A small limestone-country trout stream on the western edge of Kosciuszko National Park, running down to Talbingo Reservoir, with quick dry-fly water below the caves and big territorial browns lower down.
The Yarrangobilly is a small trout stream on the western edge of Kosciuszko National Park, and it gives you two quite different days. One is quick, friendly dry-fly water. The other is a hard walk to the kind of resident browns that make you earn a cast.
It rises off Kennedy Ridge and the Fiery Range and runs down through limestone country to Talbingo Reservoir. Think of it as three stretches: the skinny upper river, the run directly below the caves, and the deeper water lower down, where the pools get long enough to hold something large.
Start below the caves. FlyLife’s writers describe this stretch as fast fishing, with plenty of smaller trout willing to hit almost any dry fly or naturally drifted nymph. It is the sensible first visit, and a good place to learn the river before committing to anything harder. A short rod and a dry with a nymph dropper is a good bet for it.
The lower river is the streamer trip. The writers say it has plenty of deep pools, and that the big resident browns are territorial. Their advice is to fish large streamers to irritate the fish into striking, not to imitate food. In our experience that means a heavy fly worked slowly through the deepest water, and a few casts more than you think you need before you move on. A Woolly Bugger in black or olive is a fair place to start.
The upper river is for the committed. One way in is from the end of the Castle Cave walk, followed by a steep bush-bash down to the water. People who fish it over several days describe trudging the riverbed under a full pack and climbing back out by the Yans Crossing trail. Do not drive up for it on a whim; walk it only if you have the legs, the time and a plan for getting out.
Check the current NSW trout rules before you go.