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Waters

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Fly fishing Tasmania's Northern Rivers

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Brumbys Creek

River

44.2 km

Main stem

Reaches

50%

Tree cover on banks

Species recorded

Ways in

A practical fly-fishing guide to Brumbys Creek, covering the three weirs, generation-driven levels, access signs, trout tactics, boating limits and current 2026–27 rules.

Brumbys Creek is a chain of three weedy weir pools with popular fishing for mostly brown trout. The weirs were built to soften releases from Poatina power station, and each gives you different bank and boat options.

Start at Weir 1 if you fly fish. Its open shore reaches weedy margins where trout fossick early and rise to hatching insects as the weather warms.

Weir 2 carries faster water for fly or lure fishing but is closed to boating. Weir 3 has more open lower water and suits lure and bait fishing.

Generation can change the level quickly. Read the current release outlook and live gauge, keep a dry return route, and move away from turbulent weir bases when releases rise.

Use IFS access signs as your boundary: signed routes are available to anglers, while other approaches may require the landowner’s permission.

Fish in this water

Each fish is rated by its strongest evidence. A rating says how sure we are a fish is here, not how many there are, whether it is worth fishing for or whether you may keep it.

Confirmed

Recorded on this water in the last 15 years, or named for it by a fishery agency, its fishing rules or a fishing publication.

Brown Trout

Named by Tasmania's Inland Fisheries Service

Rainbow Trout

Named by Tasmania's Inland Fisheries Service

Redfin

Named by Tasmania's Inland Fisheries Service

Tench

Named by Tasmania's Inland Fisheries Service

Likely

Older records here, recent stocking, a local guide or fly shop, a guide listing, or recent records on connected water nearby.

River Blackfish

Recorded here · 1992

No live gauge

No gauge readings are available for this water.

Season

Regulations

Driving directions

Reaches

4 stretches

Above Garcias Creek

17.8 km

0 km to 17.8 km from the source

Garcias Creek to Saundridge Road

3.7 km

17.8 km to 21.5 km from the source

Saundridge Road to Palmers Rivulet

4.7 km

21.5 km to 26.2 km from the source

Below Palmers Rivulet

17.9 km

26.2 km to 44.1 km from the source

Water and habitat

The three low weirs were built in the early 1960s to buffer releases from Poatina, and the level can still change a long way in a short time depending on generation.

Each impoundment gives you a different plan. Weir 1 has an open edge and thick weed. Weir 2 carries faster water.

Weir 3 opens out toward its lower end. The flow and temperature cards show the current state. Use them to choose between the margins, moving water or a safer day.

Fish sit where the release meets cover. On a steady flow, inspect weed edges and the seam beside the main push. When more water arrives, look for softer water downstream of the turbulence rather than standing near the boil at a weir base.

BANK COVER ALONG THE RIVER · SATELLITE-CLASSIFIED, 2023–25

Dense trees

Open woodland

Sparse trees

Native grass & tussock

Cultivated

Bare

Fish and forage

Brown trout make up most of the trout fishery, with occasional rainbow trout. Tench, redfin perch and short-finned eel are also in the creek. The stocking chart shows recent rainbow releases.

Weed is the useful clue for a fly angler. Early fish fossick along its edge; warmer conditions bring hatching aquatic insects and rising trout.

Carry a small dark nymph and a modest dry fly. Add an olive streamer so you can change with the fish rather than guessing the hatch from the calendar.

Observation history

Stocking history

Regulatory mentions

Occurrence records do not establish present abundance or angling suitability. Counts are records, not fish. Environmental DNA indicates a detection in water, not a captured fish.

These records fall inside the mapped waterbody or within 250 m of a mapped waterway. Records with stated positional uncertainty above 1 km were excluded; some included locations have unstated uncertainty.

