The Guy Fawkes River at Ebor is the trout stream at the top of the New England tableland, among the northernmost trout water in the country: stocked rainbows to a few pounds that take a dry at the heads of the pools, and wild browns that grow big on yabbies and are very hard to fool. You can fish it from the middle of the village.

The Ebor Falls cut the river in two. Above the falls it is a perennial tableland stream running straight through Ebor, and that is the trout water: pools and riffles with the village on the bank. Below, the river drops over twin waterfalls, and the magazine writers point only the athletic at the pool under the first fall. The state classifies the whole river above its junction with the Aberfoyle River as general trout water.

The easiest trip is the village water. The Ebor Common, in the heart of town, is where the magazine writers find fantastic access, and they describe the water from there down to the falls as travelling stock reserve and council land; the access card names the access sites. Fish a dry into the head of each pool for the rainbows and save a nymph for the slower bends. The river is listed as a general trout water in the state’s trout fishing-closure notification; take the current dates from the NSW guide before you plan. Start at the common, on a day after rain.

The second trip is for the browns, and it starts in the dark. The writers describe a window of about half an hour between first light and sunrise when the big Ebor browns take a streamer hard; the writers say the bite shuts down once the sun is up. Be standing at a slow bend with a black streamer tied on before you can see it land.

Rain decides everything: the writers call the fishery very dependent on rainfall, and in a dry year the river almost stops and shrinks to murky pools. The writers describe the land upstream of the common as private, and the stretch from town down to the falls as stock reserve and council land.

Check the rain, then be on the common before it is light.