Above Ross the Macquarie is a different river from the one in the books. It comes off the hills east of the Midlands as a quick, cold stream, gathers the Tooms River at the forty-six kilometre mark and the Blackman River at eighty-two, and only in its last few kilometres above the Midland Highway bridge begins to slow into the meadow water it is famous for. The fall of the river on this page shows it: the upper Macquarie loses most of the height the whole river will ever lose in these first ninety kilometres. The Trefusis gauge sits about two-thirds of the way down, and has read the river since 1979; its record is the river's year drawn on the whole-river page, and its latest reading is on this one. The fish are wild browns, mostly small and fit as headwater fish are, holding in the pools and the tails of the riffles rather than the thin water between. It is grazing country with willows along the banks and the access is what IFS has negotiated from the road bridges and marked with signs. Fish it in spring when the water has settled and the first duns are up, or in autumn when the hoppers are on the grass, and fish it as small water: one careful cast to a pool and a step upstream. The meadow river below the bridge will still be there.
Headwaters to Ross
Imagery © Esri
Not published
River map
River map of Macquarie River
Conditions
Macquarie River(18217) [macquarie River at Trefusis]
0.047 m³/s
recorded 2026-09-05 08:00
Very low 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.
0.5 m
recorded 2026-09-05 08:00
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 © State of Tasmania (Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania). Nothing here is a forecast. Check the gauge before you rely on it.
Weather
Live weather for Macquarie River(18217) [macquarie River at Trefusis] 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 Trefusis runs highest from June to September. Wets and nymphs through the pools while the river drops back.
- Dry-fly spring · Oct to Dec The upper river settles first. Duns and spinners on the pools, small wild browns looking up.
- Caddis in the evening runs · Nov to Mar The riffles between the pools come alive at dusk. An Elk Hair Caddis until you cannot see it.
- Hoppers on the grass · Feb to Apr Grazing country to the bank. A hopper tight to the edge on a warm afternoon.
Water and habitat
Ninety kilometres of mainstem from the source to the Ross bridge, and the steepest part of the Macquarie. The fall of the river on this page has the upper river dropping off the hills through the Tooms junction at forty-six kilometres and the Blackman junction at eighty-two, then flattening into the Midlands floor as it approaches Ross. Pools between riffles in the upper water, longer pools and the first meadow glides toward the bottom. The Trefusis gauge at about sixty kilometres reads flow and height.
Grazing country. The bank survey on the whole-river page reads the corridor as open woodland with a share of grass and a share of crop, which along this stretch means paddocks to the water with willows and native scrub along the banks, and the river a chain of pools you find by walking.
Fish and forage
Brown trout, wild, and generally the small, fit fish of a headwater with the odd larger one in a deep pool as a surprise. IFS manages the whole river as a wild trout fishery and nothing has been stocked into it in fifteen years. Redfin and tench are in the system; IFS asks that any caught be killed and disposed of.
The upper river grows mayfly and caddis in its riffles and pools, and from late summer the grasshoppers off the grazing banks. In water this size the fish are opportunists, and a well-presented dry is rarely refused for being the wrong pattern.
When to fish it
Read the Conditions card on this page before you drive. Trefusis runs highest from June to September, and in a wet year the upper river is a torrent through those months; from October it settles and the pools become readable. Spring, once the water is in the wadeable band drawn on the whole-river page, is the best of the upper river: duns and spinners on the pools and small browns looking up for them. Summer runs low and clear and the pools are the only water; fish early and late. Autumn brings the hoppers and the last good weeks before the upper-river season closes at the start of May.
If the reading is above the band, fish the soft edges from the bank and wait for it to drop.
How to fish it
Small-water fishing. A four weight, a floating line, and a leader you can roll under the willows. A parachute Adams or a Klinkhammer for the fish that show, an Elk Hair Caddis in the evening riffles, a hopper tight to the grass in autumn. When nothing is showing, a dry-dropper with a slim Pheasant Tail hung under a small dry, fished once through each pool and its tail. In the high water of early season, a Woolly Bugger swung through the pools.
Fish upstream, one cast to a pool, then a step. The fish are in the tails and the soft edges, and in water this clear the first cast is the one that counts.
Access and safety
Private grazing country almost the whole way, with the Midland Highway and its side roads crossing the river and the towns of the Midlands along it. IFS has negotiated foot access at points along the river and marks it with signs; where there is no sign you must ask the landowner. Carry the IFS Anglers Access brochure for the Macquarie and Lake Rivers, walk around crops, leave gates as you found them and stay off the fences. The access is a privilege, and IFS says so in as many words.
The hazards are cold water and high flows in the early season, deep pools under the willows, and soft banks. Wade only where you can see the bottom.
Regulations
This stretch lies upstream of the Brumbys Creek junction, so it carries the rules Inland Fisheries Service states for the upper Macquarie: a minimum size, a small daily bag, all methods permitted, and a season from the first Saturday in August to the start of May. 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
The river's year
Daily flow at Macquarie River(18217) [macquarie River at Trefusis], every year 1979 to 2026
How often it runs this high
16,808 days at Macquarie River(18217) [macquarie River at Trefusis], 1979 to 2026
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
Where does this stretch end?
At the Midland Highway bridge at Ross, the town every angler names on this river. Below the bridge the meadow water begins and is its own page.
What does the gauge tell me?
The Trefusis station sits about sixty kilometres down the stretch and has read flow and height since 1979. Its latest readings are on this page under Conditions, and its whole record is the river's year drawn on the whole-river page. If the reading sits in the wadeable band the pools are in order; above it, fish the edges and wait.
Which rules apply?
This stretch is upstream of the Brumbys Creek junction, so it carries the upper-river rules IFS states: a minimum size, a small bag, all methods, and a season that closes at the start of May. Take the numbers from the current Inland Fishing Code.