TROUT HEAVEN ON THE GEEHI RIVER

Here I was on a hot summers day at the start of 2026, almost knee deep in the Geehi River in Kosciuszko National Park in the Australian High Country, surrounded by some of the best fly fishing conditions I have experienced. The water is cold, almost gin clear and, as a I look around, there is an absolute abundance of insect life. Everywhere I look, I see dragonflies, grasshoppers, caddis, cicadas, damsel flies, mayfly shucks, stone flies and a myriad of other life. All signs point to a thriving ecosystem and a great day on the water.

But unfortunately, the trout seemed to have other ideas. One day, I would be grateful to understand why.

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BACKGROUND

There is no denying that river fishing for trout in Australia, particularly in the High Country of New South Wales, has been tough going recently, to the point where the last few seasons are causing me to question my ability. But I felt optimistic about this last minute trip into the Geehi valley. After making the early morning drive, we arrive and are quickly walking into this stunning place, over-shadowed by the dramatic high peaks of the western fall of the Alpine Plateau. It was another 'Blue Bird' day, initially, with very low wind. The plan for the day was to fish somewhere with cool, clear water flowing off the high alpine to combat hot temperatures and this area fit the bill perfectly. On the walk in, it was hard not to consider the amount of pristine water in this area. With a number of clear running rivers and creeks very close by, this feels like a place that could be explored with fly rod in hand for days or even weeks. Wild fires several hundred kilometers to the west were indicated by a light smoke haze, well off into the distance. We knew the fires were there, but potentially shifting conditions meant that we had to keep them and our safety in the back of our minds.

FIRST RUN OF THE DAY

Knee to waist deep and crystal clear - just magic.

Hitting the first pool of the day saw the anticipation of what might lay ahead arise. It looked so good. Further up to the head of this run, the water looked even better. It was deeper with plenty of large submersed rocks for structure, rippled water and over-hanging heath. I watched and waited from a hidden vantage point for some time, but nothing was moving or feeding. I then put maybe 30 to 40 blind casts of my dry dropper set up through the different lines and runs, working close water and then distant water as I slowly moved up stream, but there was not a single sign of a fish, feeding or otherwise.

POOL AFTER POOL OF BEAUTIFUL WATER

The further we headed up-stream, the better this river felt and looked. It seemed like every new piece of water held great structure and promise for fish. There was very little water we walked past, we fished it hard. We tried different movement tactics, like moving up stream in the river but also moving up stream by getting out of the river to be concealed by the trees, to reduce the risk of spooking fish. The water here was so clean that we thought that perhaps we were spooking fish without realising. Added to the mix was the deception of depth due to the water clarity. In many cases the water was deeper than it looked and I was constantly changing the depth of my nymph dropper to make sure it stayed in the lower water column. We really tried to cover all of the bases.

Great water as far upstream as we could see.

DENSE, FERNY BANKS

As far as altitude goes, fishing in this area sits quite a bit lower than what I have been fishing lately. In most of the situations in recent times, I find myself at higher elevations where there is very little vegetation surrounding the river, just button grass, open fields and high banks. This lack of trees at higher altitudes comes with some aspects that I like, such as easier access and casting, and some that I don't, such as being seen more easily and spooking fish. The structure on the Geehi River really gave me an advantage, I had many more opportunities to hide and sneak up a run as I fished it, with reduced risk of being silhouetted on a high clear bank. The other advantage was the shadows the thick vegetation created. You can imagine a trout sitting in a deeper, shadowed run, waiting to take advantage of the plethora of food here.

Fishing my way up this beautiful river.

FOOD SOURCE

There was more food in this river than perhaps I have seen for some years, I would go as far as to say it was bursting with insect life. Certainly more than enough to support a population of trout. Just watching the water and the different bubble lines exposed the abundance of different insect options just floating along on the surface or emerging from the rocky bottom to hatch. I watched brown caddis and mayflies hatching in good numbers throughout the day, without a sign of a single fish feeding on them, nymphing or on the surface.

Another noticeable element was the amount of dry nymph and dragonfly shucks on almost every rock protruding above the waters surface. Lifting rocks also exposed a very healthy population of crawling nymphs of varying sizes and types.

Not far above the piece of water photographed above, I did get sight of one fish. A small Rainbow (I think) made a very spooky play for my dry fly, he missed the first time. I made a fly change and he looked again, but then despite my many fly changes, I never saw him again. So there were at least perhaps smaller fish residing here.

PRESSURE

There appeared to be little to no signs that other fisherman had been through this area recently, although this is tricky given how densely populated the rivers edge is. The only foot prints I saw were from deer. But I do wonder if the less remote nature of this river was a factor to how much pressure it sees. It probably has to be a factor. But even on pressured rivers in the past, I have seen fish, sure they are skiddish, hard to catch and easily spooked but there are signs of life. Maybe this area does get heavily fished, maybe we weren't remote enough.

THE FINAL STRAW

As the afternoon grew later and the shadows grew a little longer, the limited sign of fish called for a meeting by the rivers edge. I looked down to notice the 30 odd flies I had tried so far, dries and nymphs displayed on the foam patch on my fly vest, as a true sign of the variety of food I had attempted, and mostly failed to imitate. Things simply weren't adding up. It's not the first time I have seen this happen in the last few seasons. Areas that look like they should be a trout heaven, show no signs of any fish, for reasons I either don't understand or haven't learned about yet. This river felt void of fish for the most part, was that really the case? For me, more recently, it's not about catching fish, its about the welfare and health of the fishery and the trout themselves. Maybe the fish were there, just not feeding? Maybe the area is under great pressure from us, the fisherman or other environmental factors. I would love to figure it out.

During our sit down and theory swapping discussion, we noticed heavier smoke than we had seen all day and then we watched embers from the fire starting to fall around us. The embers were not lit and the fire was still hundreds of kilometers away, but this was the sign that sealed the deal for us on this day - it was time to get out. On our arrival back to my vehicle, we were joined by local National Park Rangers advising that the area was being closed down that night for safety and that it was time to get out of that valley.

It wasn't the day we had hoped for fishing wise, but the experience of fishing the Geehi River was still magic, it was great to be out on the water with plenty of natural life around us and so much potential.

I plan to return in Autumn to see if things have changed, to see if there is trout heaven on the Geehi River.