The Tumut River is the Snowy Mountains’ cold-water trout river, and it is worth the drive for one reason: it fishes well for rainbows and browns right through a hot NSW summer. It is a tailwater, which means it runs from the hydro scheme’s dam releases, and FlyLife’s writers say it stays cold even as NSW summers get hotter and drier.

Think of it in three parts. Up top, below the Round Mountain trailhead, it runs through a grassy valley as a classic string of deep pools and shallow riffles. In the middle, near the road that crosses it by five bridges at the Sue City end, it is the easiest water to fish. Below Blowering Dam it becomes a big tailwater, regarded as a world-class brown and rainbow fishery, with more big-fish potential than the middle water.

Start in the middle. It is easier to wade than most Snowy streams, and the road lets you move between bridges until you find fish. Rainbows dominate the catch, richly spotted and dark backed, with browns always in the mix; most are 8 to 14 inches with a few better ones. In our experience the water between the second and fourth bridges is the most consistent: shorter drops, rapids, long runs and tussock-lined edges around big rocks. The lower beat, from the first bridge above the dam to the third bridge upstream, fishes best very early or very late in the season.

Fish it in summer if you can. Mid-summer to early autumn is the dry-fly window, and hoppers are what the river is known for. Fish a chunky foam hopper with a nymph under it, covering riffles and glides quickly and slowing down over the deeper slots.

If you want the big water, go below Blowering Dam with a drift boat. Public access is limited there and the wading is unpredictable, which is why boats suit it, and large summer irrigation flows help support it as a fishery. Once you are on the water, a dry-dropper or a streamer along the structure are sensible places to start.

Check the NSW fishing guide, closed waters included, before you go, then pick a bridge in the middle and start there.