Headwaters to Huntsman Lake

Reach 1 of 4
·
Meander River
13.1 km
Reach length
55%
Tree cover on banks
4
Species recorded
8
Ways in
The mountain Meander: thirteen kilometres off the Great Western Tiers from thirteen hundred metres to the head of Huntsman Lake, over Meander Falls and through State Forest, fast clear boulder water with small resident browns that take some catching, and the only part of the river the dam has not changed.
The Meander begins as a mountain stream and stays one for exactly as long as it takes to reach the lake. From the plateau of the Great Western Tiers at thirteen hundred metres it falls to under four hundred at the head of Huntsman Lake in thirteen kilometres, dropping over Meander Falls in its first three. Put plainly, it is clear, boulder-strewn fast water through State Forest, with small resident browns that take some catching. There is no gauge, no dam release and no farmland, only pocket water between boulders, myrtle and eucalypt shade, and fish that refuse a bad cast. Come in the warm months with a short rod and a dry-dropper, walk in from Meander Falls Road, and fish it as you would any alpine creek: one cast to a pocket, a step upstream, and no expectation of a big fish.

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.

Likely

Older records here, recent stocking, a local guide or fly shop, a guide listing, or recent records on connected water nearby.
Brown Trout
Named for this river by Tasmania's Inland Fisheries Service
Rainbow Trout
Named for this river by Tasmania's Inland Fisheries Service
Redfin
Named for this river by Tasmania's Inland Fisheries Service
River Blackfish
Named for this river by Tasmania's Inland Fisheries Service
Tench
Named for this river by Tasmania's Inland Fisheries Service
No live gauge
No gauge readings are available for this water.
Season
Regulations
3
Driving directions

Water and habitat

Thirteen kilometres of mainstem from the source on the Tiers to the inflow of Huntsman Lake, and the steepest water on the Meander by a distance. The profile falls from about thirteen hundred metres to seven hundred and seventy in the first five kilometres, over Meander Falls at kilometre two and a half, then to four hundred and sixty at the Mother Cummings Rivulet junction and three hundred and ninety-eight at the lake. Nothing else on the river is like it. The bed is boulders and bedrock, the water clear and fast, the pockets short.
State Forest the whole way. That is the character of this stretch: shade, cold water, and a stream you fish in the gaps between trees.
BANK COVER ALONG THIS REACH · SATELLITE-CLASSIFIED, 2023–25
Dense trees
Open woodland
Sparse trees
Native grass & tussock

Fish and forage

Brown trout, wild and small, resident in the pockets. They take some catching; a headwater fish that lives in fast water this clear has no patience with a dragging fly.
The forage is a mountain stream’s: caddis and stoneflies in the broken water, mayfly in the few slower pools, and in summer the beetles that fall from the forest onto the water. The fish are opportunists and a well-floated dry is rarely refused for being the wrong pattern.
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 as a whole; not specific to this reach
Backpack electrofishing (28) · Unstated or other method (3)
Data: Tasmanian Natural Values Atlas (CC-BY 3.0 (Au))
Atlas of Living Australia ↗
River Blackfish
Gadopsis marmorata
1986–2005 · 17 records · Meander River as a whole; not specific to this reach
Backpack electrofishing (13) · Unstated or other method (4)
Data: Tasmanian Natural Values Atlas (CC-BY 3.0 (Au))
Atlas of Living Australia ↗
Southern Shortfin Eel
Anguilla australis
1981–2005 · 14 records · Meander River as a whole; not specific to this reach
Backpack electrofishing (8) · Unstated or other method (6)
Data: Tasmanian Natural Values Atlas (CC-BY 3.0 (Au))
Atlas of Living Australia ↗
Redfin
Perca fluviatilis
1997–1999 · 3 records · Meander River as a whole; not specific to this reach
Unstated or other method (3)
Data: Tasmanian Natural Values Atlas (CC-BY 3.0 (Au))
Atlas of Living Australia ↗
Goldfish
Carassius auratus
1976–1980 · 2 records · Meander River as a whole; not specific to this reach
Unstated or other method (2)
Data: Tasmanian Natural Values Atlas (CC-BY 3.0 (Au))
Atlas of Living Australia ↗

