Cotter River

The mapped river is about eighty-five kilometres of mainstem, and it earns that length slowly. It begins as creeks draining tussock marshland, fed from the snow on the Brindabellas, and early in the season a large volume of cold water comes down those drainages at once. The river runs through Namadgi National Park before it reaches the Murrumbidgee.

Three dams sit on it. From the top: Corin, then Bendora, then Cotter Dam near the bottom. The territory’s rules name those dams as the boundaries of what may be fished, and they also shape the river’s behaviour, because the trout water sits below one storage and above another. The flow in the river’s year and the flow-duration chart comes from the gauge below Bendora Dam, so it reads the release into the trout water; the fall of the river and the bank survey cover the whole mainstem. Each stretch has its own page, and the river map draws the four of them with the three reservoirs as the stops between. In our read, the character is a cold, clear stream of runs, bends and pools, heavy enough to need a proper nymph rig in spring and readable enough to sight-fish by summer.

Rainbow trout are the fish most firmly reported from the Cotter. Brown trout are named in the territory’s trout-water rules, but reports of them from the river itself are thin, and neither tells you that a particular pool in the Bendora-to-Condor reach holds one. Treat rainbows as the main expectation and a brown as possible.

For fly choice, think of a cold clear upland river. In our read, a warm afternoon is a good bet for mayfly duns, even early in the season, and through summer ants and other terrestrials are worth carrying. Where the banks run to tussock, a hopper is a fair bet from midsummer.

The Cotter also holds native fish. Macquarie perch, trout cod and two-spined blackfish have all been recorded here. Check the current ACT fishing brochure for which species are protected, and if you catch a fish you are not sure of, release it with as little handling as you can.

The season opens on the October Labour Day long weekend and runs to the end of the June King’s Birthday long weekend; those dates move with the calendar, so check the current brochure. Within that window the river has three moods.

Spring is the melt. The river can be heavy and freezing at the opening, and the fishing is deep nymphs in the slower water off the main current, with an afternoon dun hatch as the reward if the sun comes through. Summer is, in our read, the dry-fly season: lower, clearer water, sighted fish on the big bends, ants and hoppers on the tussock banks. Autumn is a good bet for deliberate fish in low water until the season closes after the June long weekend.

Two rigs cover the river. In heavy water, a deep nymph rig under an indicator, fished in the slower, less turbulent runs beside the current so the flies get down. Work the runs one at a time; in our experience the take often comes at the tail-out as the drift straightens. In clear water, a single dry or a dry-dropper, and before you cast, a look. Find a high vantage point above a deep bend and watch the mottled shapes that were rocks a moment ago turn into fish. Take your time in those places and hunt one fish rather than covering the pool.

The ACT rule on gear is worth knowing before you rig up: in trout water the rod may carry no more than two flies, or one lure, and you may fish only one rod at a time.

The river runs through Namadgi National Park. For the trout water, use formed public roads and tracks, obey signs, and check the current ACT Parks information before you go. A line on a map is not permission to walk it.

The Cotter above Bendora Dam wall, and from Cotter Dam wall up to the Condor Creek junction, is closed to fishing at all times.

Early-season flows are the safety point. The melt can run the river heavy and icy, and a fish hooked in that current will use it. As on any cold mountain river, wade with care, or do not wade, and come back in a month if the river is high.

The ACT publishes its rules in an annual recreational fishing brochure and on the territory’s fishing pages; check the current brochure for licence requirements. Three classifications touch this river.

The Cotter between Bendora Dam and the Condor Creek junction is Trout Water. In trout water, fishing is open from the start of the October Labour Day long weekend to the end of the June King’s Birthday long weekend; only artificial fly and lure fishing is allowed in the open season; bait fishing is prohibited; you may use one rod at a time and a landing net; the rod may carry no more than two flies or one artificial lure; and it is an offence to possess a handline, more than two rods, a rod rigged for bait, or any net other than a landing net in or beside the water.

The Cotter above Cotter Dam wall to the junction of Condor Creek, including the Cotter Reservoir, and the Cotter and its catchment above Bendora Dam wall, including Bendora and Corin reservoirs, are Prohibited Waters. Fishing there is not allowed at any time.

The Cotter below Cotter Dam is Open Water, with the more permissive open-water gear rules.

Take any size and bag limits from the current ACT recreational fishing brochure before you fish. The rules are made under the Fisheries Act 2000.