Imagery: Esri, Vantor, Earthstar Geographics

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Gloucester River

River

29.7 km

Main stem

91%

Tree cover on banks

Species recorded

Access places

Stocking records

A stocked rainbow trout river in the Peel District of NSW, classified as general trout water above its junction with Sharpes Creek and fished with light gear, small dries and nymphs.

The Gloucester River is a NSW trout river where rainbows have been released every season in recent years, and the reason to come is a stocked fishery you can cover on foot with a light rod and a small box of flies.

The river splits in two, and the line that splits it is a legal one rather than a gorge or a dam. It sits where a tributary, Sharpes Creek, comes in. From that junction upstream, the river, Sharpes Creek and every creek feeding the water above are classified as general trout water under NSW’s trout rules. Below the junction, that classification does not reach.

Start above the junction. This is the water the trout rules were written for, and the rainbows are your target: fish upstream with a buoyant dry, drop a small nymph beneath it when nothing rises, and choose your way in from the access card. Because it is classified general trout water, the NSW rules for those waters decide whether you can fish it on your dates and what you may keep, so read the current NSW guide before you book the trip. In our experience the warmer months are the time we would choose within whatever window it allows.

The lower river, below Sharpes Creek, is the second trip, and it is not one we would drive for on trout alone, and the current NSW guide is still your reference for it. Treat it as a scouting walk with a slim streamer on, since small native fish and eels are recorded in the river, and let the upper water be the day you plan around.

Check the live card for the level, open the NSW guide, and pack a few sizes of the same dry.

Species records

Historical records and regulatory mentions. They do not establish current abundance, a suitable angling target or permission to fish.

Rainbow Trout

Stocking history 2019–2026

No live gauge

No gauge readings are available for this water.

Season

Access & parking

Regulations

Driving directions

Water and habitat

The gradient chart shows how the Gloucester falls along its length, and the bank cover chart shows how much of it runs under trees and scrub. Use both before you pick a stretch: steeper water tends to break into runs and pockets, while a gentler fall gives longer pools you can read from the bank.

Wherever you fish, trout sit where the current brings food past and gives them a break from it. Look at the head of a pool where a run spills in, the seam along a rock, and the slower water under an undercut bank. The flow chart shows the river’s usual range through the year and the live card shows how it is running now, so you can judge whether you are looking at normal water or a lift after rain.

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

Dense trees

Open woodland

Native grass & tussock

Cultivated

Fish and forage

Rainbow trout are the fish to target. They are stocked, and the stocking chart shows the releases season by season. A river that leans on stocking usually holds young, willing fish more than a head of old, large ones, so plan for plenty of small takes and treat a big fish as a bonus.

Australian smelt, flathead and striped gudgeons and Pacific blue-eye are recorded here. All are small fish a trout will eat, and they are the reason a slim, drab streamer earns a place in the box. Longfin eels are recorded too.

For the box, in our experience you want buoyant dries in sizes 12 to 16, such as a Royal Wulff, an Adams or an Elk Hair Caddis; a beadhead Pheasant Tail or Hare’s Ear in 14 to 16 to hang beneath; and a small olive or black Woolly Bugger to imitate the smelt and gudgeons. In high summer, a hopper is a good bet where grass meets the water.

Stocking history

Reported past stocking. These records do not establish survival, present abundance or a current stocking programme.

Stocking recorded for Gloucester River

7 source records · latest 10 reported periods

Labels such as 2023/24 cover July to June. Each financial-year record is a site total, not an individual release. Missing periods are not reported as zero.

Rainbow Trout

Latest source records

2025/26

Rainbow Trout · 6,000 · Site financial-year total

2024/25

Rainbow Trout · 6,000 · Site financial-year total

2023/24

Rainbow Trout · 6,000 · Site financial-year total

2022/23

Rainbow Trout · 1,500 · Site financial-year total

2021/22

Rainbow Trout · 6,000 · Site financial-year total

NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (Fisheries) ↗

Rainbow Trout

Oncorhynchus mykiss

2019–2026 · 7 records · Gloucester River

NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (Fisheries) ↗

When to fish it

Start with the NSW guide, not a calendar. On the classified water above Sharpes Creek, the trout rules decide which months are open to you.

Within that window, in our experience spring brings trout up to feed as the water warms, and from late spring into summer a dry does most of the work. In the heat of summer, fish early and late, when the light is off the water. Autumn can fish well as the flow settles, and that is when a nymph or a small streamer comes back into its own. Check the flow chart and the live card for the level: a steady river is the window you want, not one still falling after a flood.

THE YEAR ON THIS WATER

Dries in the warmer months

Fly · Nov–Mar

A guide’s read rather than a measurement. Check the current NSW guide for the trout season on the classified water before you plan around these months.

Hoppers along grassy banks

Fly · Dec–Mar

A guide’s suggestion for high summer wherever grass runs down to the water.

Nymphs when nothing rises

Fly · Oct–Apr

In our experience a small beadhead nymph under a dry is the fallback on a quiet day.

Small fish in the river

Food · Jan–Dec

Australian smelt, gudgeons and Pacific blue-eye are recorded in the river, which is the case for a slim streamer in the box.

How to fish it

Fish upstream. Trout face into the current, so coming from below keeps you behind them. Move slowly, keep low, and fish the near water before you step into it.

A four- or five-weight with a floating line and a long, fine leader suits most of the river. Keep casts short and accurate; on a stocked stream, a drag-free drift matters more than the pattern. When fish are not rising, a dry-dropper rig lets the dry act as an indicator for a nymph hung a short way beneath it. Where trees crowd the bank behind you, a roll cast saves a lot of lost flies. In the deeper pools, swing or strip a small streamer through the tail on a slow retrieve.

Access and safety

The access card names the sites where you can reach the water. Treat each as a way in, not as permission to cross the land beside it; where a track runs through private property, ask the landholder first.

As on any bush river, rocks in moving water are slippery and a river can rise quickly after rain upstream. Wade slowly, test each step, carry a wading staff if you have one, and check the live card before you set out.

Passive Craft Only

View place

Directions

Regulations

Under NSW’s trout and salmon fishing rules, the Gloucester River in the Peel District is classified as general trout water. The classified extent is the whole of the river, its creeks and tributaries upstream from its junction with, and including, Sharpes Creek. That listing is what brings the NSW trout rules to the water above the junction, so read the current NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development fishing guide, and its closed-waters list, before you fish any part of the river.

Open the current NSW fishing rules and regulations before you leave.

Permitted with conditions

NSW

Under NSW's trout and salmon fishing rules, Gloucester River in the Peel District is classified as a general trout water; the classified extent is the whole of the waters of the Gloucester River, its creeks, and tributaries upstream from its junction with, and including, Sharpes Creek.

NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development

Read the rule at source ↗