A NSW creek that flows into the Goodradigbee River, with brown and rainbow trout stocked into it and rainbows also recorded, fished with dry flies and nymphs.
Micalong Creek is a NSW trout water that runs into the Goodradigbee River, and the reason to fish it is the browns and rainbows stocked into it in recent seasons.
A dry fly with a nymph under it is a sensible first rig. Choose one of the access points on the access card and work upstream.
The current NSW trout guide decides when you can fish and what you can keep, so read it before you settle on a date.
Species records
Historical records and regulatory mentions. They do not establish current abundance, a suitable angling target or permission to fish.
In our experience, trout on any creek sit where the current gives them food and cover: the head of a pool where the run tips in, the seam beside faster water, an undercut bank, the slack behind a log or boulder. Even, shallow water holds fewer fish and spooks them first, so spend your time on the deeper water and walk past the rest.
Fish and forage
NSW stocking records list brown trout and rainbow trout released into the creek, and the stocking chart shows the pattern. Rainbows are also recorded there. Stocked trout are usually the easiest to catch, and a fish that has stayed through a few seasons tends to be warier.
Atlas of Living Australia records also list spangled perch and twospine blackfish. Neither is your target, but they are worth knowing about if something small is holding under the flies.
The fly box is a guide’s read. Trout usually feed on nymphs drifting near the bottom and on whatever lands on the surface, which in warm weather includes grasshoppers, beetles and ants off the bank. A few buoyant dries, a hopper and some bead-head nymphs cover most of it.
Stocking history
Reported past stocking. These records do not establish survival, present abundance or a current stocking programme.
Stocking recorded for Micalong Creek
13 source records · latest 10 reported periods
Labels such as 2023/24 cover July to June. Each financial-year record is a site total, not an individual release. Missing periods are not reported as zero.
Settle the rules first: take any season for the creek from the current NSW trout guide. Within whatever it allows, NSW trout water usually fishes best from late spring into autumn. Summer is the time for hoppers along grassy banks, fished early and late when the light is off the water. Autumn often brings cooler, clearer days when browns get busier. After heavy rain, give a creek a day or two to drop and clear.
THE YEAR ON THIS WATER
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Dry and dropper through the pools
Fly · Nov–Mar
A guide’s read, not a record. A Royal Wulff with a bead-head nymph under it is a good first rig on trout water once the weather warms. Take any season for the creek from the current NSW trout guide before you plan the trip.
Hoppers along grassy banks
Fly · Dec–Mar
In our experience late summer is hopper time wherever grass meets the water. Land it tight to the bank and let it sit.
Nymphs when nothing is rising
Fly · Oct–Apr
A Pheasant Tail or Hare’s Ear fished short and upstream through the deeper runs is the fallback on a cool or bright day.
How to fish it
Travel light and fish upstream. Keep low, stay back from the edge, and make short casts with as little line on the water as you can.
Start with a dry and dropper: a Royal Wulff with a bead-head Hare’s Ear or Pheasant Tail under it on a short tippet. Put it in the head of each pool and let it ride down the seam. Two or three good drifts tell you whether a fish is home; then move up. In summer, swap the dry for a hopper and land it close to the bank wherever grass meets the water. On deeper water, a Woolly Bugger stripped past cover can move a trout that will not come up.
Access and safety
The access card names the access points. Treat them as locations, not a statement of permission, and respect any fence or sign you meet on the ground.
As on any bush stream, tell someone where you are going and when you expect to be back, carry water and a first-aid kit, and watch your footing on wet rock and undercut banks. Water can rise after rain, so keep an eye on the sky and never wade a crossing you are unsure of.
State Forest · Seasonal, harvest or other closures may apply dry weather only
No water-specific rule was found. Before you fish, read the current NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development trout guide, check its trout-water and closed-waters lists for the creek, and take any season, bag and size limits and licence requirements from it.