Local accounts describe the dam as supplying the Wallerawang Power Station, with the water it holds a mix of Coxs River flow, top-ups from the Fish River Scheme and pumping from Lake Lyell. That regular pumping is why it is described as always close to capacity; there is no bathtub ring to fish here, only weed and open water.

The weed is the defining feature. It grows in large towers, with lanes and pockets of open water between them. In our read, trout use the stands as cover and the lanes as feeding runs, so the seam where weed meets clear water is the first place to look. Local anglers report algal blooms from time to time; when the water is green and soupy, fish early, fish the wind-cleared shore and expect a slower day.

Local anglers rate the water quality here generally better than at Lyell.

Rainbow trout are the fish you will catch most often, with local reports putting the usual size between 37 and 50 centimetres. Brown trout are also present. Local reports mention bass in small numbers from a 1998 stocking, but do not plan a trip around them.

Local fly anglers match hatches of dragonfly, mudeyes, mayflies, midges and moths. In our read, trout here feed close to the weed and close to the surface, so a fly box for Wallace is light: a few emergers and parachute dries in sizes 12 to 16, an unweighted nymph or two, a mudeye pattern, and one Woolly Bugger with as little weight as you can get away with.

Local accounts describe the trout fishing as excellent all year, particularly for bait, though the fly fishing depends on finding fish in the shallows, and that is a hatch-driven business.

A good bet, as on most weedy dams, is still mornings and warm evenings from spring into autumn, when midge and mayfly are most likely on the flat water off the reserve and mudeyes and dragonflies along the weed edges. Those are the windows to be on the bank with a dry or an emerger and to hold your cast until a fish shows.

Through the cooler months, as on most weedy dams, the surface tends to go quiet and the fishing moves to a slow wet over the weed tops. Wind matters more than the calendar then: fish the shore the wind is blowing onto, where the drift concentrates food and the trout follow it in.

Rig a five or six weight with a floating line and a leader of at least twelve feet. Walk the bank slowly and watch the weed lanes before you put a line out. A trout cruising a lane will show as a bulge or a tail, and a single cast placed ahead of it beats twenty covering water.

When fish are rising, match what you see: a size 14 or 16 emerger for midge and small mayfly, a mudeye pattern fished dead slow at dusk, a moth pattern if trout are slashing at the surface after dark. Let the fish come to the fly.

When nothing is showing, tie on a lightly weighted Woolly Bugger and fish it on a floating or slow intermediate line just fast enough to keep it above the weed. Local anglers warn that Woolly Buggers may catch weed, and a fouled fly catches nothing. Local anglers name the dam wall and the outflow from Lyell as popular spots; treat them as places where a deeper edge meets weed and fish them the same way.

From a kayak or a float tube, work the outside of the weed stands and the open lanes between them. Trolling by paddle is described as hard going because of the weed, so anchor or drift and cast instead.

Keep your hands wet and support each fish in the water before release. Check and dry boots, waders and any craft before the next water.

Local anglers’ directions are to take the Wallerawang exit off the Great Western Highway onto Barton Avenue and turn right into the public reserve just past the primary school. The bank in front of the reserve is the open shore described by local anglers, and it is where a first visit should start.

Treat any fence, sign or gate as the rule, and confirm current conditions of entry with the water’s manager or the council before you go beyond the reserve.

As on any weedy dam, wade with care and only where you can see the bottom; a float tube in tall weed is slow to move and easy to snag, so keep fins clear and stay within a comfortable kick of the bank. The highway is close, so keep children and dogs away from the road side of the reserve.

Lake Wallace appears in the table of general trout dams (Schedule 2, Table B2) of the NSW Fisheries Management (Trout and Salmon, Fishing Closure) Notification 2023, and the DPIRD freshwater guide lists it the same way with Wallerawang as the nearest town. The listing covers the backed-up water of the dam; the tributaries above the point where they enter that backed-up water are not part of it, so the Coxs River upstream is a separate question.

No rule specific to this water beyond that listing was found. The season, bag and size limits and permitted gear that attach to a general trout dam in the current year are set out in the NSW fishing rules and regulations and the freshwater bag and size limits. Read both before you fish, and confirm the fishing fee and exemptions.

One exception is worth knowing. Traps and nets are prohibited in trout waters, but the same notification and the DPIRD guide allow up to five hoop nets or open pyramid lift nets for taking yabbies in the backed-up waters of Lake Wallace. Check the current wording before you set one.