Imagery: Esri

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Waters

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Fly fishing Tasmania's Northern Rivers

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Meander River

River

117 km

Main stem

Reaches

55%

Tree cover on banks

Species recorded

Ways in

From the Great Western Tiers to the South Esk at Hadspen, fast clear water above Huntsman Lake, the shingle riffles and long runs from the dam to Deloraine, the river's best fly water, slow broadwaters through the poppy and pasture country below, wild browns, and a lower river on an extended season under IFS's own yearly dates.

For a day of upstream nymphing, a good bet is the Meander below Huntsman Lake. From the Great Western Tiers south-west of Deloraine the river runs to the South Esk at Hadspen. Above Huntsman Lake it is fast, clear, boulder-strewn water, with small resident browns that take some catching. From the dam to Deloraine it is long runs and pools between shingle riffles, the most attractive stretch from a fly fisher’s point of view, made for the nymph fished upstream and the dry when fish show. From Deloraine to Hadspen it lives up to its name, slow runs and broadwaters between high banks through pasture and poppy country, fishing well for every method and opened up to the shore angler by willow removal between Strath Bridge and Hadspen. Huntsman Lake, built in 2007, changed the river: the fishing below the dam has improved since, particularly in summer. The browns are wild and dominate; rainbows turn up below the dam and river blackfish and redfin live in the lower water. The Deloraine gauge has watched the river since 1954. Come in spring for the hatches, in summer below the dam, and mind the poppy crops.

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

River Blackfish

Named by Tasmania's Inland Fisheries Service

Tench

Named by Tasmania's Inland Fisheries Service

No live gauge

No gauge readings are available for this water.

Season

Regulations

Driving directions

Reaches

4 stretches

Headwaters to Huntsman Lake

13.1 km

The mountain stream off the Tiers, above the lake.

Huntsman Dam to Deloraine

27.1 km

The regulated riffle-and-run water, the river’s best for the fly.

Deloraine to Strath Bridge

45.3 km

The slow farmland river below the town, on the shorter season.

Strath Bridge to the South Esk

25.7 km

The lower river, on the longer of the river's two seasons.

Water and habitat

The fall of the river has the steep upper river coming off the mountains, the flat shelf of Huntsman Lake, and the long gentle run across the farmland to the South Esk. The bank survey from space describes the river’s country: crops, open woodland, and dense timber up toward the Tiers.

Three rivers in one, and IFS draws a fourth line where the season changes.

Headwaters to Huntsman Lake is the mountain stream off the Tiers to the head of the lake, fast and clear, small wild browns.

Huntsman Dam to Deloraine is the fly water: runs and pools between shingle riffles on the regulated flow, past Meander township to the town bridge, with the Deloraine gauge at its foot.

Deloraine to Strath Bridge is the farmland river slowing down: long runs and broadwaters between high banks through pasture and poppy country to Strath Bridge, where the upper river’s season ends.

Strath Bridge to the South Esk is the lower river to Hadspen, opened to the bank by willow removal, and on the longer of the river’s two seasons.

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

Dense trees

Open woodland

Sparse trees

Native grass & tussock

Cultivated

Built

Fish and forage

Brown trout dominate, wild, in a river IFS manages as a wild trout fishery. Rainbow trout may be met below Huntsman Lake. River blackfish and redfin perch live in the lower sections, and tench with the redfin in the system as pests; IFS asks that any pest fish caught be killed and disposed of. Brown trout were released in 2025 and rainbows between 2010 and 2013, small numbers against a river that breeds its own.

Mayfly and caddis hatch from the shingle riffles and runs below the dam through spring and summer, and from January the grasshoppers come off the pasture along the lower river.

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

1986–2005 · 31 records · Meander River

Backpack electrofishing (28) · Unstated or other method (3)