No guide, no mobile reception, no plan beyond three days and a stretch of river nobody had fished that week. Here is what happened.
Day One: Getting In
The track in follows Limestone Creek for about 12km before dropping onto the river flat. I had been told it was accessible in a standard 4WD but the last two kilometres proved that advice optimistic. I walked the gear in two loads, which is the honest way to start a trip — humbled before the river gets a chance to do it.
The Snowy here runs fast and cold in late October. Snowmelt water, 8°C on the thermometer, green and just clear enough to see the bottom in the shallow runs. I set camp on a gravel flat above the high-water mark, boiled water for coffee, and spent an hour watching the river before picking up the rod.
The First Evening Rise
Nothing happens until it happens. An hour of blind nymphing with no contact, then the light dropped below the ridge and within fifteen minutes there were rising fish in every flat pool upstream as far as I could see. Brown trout, working the surface methodically, moving two feet sideways to take a dun and returning to their lane as if nothing had happened.
I hooked three and landed two. The first was small — 28cm, returned. The second was worth keeping: a brown of about 45cm in extraordinary condition, deep gold flanks with red spots haloed in pale blue. I sat with it in the current for a minute before it kicked away.
Day Two: The Hard Work
Nine hours. One fish. The Snowy does this — gives you everything on the first evening and then makes you earn the rest. I worked upstream through water that looked perfect and produced nothing, found a deep bend pool that held fish I could see but could not catch, and had one take on a size 16 Adams that I struck too hard and lost.
The day was not wasted. You learn a river by its refusals as much as its fish.
Day Three: The Exit
I woke early to mist on the water and fish rising in the pool below camp. Took two before breakfast — both browns, both returned. Broke camp and walked out carrying more than I came in with: three days of food weight traded for something harder to name.
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