Plan a first fly-fishing trip to the Shoalhaven River in NSW, a coastal river with Australian bass in its fresh water and black bream in the tidal lower river.
The Shoalhaven is a south coast river you drive to for Australian bass, the native fish that comes up to a surface fly in the half-light.
Think of it as two rivers. The lower river is tidal, reached from public boat ramps, and fishes as an estuary. Above the tide the water runs fresh, and in our experience that is where the bass live for most of the year. The gradient chart shows how the river falls along its length, and it is worth a look before you pick a stretch.
The easiest trip is the lower river from one of the boat ramps on the access card. Black bream are in the fish records, and in the warmer months a small weighted fly worked slowly near structure is the way we would start. The rules for this water sit in the current NSW guide and its closed-waters list, so read both before you launch.
The better trip is the fresh water in summer, for bass on the surface. Be on the water before dawn, fish a popper or a big foam fly tight to the shaded bank until the sun is on it, then switch to a small streamer in the deeper pools. The angler access sites on the card are the places to start looking. If you only have one day on the Shoalhaven, this is the one to spend it on, from late spring into March.
Trout are stocked in the river as well, and the stocking chart shows when fish went in. Treat them as a bonus rather than a reason to drive; we would not plan a trip around trout here without local word on where they are going in.
Read the current NSW fishing guide and its closed-waters list, then pick a ramp or access site off the card and plan to arrive before first light.