Fly fishing the Shoalhaven and the NSW South Coast

Read each river as two waters joined at the tide. On the Shoalhaven River the lower river is tidal, reached from public boat ramps and fished as an estuary; above it the river runs fresh, and that is bass country. Bomaderry Creek is one of the creeks feeding it. DPIRD’s Shoalhaven guide puts the wall of Tallowa Dam on the Shoalhaven itself, and the water backed up behind it, also called Lake Yarrunga, is said to be steep-sided, with thick growth hanging over the banks. The Clyde River follows the river pattern: fresh upper reaches where the bass live, then a lower river that turns salty.

Jervis Bay, about two and a half hours’ drive south of Sydney, is a big sheltered bay of clear water over seagrass, sand and reef, with open ocean beyond the headlands, and the whole of it lies inside Jervis Bay Marine Park. Conjola Lake is smaller and quieter, reported to hold the usual estuary fish. Fitzroy Falls Reservoir is a single sheet of stored water near the village of the same name.

Both bass rivers reward the same habits. Arrive in the dark, fish a popper or a big foam fly tight to the shaded bank until the sun reaches the water, then go down to a sparse baitfish pattern of 4 to 6 centimetres in olive, grey or tan, or a small dark Woolly Bugger in the deeper pools. The rivers are full of smelt, galaxias, herring and a long list of gudgeons, so a slim fly is the right shape all day. Through midsummer, beetles and hoppers falling off the banks can bring fish up under the trees in daylight too.

The Shoalhaven’s tidal river adds black bream: a small weighted baitfish fly or a shrimp pattern worked slowly near structure, best on the last of the run-in tide over the edges. Bomaderry Creek has reports of bass and black bream both and fishes like a small version of the main river.

Tallowa is fished entirely on its edge. Bass have gone in every season the stocking records cover, which points to several year classes at once, plenty of small fish with better ones among them. Work the steepest, darkest banks, give each stretch a dozen casts, and move on.

Fitzroy Falls is the trout water. Rainbows have been stocked over several seasons, and a lightly weighted Woolly Bugger crawled along the margin on a grey morning is the place to begin. Bass went in once; treat one as a bonus.

On the salt, a six or seven weight with an intermediate line and sparse baitfish flies covers both bays. Inside Jervis Bay, walk the line where seagrass gives way to sand, and lengthen the leader, because in water that clear the fish see you as well as you see them. At Conjola, look for flathead and bream along the shallow edges on a calm morning.

Make the first trip a summer dawn on the fresh Shoalhaven, any time from late spring into March. If you get only one day in the region, spend it there; the Clyde asks for the same pre-dawn start. In winter, go to Fitzroy Falls instead. If you would rather wade salt water, walk a Jervis Bay beach over seagrass first thing, before the sea breeze.

Leave the offshore game grounds outside Jervis Bay for a later visit with someone who knows them, and do not plan around the Shoalhaven’s stocked trout without local word on where they are going in.

Late spring to early autumn is the bass season on every fresh water here, with the surface fishing at its best in summer; by winter we would leave the upper rivers alone.

The Shoalhaven’s bream fish through more of the year, though spring into autumn is best. Fitzroy Falls runs the other way: the cool months are the rainbow season, spring brings nymphs on the weed edges as the water warms, and summer is hard going for trout in still water, so fish it early and try for a bass at dusk. On the salt a calm morning matters more than the month, and the school holidays fill the Jervis Bay beaches and ramps.

Seasons, closures, limits, licence requirements and Jervis Bay’s marine park zoning change; check NSW DPIRD’s current freshwater fishing rules and closures before you fish.

A line on the map is not access permission, and the Tallowa launch said to be near Bendeela Power Station is a place to ask about. Use the listed access sites and public ramps, and follow the signs.