FLY FISHING NARNIA - PART 1

The first in a multi part series detailing a fly fishing wonderland in the High Country of Australia.

There are places that stick to me in life, the places I think about after a long week, the places I escape to given the opportunity. This river is 'that' place. It's remote, untouched and free. On top of all of this, the water here is pure, crystal clear and home to big, smart, wild and beautiful brown trout. Does it get any better?

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THE INTRODUCTION

It's the height of summer in Australia in 2023 and the journey into this river to fly fish is unrelenting and steep. I am accompanied by a good friend and keen fly fisherman on this 3 day trip. We are on our bikes to save time and finally, all of the planning to see this special place is coming to fruition.

This is our first time on this river and at this stage I don't realise how important this area would become. It's a 'Blue Bird' day, not a cloud in the sky and I notice that there is water everywhere, leaching out of the ground and running in every small valley. It's been a wet Winter and Spring. The insects are well and truly out, like nothing I have seen for a long time. The hoppers are dominant, fleeing at every foot step with that undeniable clicking wing sound during flight, in colours of brown and green. Cicadas can be heard in the surrounding area, the sound of summer, and big March Flies are thick and into everything. They are buzzing in faces, crawling in gear and trying to access skin through any gap they can find. The place feels full of life, and hopes for this fly fishing trip are sky high. It's dry fly season, my favourite method of catching trout.

Towards the end of the steep descent in, the river is in sight. It looks immaculately clean and we can see it flowing for kilometres up stream from our heightened vantage point. I can't wait to hit the water, so our camp is set up and waders are put on quickly, right near the first great looking piece of water.

THE DRY FLY ACTION

Some of the dry flies used on day 1

It's possible to see multiple fish rising in the water, only a stones throw from the tent. Some fish are small, jumping clear out of the water, and others are larger and more graceful sippers, expending as little energy as possible when feeding. It's possible to watch insects of all kinds on the waters surface floating down bubble lines and it's generally only a matter of time before you can see a nose and a set of lips just breaking the waters surface, leaving a boil and swirl as a key indicator of a feeding fish. These are the bigger trout - the reason we are here. Before too long I am tying on the first of many flies, I opt for a medium hopper pattern.

It takes me a few casts to get settled and find the right drift. I am blind casting at this point. The hits and takes started and didn't really stop for the rest of the trip. I hadn't experienced fly fishing like this in the past, it seemed as though every run had multiple trout of varying sizes and they were keen to eat. It felt like the pinnacle of Australian High Country fishing, total abundance.

BIG MAMMA

Day two of the trip holds a full day of fly fishing. I wanted to focus on looking to cast to fish that I had sighted, rather than blind casting. Blind casting on day 1 appeared to spook a number of larger fish due to the great water clarity. There was a classic piece of water that I spent some time watching, and I noticed a larger fish feeding hard. I didn't see the fish clearly until I was at the rivers edge ready to cast, it was a large brown but just how big, I wasn't yet sure.

Cicada (Cicadoidea)

I cast a number of different flies through the run, but didn't get any interest. I changed to a large cicada pattern and on the first pass, I watched as a large head appeared just below my fly with open mouth, completely engulfing my cicada imitation. I let the fish drop and turn and set the hook and what followed was the most intense fight I had experienced on a river. The fish instantly jumped clean out of the water and that was when I realised this was a big fish. After many runs up and down stream, I finally had the fish tired enough and back in the original pool where it had taken the fly.

The fish was a large female, so large I was never in control and netting this magnificent trout was proving to be impossible. After ten or so minutes of this stand off, my tippet broke and it was over. The fish just sat in the middle of the river in knee deep water recovering. I let her be and just watched. She eventually swam back into the deeper pool below. I won't soon forget this fish and experience.

The piece of river where we met Big Mamma

I saw that large brown trout in my dreams that night. I couldn't believe the size and the condition of that fish, it was immaculate. I am estimating around 3 kilos, but I will never really know. I vowed to revisit that piece of water when I visit again in the future, just in case.

CADDIS ON THE BANKS

There was a clear abundance of caddis on this river. As day two moved into the later afternoon, storms and rain developed and the caddis were simply everywhere, like snow flakes lining the edges of the river. It would send the fish into a feeding frenzy and allowed us to target them with caddis and white moth patterns on the edges. Finding larger heath and small trees overhanging the water proved to be the most beneficial areas to cast a fly. I unfortunately broke the tip off my rod on this afternoon and had to devise a dodgy solution that included a Bandaid coupled with a small portion of my broken rod tip, but it worked. The night of day two was spent sharing stories about the events of this trip so far, Big Mamma and just how amazing this area was.

STORMS AND FORCES

We started early on day three to make the most of the light, but this time chose to head downstream and fish back up to camp, given it was the last day of the trip. It was a stormy morning but the fishing hadn't really slowed down. We were well tuned by this point. We were better versed in this river and how it worked, looking for caddis hatches, sighting for each other and working likely runs, with a number of good fish to the net. But during lunch we noticed large storm clouds building in the west. Soon enough we realised the storm was headed our way and with heavy rain, lightning and some hail, we were forced out and up the steep climb back to the car. Everything was soaking wet, but it didn't matter.

As I sat there in the relative comfort of the seats in my car, I considered the trip we had just had and the experience that had just unfolded. Being in this remote and wild environment was special. Watching these big wild brown trout in such an untouched and vibrant ecosystem felt like we had found fly fishing Narnia............and we couldn't wait to return.

Part 2 coming soon.

A FEW OF THE FISH TO THE NET

Lovely brown trout caught on the fly

Another beautiful brown trout to the net whilst fly fishing

Brown trout and clear water in teh Australian high country

Brown trout in every runin this amazing high coutnry river