Diggers Creek

Adam Carthor, very much a local through these mountains, has a phone app that not only shows you where you are on a very detailed topo map, but also allows you to draw a line from one point to another to get a graphic of the elevation change.

Normally, I find this sort of stuff very cool, but a couple of hours into a trip through lower Diggers Creek it has me questioning my life choices and reminding me why I haven’t been through here in nearly 20 years. 201 metres over 1.85 kilometres between the middle access at the Guthega Road bridge and the lowest access at Island Bend Road, is hardly scaling Everest, even if you discount that the first 500 or so metres is quite flat. But it feels like every step up has been at least a metre high and every climb more like five. That, and it doesn’t even look like we’re half way.

On top of that, the scrub through the narrow valley is thick, with low, unyielding tea tree that seems to twist all mean and spiky around you, leaving little room to travel anywhere other than the stream bed. The bed itself is boulders, bedrock and sometimes completely obscured by bush that will send you onto your belly to get past. Oh, and in late summer, the best time to be here, there’s an especially tenacious and bitey breed of horse flies. Lots of them.

So, why bother? Well, besides having something proper to cry about over a hipster beer at the brewery afterwards, there’s the challenge of getting a fly across some of the most vivid and beautiful brown trout in the tightest twigwater in the Snowy Mountains. The scenery, where you can see it through the scrub, is pretty top shelf as well.

THE WATER

Diggers Creek trickles out of Rainbow Lake (also well worth a fish) in wooded country a couple of k’s above Sponars Chalet on the Kosciuszko Road, about half way between Perisher and Jindabyne in Kosciuszko National Park. With the exception of a couple of hundred metres of meadow water above the road, it is too small for practical fly fishing here. That said, if you like a challenge, there certainly are fish in the meadow if you can get a fly across them. Small, late season hoppers and accurate casting can be very rewarding if you’re up to it.

The small dam at the Chalet is full of trout and a nice place to fish an evening rise after fighting through the creek for a day. The fish are not large, but can get fussy, and having some very small Klinkhamers can save the session.

Below the dam to the Guthega Road crossing is roughly 3 k’s of ‘easy’ small mountain-stream fly water. It’s mostly level with only a few sections overrun with tea trees. Closer to the dam is even meadow-ish in places, where an overhead cast isn’t an invitation for disaster, and you can mostly stand up straight while you do it.

I say ‘easy’, but that’s only compared to the water below the road. It’s still a tight stream where accurate short casting is a must and drifting a fly for more than a couple of seconds can be a short trip to tangle hell. Every pocket here should be fished and the larger pools carefully observed before casting, as the best fish tend to sit right in the tail and spook quickly. Also pay close attention to any deeper water under the overhanging tea trees. If you can get a fly in there, that is.

Below the bridge the stream drops rapidly through a series of short waterfalls with plunge pools below, before levelling out a bit in the roughly k-and-a-half to the small intake weir, a few hundred metres above the Island Bend Road.

This is very physically challenging water with plenty of climbing, boulder hopping and bush bashing between fishable water, but most places that you can get a fly through with a reasonable drift will produce. Again, get a fly over the smallest pools and pockets.

I’ve never fished the kilometre or so of water down to the Snowy River below the weir, because in years past there was no flow there, but now, for reasons unknown to me, the creek seems to be running at full level so maybe it’s worth a look? I have seen fish while looking downstream off the road, but it looks tight. Very tight.

TWIG RODS & LINES

Basic fact. If you can’t bow-and-arrow cast, or your fly rod is much over 7 feet, you and Diggers Creek can’t be friends. Above the Guthega Road bridge you could probably get by with an 8-foot rod and some basic overhead casting, but below, every inch over seven feet is just adding grief to your life.

My 7’7 2-weight Scott G(2) has, for many years, been the first twig I grab when fishing almost any Snowy Mountains small stream, and it remains a well-travelled little favourite. But when the stream gets this nasty, it’s the only place where glass truly smokes graphite. In glass I currently have a couple of Scott F series 3-weights. A 5’8 for when I’m tired of swearing at tea trees, and the more general use 7’2 I’ve just gifted myself for my 60th.

Because of its very short length, the 5’8 is actually a considerably faster rod than the 7’2, and more accurate in-close, but for bow-and-arrow casting and roll casting the longer rod is a better allrounder. It’s obviously slower than graphite and being a 5-piece, feels a little heavier in the hand, but I forgive it for how perfectly it throws very short casts in places they’ve no right to be. The only thing I don’t like about it, and this is being a sook, is the standard size up-locking reel seat. In my opinion, it would be better with Scott’s near perfect, small sliding-band reel seat that’s on the 5’8 and the G series 2-weight.

If these rods are a little old school, the new lines I use on them are not, and I now have both the Scientific Anglers ‘Creek Trout’ and RIO ‘Creek’ lines for tight streams. The main difference between these lines and more standard weight-forwards or double tapers is that they have very short heads that quickly load the rod, much like over-lining by a weight up did in the past. Where they’re much better than over-lining is on longer casts, because they very easily shoot line and don’t render a good rod a noodle with a lot of line out.

For what it’s worth, the SA line is a little more aggressive than the RIO, and might be a better match for the graphite over the glass, but there’s not much in it. Both are a game changer on small streams like this.

I would also love to revisit some of my past favourite fast-action small-stream rods, like the Sage TXL 7’ 3-weight, as I think these new lines would make more use of its power while still having a subtle touch in close.

VISIBLE FLIES

A fly box for Diggers should look like it’s been to an early ’80s post-disco club, full of spandex, fluoro colours, bad music and even worse haircuts, because if you can’t easily see the fly on the water, you’re making already hard fishing virtually impossible. My current favourites are the high-vis Parachute Adams, Guide Chute and high-vis Possum Dun in sizes 14 and 12, all from Manic Tackle.

If you’re more a pre-post-disco type, traditional white-winged flies like the Royal Wulff and Ausable Wulff, or a Stimulator with a white wing, are also effective, if not quite as visible. Adam, who must have better eyesight than me, did very well with his favourite small stream dries — a yellow or green Humpy with natural wings, and a Parachute PMX.

Last, a good small hopper fly that’s easy to see and floats no matter how much it’s abused, is a must in late summer in the middle or top section of Diggers. I still largely just use a small rubber legged Stimulator, but also have a few foam numbers on hand.

PRACTICALITIES

Jindabyne is within a half hour drive of anywhere on Diggers Creek, and within an hour of all the best fishing this side of Kosciuszko National Park and the upper Snowy River catchment. There’s accommodation for all budgets, anything food or fuel you might need, and a couple of breweries with hipster beers that aren’t all offensive.

High Country Outfitters at Nuggets Crossing has a full selection of fly tackle and flies, and paper maps if you don’t have Adam’s nerdy phone app. If Diggers doesn’t ring your bell, I’m sure they could recommend more user-friendly water.

A National Parks pass is required to fish anywhere in the park and can be bought on-line or at the Parks office in town.