The last of the Meander is the flattest water on the river and the last to close. From Strath Bridge, where Selbourne Road crosses and the upper river’s season ends, it winds twenty-six kilometres through pasture to Carrick, takes in the Liffey River four kilometres from the end, and joins the South Esk at Hadspen below the Westwood Road bridge, losing fourteen metres of height in all of that distance. The fall of the river drawn on this page is a line you could rule. Inland Fisheries Service describes the river below Deloraine as long runs and broadwaters between high banks that fish well for every method, and adds one thing that belongs to this stretch alone: willow removal between Strath Bridge and Hadspen has opened the bank to shore fishing. The other thing that belongs to it alone is the calendar. IFS lists the Meander below Strath Bridge among the extended-season waters, with the lower Macquarie, the lower Brumbys and the South Esk below Avoca, staying open a month longer than the rest of the river. The fish are wild browns, with river blackfish and redfin in the lower sections, and the browns in these deep slow reaches include the river’s larger ones. The Strathbridge gauge sits at the top of the stretch, on the bound, and reads on the page above. Come for the mayfly on still spring days, the hoppers of autumn, and for the May bonus: cooling water, browns feeding before winter, and a river to yourself.