Imagery © Esri
The Rubicon is a popular freestone river with a large population of wild brown trout, and it is well suited to dry-fly fishing and nymph-below-dry.
It leaves forest, runs through farmland and joins the Goulburn. Fish the upper water for pocket water and boulders, and expect the lower river to ask more of you.
Bring a nymph rig for early in the season and a dry fly for when the river drops and warms.
Read the Victorian Fisheries Authority guide before you go.
The Rubicon is a freestone river. The upper water is fast, with boulders and pocket water. Below that the river leaves the forest and crosses farmland before it meets the Goulburn.
Wild brown trout are the fish to plan for, with some rainbows alongside them. Brook trout have established in recent years after escapes from the trout farm on the upper river, so a brook trout is possible, though browns carry the fishing.
Early in the season, high flows fish well for nymph anglers. As the water drops and warms through spring, trout look up and dry-fly fishing is very good. FlyLife's writers describe the river as well suited to both dry-fly fishing and nymph-below-dry, which is why it is popular.
Start with a nymph while the river is high. When fish begin to rise as the flow settles, switch to a dry, or fish a nymph below a dry so one cast covers both.
The lower Rubicon through farmland is far more difficult to access than the upper river. Allow extra time to get to it, and read the signs and fences on the ground. As on any bush river, tell someone where you are going and watch the water level, especially after rain.
Take season, bag and size limits from the current Victorian Fisheries Authority recreational fishing guide, including its trout-waters and closed-waters lists, before you fish.
How well this water has been surveyed
79 capture records, 4 decades of 5 on file
Atlas of Living Australia — freshwater fish occurrence records (open licences, with coordinates). Occurrence records from the Atlas of Living Australia and its contributing datasets, including the Victorian Biodiversity Atlas, NSW BioNet Atlas, Sustainable Rivers Audit, Murray-Darling Basin fish monitoring programs, OZCAM museum collections and iNaturalist Australia. Each record carries its own licence and originating dataset. retrieved 2026-08-13.
Rubicon River @ Rubicon
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No reading shown: No reading has been captured for this gauge yet, so none is shown.
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No reading shown: No reading has been captured for this gauge yet, so none is shown.
Readings from the Bureau of Meteorology's Water Data Online, © Commonwealth of Australia, licensed CC BY 4.0. Nothing here is a forecast. Check the gauge before you rely on it.
Live weather for Rubicon River @ Rubicon loads here. If it does not, check the Bureau of Meteorology forecast before you go.
Mostly wild brown trout, with some rainbows. Brook trout have also established after escapes from a trout farm on the upper river.
Yes. FlyLife's writers describe it as well suited to dry-fly fishing and to a nymph fished below a dry.
High early flows fish well for nymph anglers. As the water drops and warms through spring, trout look up and dry-fly fishing becomes very good.
No. The lower Rubicon runs through farmland and is far more difficult to access than the upper river, so plan on more effort there.
Check the current Victorian Fisheries Authority recreational fishing guide, including its trout waters and closed-waters lists, and take any season, bag and size limits from it before you fish.