When to fish it

Late. In our experience, at thirteen hundred metres the water is cold and high from June into spring, and there is no gauge on this stretch to tell you when it has settled. In our experience, from November until the season closes the pockets are fishable, and the warm months are the best of it: summer beetles, evening caddis, and low clear water that concentrates the fish.
It is a summer and autumn stretch. In a wet spring, fish the regulated water below the dam instead.
THE YEAR ON THIS WATER
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Winter rain
Flow · Jun–Oct
In our experience, off the Tiers at thirteen hundred metres the water is cold and high until well into spring.
Dry-dropper season
Fly · Nov–Apr
Pocket water in a mountain stream. One cast per pocket, a small dry over a tungsten nymph, and a step upstream.
Caddis and stoneflies
Food · Nov–Mar
What a fast boulder stream grows. A bushy dry that floats in broken water is the imitation.
Beetles off the forest
Food · Dec–Feb
Summer beetles falling from the eucalypts and myrtle onto the pockets. A Royal Wulff does the job of all of them.

How to fish it

Small-stream fishing in its purest form. A short three or four weight, a floating line, a leader no longer than the rod, and a dry-dropper: a Royal Wulff or a Stimulator that floats in broken water, a tungsten Pheasant Tail eighteen inches under it. One cast to each pocket, drift it through, and move. The fish are in the soft water behind and beside the boulders and in the tails of the small pools, never in the thin white water between.
Keep low, wade little and cast short. In water this clear the first drift is the one that counts.

Access and safety

State Forest, and the way in is on foot. Meander Falls Road runs up the valley close to the river.
As on any mountain stream, watch your footing on the boulders: studded soles and a staff, and a look at the forecast for the Tiers before you walk in.
Ways in
Where roads, tracks and paths reach the water, from mapped roads. Not a right of entry: check gates, land tenure and closures.
Stone Hut Track
0.12 km · Unsealed · off Meander Falls Road
Track off Bessells Road
0.15 km · Unsealed · off Bessells Road
Bessells Road
0.2 km · Unsealed · off Huntsman Road
Track off Meander Falls Road
0.3 km · Unsealed · off Meander Falls Road
Track off Bessells Road
0.37 km · Unsealed · off Bessells Road
Track off Bessells Road
1.19 km · Unsealed · off Bessells Road
See them on the map

Regulations

This stretch lies above Strath Bridge, so it carries the rules Inland Fisheries Service states for the upper Meander: a minimum size, a small daily bag, all methods permitted, and a season that opens and closes on set dates each year.
Take the numbers and the dates from the current Tasmanian Inland Fishing Code and the IFS A to Z page for the river before you fish. They move, so read them there on the day you go.
Prohibited
TAS
Tasmania's designated rainbow trout waters, together with the extended-season waters of Lake Mackintosh, Lake Rosebery, the lower section of Brumbys Creek, the Tinamirakuna / Macquarie River, the Meander River and the South Esk River, close for the 2026-27 season on Sunday 30 May 2027, later than the standard 2 May close.
Tasmanian Government (Inland Fisheries Service), under the Inland Fisheries Act 1995 and Inland Fisheries Regulations 2019
Read the rule at source ↗
Permitted with conditions
TAS
On the Meander River upstream from Strath Bridge, IFS lists a 220 mm minimum size, a bag limit of five, all methods (bait, lures and flies) permitted, and a 2026-27 season running from 1 August 2026 to 2 May 2027.
Tasmanian Government (Inland Fisheries Service), under the Inland Fisheries Act 1995 and Inland Fisheries Regulations 2019
Read the rule at source ↗
Permitted with conditions
TAS
On the Meander River from Strath Bridge downstream to the South Esk River, IFS lists a 220 mm minimum size, a bag limit of five, all methods (bait, lures and flies) permitted, and a longer 2026-27 season running from 1 August 2026 to 30 May 2027.
Tasmanian Government (Inland Fisheries Service), under the Inland Fisheries Act 1995 and Inland Fisheries Regulations 2019
Read the rule at source ↗

Questions

Popular waters nearby

Huntsman Lake
Stillwater
·
Tasmania
Lake Augusta
Stillwater
·
Tasmania
Mersey River
River
·
Tasmania
Little Pine Lagoon
Stillwater
·
Tasmania
Brumbys Creek
River
·
Tasmania
Arthurs Lake
Stillwater
·
Tasmania

Related

Meander River
The whole river.
Huntsman Dam to Deloraine
The regulated fly water below the lake.
Brown trout
The resident fish up here.
Tasmania
Jurisdiction guide and current authority links.
Page reviewed 2026-09-06
Explore
Favourites
Journal
Profile