09-04 17:45
High for early September. Typical is 0.644 m³/s, the middle half of years 0.258 to 2.012. The orange strip is the wadeable band.
Read this as a trend, not a verdict — rising and coloured matters more than the number on its own.
1.139 m
recorded 2026-09-04 17:45
Read this as a trend, not a verdict — rising and coloured matters more than the number on its own.
These are automatic readings that have not been quality-checked, so treat them as a guide to the trend rather than exact figures.
Readings from the Bureau of Meteorology's Water Data Online, © Commonwealth of Australia, licensed CC BY 4.0. Gauge data supplied by © Hydro Tasmania (Hydro-electric Corporation). Nothing here is a forecast. Check the gauge before you rely on it.
Weather
Live weather for Macquarie Rv - at Cressy Pumps loads here. If it does not, check the Bureau of Meteorology forecast before you go.
When things happen
When things happen
The year on this water
A guide's calendar, not a rulebook
- Winter water · Jun to Sep The lowest river carries everything above it plus Brumbys Creek's releases. High and slow; wets and nymphs.
- Spinners and duns · Oct to Dec The meadow hatches carry down to Longford. Fish the glides above and below Cressy.
- Hoppers on the grass · Feb to Apr Cropping country to the bank. A hopper tight to the edge through autumn.
- The extra month · May The lower river stays open through May when the upper river has closed. Cold water, deep pools, a wet or a streamer swung slow.
Water and habitat
Twenty-two kilometres of slow lowland river from the Brumbys Creek junction to the South Esk at Longford, the flattest water on the Macquarie; the fall of the river on this page barely moves. Long pools and glides between short riffles, cut banks, willows, and the cropping and grazing paddocks of the Cressy and Longford district to the water. The Cressy pumps gauge sits a couple of kilometres below the junction and reads flow and height. Brumbys Creek's contribution is the thing to understand: it is a regulated tailwater, and when Poatina is releasing, this stretch rises with it.
Fish and forage
Brown trout, wild, dominate as they do on the whole river, and rainbow trout are present in these lower reaches and in the lower Brumbys. IFS manages the river as a wild trout fishery. Redfin perch and tench are in the system, and IFS asks that any caught be killed and disposed of.
The meadow hatches carry down here: mayfly spinners and duns in spring and summer, caddis in the riffles at dusk, and the grasshoppers off the paddocks from late summer.
When to fish it
Read the Conditions card on this page before you drive, and remember that the Cressy reading carries Brumbys Creek's releases as well as the river above; if it is high on a clear day, the tailwater is why. The season on this stretch runs from the first Saturday in August to the end of May. Spring, once the river has settled, brings the spinners and duns; summer is early and late; autumn is hoppers; and May, when the rest of the Macquarie has closed, is cold water and deep pools and the last fish of the year on a wet fly swung slow.
How to fish it
Slow, clear water. Fish upstream, look before you cast, and give the first cast to a fish you have seen or to the edge under the far bank. A five weight is more use than a four here, with the tailwater pushing and the pools deep.
For the spinners and duns, a parachute Adams or a Klinkhammer drifted without drag. A hopper tight to the grass through the autumn afternoons. When nothing is showing, a dry-dropper with a slim Pheasant Tail along the weed edges, or a Hare's Ear fished deep through the head of a pool. In the high water and in May, a Woolly Bugger swung slowly across the tail of a pool is the honest fly.
Access and safety
Cressy and Longford are the towns, and IFS names both as the way onto the river, with foot access negotiated across private land and marked with signs; where there is no sign, ask the landowner. Carry the IFS Anglers Access brochure for the Macquarie and Lake Rivers, walk around the crops, leave gates as you find them and stay off fences.
The hazards are deep pools, soft banks and a river that can rise on a clear day because of the tailwater above. Read the gauge and watch the edge while you fish.
Regulations
Inland Fisheries Service states the rules for the Macquarie from the Brumbys Creek junction downstream to the South Esk separately from the river above: the same minimum size, small daily bag and all methods, but a season that runs from the first Saturday in August to the end of May, a month longer. IFS lists this water among the extended-season waters with the lower Brumbys, the Meander and the South Esk. An inland angling licence is required.
Take the numbers and the dates from the current Tasmanian Inland Fishing Code and the IFS A to Z page for the river before you fish. They move, and this page does not carry them.
What the record shows
What the record shows
More river data The fall of the whole Macquarie River and its bank survey, with this stretch marked
The fall of the river
Elevation along the river, source to end
The banks, seen from space
Land cover in the 120 m beside the water, Landsat 2023 to 2024 to 2025
Questions anglers ask
Why is this stretch open longer?
Inland Fisheries Service lists the Macquarie below the Brumbys Creek junction among the extended-season waters that close at the end of May rather than the start of it, alongside the lower Brumbys, the Meander and the South Esk. The minimum size, bag and methods are the same as the river above; only the season differs.
Which gauge sits here?
The Cressy pumps station, reading flow and height a couple of kilometres below the Brumbys junction. Its latest readings are on this page under Conditions. It carries Brumbys Creek's releases as well as the river above, so it can move when the meadow water has not.
Are there rainbows?
Yes. IFS says rainbow trout are present in the lower reaches of the Macquarie and of Brumbys Creek, alongside the browns that dominate the whole river.