Brown Trout

Salmo trutta

1986–2006 · 3 records · Brumbys Creek

Unstated or other method (3)

Data: Tasmanian Natural Values Atlas (CC-BY 3.0 (Au))

Atlas of Living Australia ↗

River Blackfish

Gadopsis marmorata

1987–1992 · 2 records · Brumbys Creek

Unstated or other method (2)

Data: Tasmanian Natural Values Atlas (CC-BY 3.0 (Au))

Atlas of Living Australia ↗

Swan Galaxias

Galaxias fontanus

2004 · 2 records · Brumbys Creek

Unstated or other method (2)

Data: Tasmanian Natural Values Atlas (CC-BY 3.0 (Au))

Atlas of Living Australia ↗

When to fish it

Opening month is a margin game at Weir 1. Move slowly, keep the sun off your casting side and watch the edge before you wade. As the weather warms, calm periods improve your chance of finding fish rising over the weed.

Release timing can overrule the season. Check current flow information before the drive and compare it with the live card when you arrive.

A sharp rise is a reason to stay on the bank or return another day.

The lower creek stays open later than the water above Weir 1. That makes it a late-May option, but only below the rule boundary and under the lower-zone methods.

THE YEAR ON THIS WATER

Early-season margin fishing

Fly · Aug–Oct

Start at Weir 1 and work a small nymph slowly beside the weed where trout fossick after opening.

Hatches over the weed

Food · Oct–Mar

Calm, warming weather brings more insects off the weedy margins and gives you a better chance with a dry fly.

Generation-driven flow

Flow · Aug–May

Check the current release outlook before every visit because generation can change the level quickly.

How to fish it

At Weir 1, start with a size 14 or 16 Pheasant Tail beside the weed. Keep the leader long enough to land softly and retrieve only fast enough to stay in touch. If trout begin to rise, change to a size 14 or 16 Adams and cover one fish at a time.

At Weir 2, fish the current rather than the whole pool. Run a dry-dropper along the seam or swing a size 8 to 10 olive Woolly Bugger through the tail. Avoid adding weight until you know the depth because submerged weed punishes a heavy first cast.

At Weir 3, use the more open lower water to search. A floating line and lightly weighted streamer cover the edge on moderate flow. When the release strengthens, shorten the cast and work the quiet water beside the push.

Access and safety

IFS has negotiated routes across public and private land. Access is a privilege on this creek. Follow the marked angler signs and the access map; where no signed route exists, ask the landowner before crossing or parking on private property.

In our experience the release is the thing to watch here. Note a dry exit before stepping in.

Keep checking the level against a fixed bank feature, and leave as soon as it begins to disappear. Do not stand in the turbulent water at a weir base when the flow is building.

Weirs 1 and 3 allow manual or electric power while fishing. Petrol motors may only cross those weirs, and Weir 2 is closed to boating. Keep 100 metres from shore anglers unless the boat is securely moored.

Ways in

Where roads, tracks and paths reach the water, from mapped roads. Not a right of entry: check gates, land tenure and closures.

Blackwood Creek Road

Drive-up

Track off Cressy Road

0.1 km · Unsealed · off Cressy Road

Track off Eastfield Road

0.21 km · Unsealed · off Eastfield Road

Track off Fisheries Lane

0.33 km · Unsealed · off Fisheries Lane

Track off Smiths Road

0.35 km · Unsealed · off Smiths Road

Track off Blackwood Creek Road

0.45 km · Unsealed · off Blackwood Creek Road

See them on the map

Regulations

For the 2026–27 season, IFS splits Brumbys Creek at Weir 1. Above the weir, the season runs from 1 August 2026 to 2 May 2027 and only artificial lures and flies are allowed.

Below Weir 1 to the Macquarie River, the season runs from 1 August 2026 to 30 May 2027. Bait, lures and flies are allowed. Both zones have a 220 mm minimum size and a daily bag limit of five.

Check the current IFS Brumbys Creek listing and the Tasmanian Inland Fishing Code before you fish. Recheck both if your trip sits near a season boundary or uses a boat.

Prohibited

TAS

Tasmania's designated rainbow trout waters, together with the extended-season waters of Lake Mackintosh, Lake Rosebery, the lower section of Brumbys Creek, the Tinamirakuna / Macquarie River, the Meander River and the South Esk River, close for the 2026-27 season on Sunday 30 May 2027, later than the standard 2 May close.