3 Rivers - Victorian High Country - Part 2

"BIG RIVER" | UPPER MITTA MITTA | 2026

It was still foggy and just after daybreak when I started the car and slowly drove out of camp at Snowy Creek on day 2, ready to move on and see more new water. Snowy Creek had been great, but the fishing proved to be tough but not unexpected given it was my first ever visit. I expect that some of the more remote spots might be a good option for next time. I hadn't seen enough water yet to understand if I would see better fishing results in this part of Victoria, but I had high hopes for this next river. Big River was a place I initially became aware of about ten years ago, since then I had heard and read great things about the Mitta Mitta system and how vast it is and the different fishing options it provides. From the alpine peaks of Mount Bogong, it passes through good country, some remote, with relatively good access and a good population of brown and rainbow trout. But in the past it was out of reach, for me, just always that bit too far to drive with the time I had on hand. Once I got clear of the Snowy Creek campground and got driving, it proved to be only a short and windy trip of around an hour to the south, through some special Victorian High Country areas. Before I knew it I had arrived and had the entire day ahead of me. On hopping out of the car, I remember stopping to take in a clear blue sky and not a breath of wind.......all I remember hearing was the sound of the flowing river leading up into the valley ahead of me. The water was clear, the bottom was rocky. It was going to be a great day regardless.

FIRST RUN

I didn't set up a camp at this location, I wasn't sure if I would stay here overnight or not. I just got myself ready and started walking up stream. Within a matter of minutes I came across the piece of water pictured above and hoped that a trout might be sitting in the deeper calm water in front of the over hanging tea tree on the opposing bank. This river felt picture perfect for fly fishing, classic runs went on as far as I walked. It was easy to access, easy to cast in, and it had deep pockets that felt as though they would hold fish. I tied on a larger brown Patch Adams dry fly pattern with a medium sized gold bead headed pheasant tail nymph as a dropper, perhaps at a length of around fourty centimeters. It was a cold morning and I figured the trout might be sitting down deeper, and I wanted my nymph drifting in the lower part of the water column.

To my joy it didn't take long to find the first fish of the day, a chunky little Brown who excitedly hit the pheasant tail nymph on only the third cast through the first run.

On release, I decided to give the head of the pool behind me a few more drifts and to my surprise caught another two smaller, but very healthy Browns, each on the same pheasant tail nymph. It was a stark contrast to what I had experienced the day prior on Snowy Creek, and also a positive change to what I had been experiencing on many of the New South Wales Rivers I normally fish. Catching three fish in the first half an hour out did some complete two day trips I have done on some New South Wales rivers, where I might not see any fish or only catch one for the entire trip. The nymph had to be popping along the bottom in this scenario, if I achieved that, it seemed as though there was a reasonable number of fish eager to eat.

CONDITIONS

In my opinion, the upper Big River system felt utterly perfect. I had great conditions with blue skies and no wind for the entire day and the condition of the river was as good as I have seen on any waterway. It contains plenty of diversity in habitat, with long wadeable rocky bottom runs giving way to deeper pools for cover. The flows were great and I could not help but to think about what may lay further up stream, right away from the camping areas and parking spots. Food source seemed to be very nymph driven, but it was cold on this day so I expected this. I did see some insect life out of the water but it was limited to midge and dragonflies, I didn't see any fish feeding on the surface at any stage of the day. I really must get back here in late Summer, I expect it would be a dreamy place when the hoppers are around.

UPSTREAM

As I ventured up stream, I think the reality of just how good this place is started to sink in, I covered very little water in the first few hours, there just appeared to be good runs at every glance upstream. The nymph fishing continued for the remainder of the day but I did instill a heavier nymph for slightly deeper runs where needed and as long as I stuck to the rule of having the nymph clunk along the rocky bottom, I kept seeing fish to the net.

EXIT POINT

I had a walked only maybe one or two kilometers when I saw a car parked up ahead of me, near the side of the river. My immediate thought was that another fisherman had dropped in. But I also hoped that maybe they were just out walking. As I continued, things changed and I stopped seeing as many fish, maybe it was another fisherman. I made the call to pull the pin and head back to the car with a promise that next season I would return to this river in the warmer months to see how things were. But also decided to just fish one more run while I was here, targeting slightly deeper water on the far side of the river. It didn't yield any fish, but what a way to finish my short time here, on Big River. I will certainly be back.