Naas River

Among the ACT’s anglers it counts as one of the big waters, a river that suits a nymph on the bottom.

The territory classes the river as trout water, and anglers report rainbow trout across the ACT’s streams. Brown trout are named alongside rainbows in the ACT trout rules.

In our experience the food is the general drift of a cold clear river: mayfly on warm afternoons, caddis in the evenings, hoppers along the tussock through summer.

The season opens on the October Labour Day long weekend and closes after the June King’s Birthday long weekend, and the dates move with the calendar. In our experience spring is the melt and the deep rig, and from late November the river drops into dry-dropper water. Summer evenings carry caddis and the afternoons carry hoppers. Autumn is low, clear and deliberate until the close.

Spring: an indicator and a heavy nymph rig in the slower water beside the flow, letting the flies plummet, one run at a time. Summer: a buoyant dry with a small nymph below it through the runs and pockets, a hopper tight to the tussock in the afternoon, and a caddis dry as the light goes.

Gear in trout water: one rod at a time, a landing net, no more than two flies or one lure on the line, and no rod rigged for bait in or beside the water.

Use formed public roads and tracks, obey signs and gates, and check the ACT Parks nature park finder for current access before you go. As on any river, if it is running heavy, stay off it or fish from the bank.

The ACT lists the Naas River and its tributaries as Trout Water. In trout water, fishing is open from the start of the October Labour Day long weekend to the end of the June King’s Birthday long weekend; only artificial fly and lure fishing is allowed in the open season; bait fishing is prohibited; you may use one rod at a time and a landing net; the rod may carry no more than two flies or one artificial lure; and it is an offence to possess a handline, more than two rods, a rod rigged for bait, or any net other than a landing net in or beside the water.

Take the current rules from the territory brochure before you fish.