This is the Macquarie of the books. From the Midland Highway bridge at Ross to the Brumbys Creek junction eighty-three kilometres downstream, the river winds across the floor of the Midlands in long, slow, clear glides between short riffles, dropping barely a metre a kilometre, with willows and poplars along cut banks and the paddocks of some of the oldest farms in the country behind them. The Elizabeth River comes in from Campbell Town, then the Isis, then the Lake River, and two gauges sit either side of the Elizabeth junction to tell you what the river is doing. The fish are wild browns, and on this water they behave the way the dry-fly tradition says they should: they hold in the lanes of the glides and in October and November they drift up under the red spinners and take them, or refuse them, in full view. It is not fast fishing. It is walking a glide slowly with polaroids on, finding a fish, and making one cast. Summer thins the river and moves the fishing to the first and last hours; autumn brings the hoppers off the grass and the browns tight to the bank for them. Almost all of it is private land, and the access IFS negotiated and signed is a privilege the next angler needs you to keep. Come in spring for the spinners, and come back in March for the hoppers.
Ross to Brumbys Creek
Imagery © Esri
Not published
River map
River map of Macquarie River
Conditions
Macquarie River(18313) [macquarie River 1.25km upstream Elizabeth River Junction]
0.149 m³/s
recorded 2026-09-05 08:00
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.
0.139 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.
Macquarie River(18312) [macquarie River D/s Elizabeth]
0.265 m³/s
recorded 2026-09-05 08:15
About normal 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.
1.209 m
recorded 2026-09-05 08:15
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(18313) [macquarie River 1.25km upstream Elizabeth River Junction] 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 meadow river runs high and often over its banks. Wets and nymphs through the pools while it drops.
- Red spinners · Oct to Dec The spring hatch this stretch is famous for. Long glides, a fish drifting up under a spinner, one cast.
- Dry-fly spring · Oct to Dec The river settles into the wadeable band and the browns look up. The best weeks of the year on this water.
- Early, late and polaroiding · Dec to Feb Low, bright summer water. The first and last hours, and a slow walk up a glide with polaroids on.
- Hoppers on the grass · Feb to Apr The paddocks dry off and the hoppers come. Tight to the bank, in the afternoon, until the season closes.
Water and habitat
Eighty-three kilometres of meadow river across the Midlands floor, dropping so little that the fall of the river on this page is nearly flat. Long glides and pools between short shingle riffles, cut banks with willows and poplars, weed beds in the slower water, and the occasional broadwater where the river spreads. The Elizabeth River joins from Campbell Town at about a hundred and seven kilometres from the source, with a gauge a kilometre and a quarter above the junction and another just below it; the Isis comes in at a hundred and thirty-eight and the Lake River at a hundred and sixty-four, both from the south.
Farmland to the bank. The bank survey on the whole-river page reads this corridor as open woodland with a large share under crop and native grass along the edges, which is why the light is on the water and the hoppers are in the paddocks, and why a fish in a glide can see you from a long way off.
Fish and forage
Brown trout, wild and educated. IFS manages the river as a wild trout fishery and the browns dominate it; the survey record on the whole-river page is thick with them. Redfin perch and tench live in the system and IFS asks that any caught be killed and disposed of.
The red spinner mayfly of spring is the hatch this stretch is known for, with duns and caenids on the glides through summer and black spinners in autumn. From late summer the grasshoppers come off the paddocks in numbers, and IFS names grasshopper fishing the feature of the late season. Caddis in the riffles at dusk.
When to fish it
Read the Conditions card on this page, and the river's year on the whole-river page, before you decide. The meadow river runs high from June to September and can be over its banks in a wet year; IFS says the early season is worms, wets and lures, and the fly version of that is a nymph or a wet through the pools while the river drops. From October the water settles into the wadeable band and the spinners come; October to December is the best of this stretch. Summer runs low and bright, and the fishing is in the first and last hours, or a slow polaroiding walk up a glide in the middle of the day. From February the hoppers are on the grass, and the season on this stretch closes at the start of May.
How to fish it
Slow, clear water and wary fish. Fish upstream, move slowly, spend more time looking than casting, and give the first cast to the edge under the far bank or to a fish you have seen, never to the middle of the pool. A four or five weight, a floating line, a twelve-foot leader tapering to fine tippet.
For the spinners and duns, a parachute Adams or a Klinkhammer in the size of the insect, dropped a metre above the fish and drifted without drag. A hopper tight to the grass in the afternoons of autumn. When nothing is showing, a slim Pheasant Tail under a small dry as a dry-dropper along the undercuts and weed edges, or a Hare's Ear fished deep through the head of a pool. In the high water of early spring, a Woolly Bugger swung through the tail of a pool.
Access and safety
Private farmland almost the whole way. IFS has negotiated foot access at points along this stretch, reached from Ross, Campbell Town and the side roads off the Midland Highway, and marks it with signs; from some of those points landowners have allowed access for long distances up and downstream. Where there is no sign you must ask the landowner. Carry the IFS Anglers Access brochure for the Macquarie and Lake Rivers, walk around the crops rather than through them, leave gates as you find them and stay off the fences.
The hazards are a slow river's: deep pools under the willows, soft cut banks, and cold water in the early season. 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. Below the junction the river stays open a month longer; that page states it. 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
Which gauges sit on this stretch?
Two, both on this page under Conditions, and both bracketing the Elizabeth River junction near Campbell Town: one a kilometre and a quarter above where the Elizabeth comes in, one just below. Both read flow and height. Read the lower one for the water toward the Isis and the Lake River, the upper one for the glides between Ross and Campbell Town.
Where does this stretch end?
At the Brumbys Creek junction below Cressy, the point at which IFS changes the river's season. Below it the lower river is its own page and stays open a month longer.
How do I fish the spinner hatch?
Find a fish before you cast. On these glides the browns hold in lanes and drift up under the spinners, and a parachute Adams or a Klinkhammer in the size of the insect, dropped a metre above a rising fish and drifted without drag, is the whole method. Move slowly, keep your shadow off the water, and give each fish one good cast.