Imagery: Esri, Vantor, Earthstar Geographics

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Reach 2

Huntsman Dam to Deloraine

Reach 2 of 4

Meander River

27.1 km

Reach length

55%

Tree cover on banks

Species recorded

Stocking releases

The Meander's fly water — twenty-seven kilometres of long runs and pools between shingle riffles from the Huntsman Lake dam through Meander township to the Deloraine bridge, regulated and cool in summer since 2007, wild browns with the odd rainbow, the water IFS itself calls the most attractive on the river for a fly fisher, and the Deloraine gauge at its foot.

If you fish one stretch of the Meander, fish this one. From the wall of Huntsman Lake the river comes out cool and even, runs past Meander township, gathers Jackeys Creek and Western Creek and drops through long runs and pools between shingle riffles for twenty-seven kilometres to the bridge in Deloraine, and Inland Fisheries Service says of it what it says of no other part of the river: that from a fly fisher’s point of view it is the most attractive stretch. The dam, built in 2007, made it what it is. Before that the Meander below the Tiers dropped and warmed in summer like every other northern river; now the release holds it cool and steady when the South Esk and the Macquarie are low, and IFS notes the fishing has improved since, particularly in summer. The price is that it wades harder than it looks, and IFS says so too. The fish are wild browns, with rainbows turning up below the dam as they do nowhere else on the river. The Deloraine bridge gauge at the foot of the stretch has read the river since 1954; its latest reading is on this page and its record is the river’s year drawn on the whole-river page. Come from October to April, wade with care, lead a weighted nymph up through the runs and the riffle tails, and change to a dry the moment a fish shows. New parking on Warners Road off Jackeys Marsh Road, and the walking tracks built from it for the 2019 World Fly Fishing Championship, put you on the upper end of it without crossing a paddock.

Target species

Brown Trout

Rainbow Trout

Redfin

No live gauge

There’s no gauge on this water. Check recent trip reports.

Season

Regulations

Driving directions

Water and habitat

Twenty-seven kilometres of mainstem from the lake outflow at three hundred and sixty-six metres to the Deloraine bridge at two hundred and thirty-two, and the fall of the river on this page shows the gradient easing as it goes: a quick tailrace below the dam past Meander township, a step down around the twenty-four kilometre mark, and a river nearly on the flat by the time it reaches the town. Jackeys Creek comes in three kilometres below the dam, Western Creek at thirty-six and a half, Dampers Creek just above Deloraine with a rapid beside it. The Deloraine bridge gauge reads flow and height at the bottom of the stretch.

Shingle riffles, long runs, pools. IFS’s description, and the reason this is fly water: the riffles make the insects, the runs hold the fish, and the pools are where you look for a rising one in the evening. The bank survey on the whole-river page reads the corridor here as a mix of dense timber toward the Tiers and open woodland and pasture toward the town.

BANK COVER ALONG THIS REACH · 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, and this is the stretch where that happens. The stocking record on the whole-river page shows brown trout fry in 2025 and rainbows between 2010 and 2013, small numbers against a river that breeds its own.

The riffles grow mayfly and caddis, hatching through spring and summer, and the cool regulated water keeps them coming when other rivers have gone quiet. Beetles off the bank timber in summer, and the odd grasshopper as the pasture opens out toward Deloraine.

Observed

Stocked

Listed by authority

Goldfish

Carassius auratus

River Blackfish

Gadopsis marmorata

Southern Shortfin Eel

Anguilla australis

When to fish it

Read the Conditions card on this page. The Deloraine record puts the high water from June to September, six times the summer median in August; from October the gauge settles into its typical range for the season and the hatches begin. Then this stretch has the longest fishing window on the river: cool, steady water from the dam through December, January and February when the rivers around it are low, and hatches that run with it. Autumn brings the last dries before the upper river closes; IFS publishes the season dates each year, so check them before you go.

If the reading sits above the typical range, the release is up and running harder than it looks. Read the water at the bank before you decide where, or whether, to wade — fish the edges and wait if it doesn’t look right.

THE YEAR ON THIS WATER

Winter water

Flow · Jun–Sep

Deloraine runs six times its summer flow in August. Wets and nymphs through the pools while it drops back into the band.

Upstream nymphing

Fly · Oct–Apr

The method this stretch was made for. A weighted nymph led through the runs and the riffle tails on a tight line, wading with care.

Mayfly and caddis

Food · Oct–Mar

The shingle riffles hatch through spring and summer. A dry when fish show, the nymph when they do not.

Cool summer water

Flow · Dec–Mar

The dam’s advantage. While the rivers around it drop and warm, the regulated release keeps this stretch cool and steady; IFS says the fishing has improved here in summer since 2007.

How to fish it

Upstream nymphing is the method IFS names for this water and the one it rewards. A weighted nymph led through the runs and the tails of the riffles on a tight line, a Hare’s Ear when the water is up and a slimmer Pheasant Tail when it is low, with a parachute Adams or an Elk Hair Caddis on a second rod or a quick change for the fish that show. A five weight, a floating line, and a long leader for the pools. Where the runs are short, a dry-dropper with a Stimulator over the nymph covers both at once.

Wade with care; IFS says the higher regulated flows have made it harder than it once was. Fish the runs from the tail up, the riffle tails first, and the pools in the evening.

Access and safety

Between Jackeys Creek and Huntsman Lake, at the top of the stretch, IFS describes new parking areas on Warners Road off Jackeys Marsh Road, connected by walking tracks built for the 2019 World Fly Fishing Championship to sections of the river. The Cheshunt Road bridge at Meander township, the road bridges between there and the town, and the Emu Bay Road bridge and riverside in Deloraine put you on the water lower down. Foot access along the river is by the goodwill of landowners and is a privilege, not a right: where access is not signed you must ask, or you are trespassing. Leave gates as you find them, stay off the fences and out of the crops.

The hazard is the flow. The regulated release is stronger than it looks, the shingle moves underfoot, and the water is cold. Studded soles, a staff, and a look at the Deloraine reading before you step in.

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 IFS sets each year — check the current dates before you go. An inland angling licence is required.

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

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

Tasmanian Government (Inland Fisheries Service), under the Inland Fisheries Act 1995 and Inland Fisheries Regulations 2019

Read the rule at source ↗