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 since 2007, wild browns with the odd rainbow, the water rated 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 runs past Meander township and drops through long runs and pools between shingle riffles for twenty-seven kilometres to the bridge in Deloraine, and it is rated, as no other part of the river is, the most attractive stretch from a fly fisher’s point of view. The dam, built in 2007, made it what it is. The release is said to keep it running cold when other northern rivers are warm and low, and the fishing has improved since, particularly in summer. It wades well, with care now that flows are higher. The fish are wild browns, with rainbows turning up below the dam. The Deloraine bridge gauge at the foot of the stretch has read the river since 1954, 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. There is reported to be new parking on Warners Road off Jackeys Marsh Road, with walking tracks from it, built for the 2019 World Fly Fishing Championship, reaching sections of the upper end.