The Oberon shire has been a Mecca for fly fishers since the late 1940's. It's had many ups and downs, with floods and droughts but the fishing keeps bouncing back. The area was hard hit by the recent drought, at its worse in 2004, with a few streams drying up but the good rains of October and November should see the fishing flourish again.

The name Oberon comes from Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', and was declared a village in 1863. Only 180 kilometers and less than three hours drive from Sydney, Oberon is situated on the western plateau of the Great Dividing Range, at an elevation of 1,113 meters it has four distinct seasons.

The surrounding area is the Central Tablelands west of Sydney and along with the Monaro and Tasmania is one of the birthplaces of Australian fly fishing.

We owe a great deal to the early members of The NSW Rod Fishers’ Society, who in 1939 helped form the Central Acclimatisation Society that built the Bindo Hatchery and imported trout ova from Montana.

Famous rivers such as the Fish, Duckmaloi, Campbells, Tuglow, Hollander and Isabella have been the subjects of many fly fishing authors. John Hedge in his book 'Fly Fishing in New South Wales’ covers many of the streams and Lake Oberon, which in those days was called the Fish River Dam. Douglas Stewart has some amusing accounts of the district in his book 'The Seven Rivers'

It can be a difficult place to gain water access as many land-owners’ have put up the 'No Fishing' signs. Even in the early 60's, John Hedge, in his book lamented the lack of access as a result of vandalism caused by a few anglers'.

Today the area is rapidly changing; as old land-owner's die large properties are divided into hobby farms and many properties are becoming weekenders for Sydney-siders.

However there are still many public access points on both dams and streams and many land-owners will give access if contacted. If you buy the local forestry map there are kilometers of stream access through the vast State Forest pine plantations. Some streams meander through the high tussock grazing country set in beautiful valleys. These are classic trout streams, slow moving, except after flood and the size of the fish can be surprising given that streams are often only a couple of meters wide in parts.

Many streams are choked with willows, it’s a ‘catch twenty two’ as they offer cool fishing on hot sunny days but casting skills are at a premium.

Over the last few years some landowners have obtained grants and are eradicating the willows. Suddenly streams that were un-fishable have been given a new lease of life.

Just before Christmas an old friend invited me to go fishing on a mate's property. The owner doesn't fish, preferring to play golf in Sydney, however he had removed the willows from the stream. I could hardly contain myself as the farm manager greeted us, for over his shoulder I could see rising fish in the large pool at the edge of the manicured lawn.

That evening and the next day I was in a trout paradise. I saw so many rising fish; they fed from dawn to dusk and after a couple of casts at one fish if you didn't hook up you could move on to the next. The first evening I landed 5 browns all from 1-1.5kg, and lost several fish that felt very good, burying me in weed beds. Most fish fell to a small Royal Wulff or a small Brown Nymph beneath the dry.

The following morning at first light we encountered the same action, with trout on the feed in every pool. It was truly a red letter day. I landed 12 more browns all of similar weight and also sighted, and in several cases hooked up, to bigger fish that managed to weed me or throw the hook. On several occasions I had to pinch myself to make sure it wasn’t all a dream.

In the afternoon I met the neigbouring farmer out spraying serrated tussocks. He told me the fishing wasn't as good since the drought; I smiled and told him it must have been amazing before.

So the secret to great fishing spots is to find a land-owner who plays golf!

I fish many streams and dams around the area. The streams I fished at the start of this season all appear to hold good fish, so it’s very encouraging. In one small stream I caught a brown of 1.75 kg that took a flash back bead headed Brown nymph, and several smaller fish that came out to look at a Stimulator.

Many of the slow moving streams are spring fed. One farmer told me about a spring that had been a really important water source in times of drought to water stock, it had been dry for several years, but has finally opened again.

Summer can have very unsettled weather with thunderstorms and windy conditions and occasionally even snow interrupting the mostly hot sunny days.

On most hot days it’s best to start early and fish into the evening, unless you can find a stream with plenty of shade for the hot part of the day.

As autumn arrives it offers more stable weather and stream fishing can be excellent, with dry fly fishing from 9-5. At the end of the stream season many fish start to move out of the dams and up the small creeks to begin the spawning process where I’ve had some terrific fishing, with browns up to 2.7kg - great sport on a light rod in a small stream.

The area has several large dams, Lake Oberon, Ben Chifley, Lake Wallace, Thompson’s Creek Dam and Lake Lyell and numerous smaller private dams stocked with trout by farmers, individual anglers or fishing clubs. In general the dams have been low for several years, Lake Oberon last spilled in August 2000, and has a fair way to go before it spills again. However the water level is rising to cover new knee high grass, which makes for great fishing… Many farm dams are full again for the first time in 5 years. This summer the dams are fishing very well early morning and late at night. In mid December as dusk fell at Lake Oberon, a dam that for most of the day appeared fishless suddenly erupted with rising fish as far as the eye could see. On such evenings I have had success with Mudeye and Chernobyl Ant patterns. Another productive time for fishing is when you get a good hatch of midges, which often occurs in bays with soaks. The male midges cling to the flying females, when they reach a critical mass they fall onto the water, easy dining for the cruising trout. It's very exciting fishing using a small Midge ball fly similar to a Griffith's Gnat but without the Peacock herl.

In winter, when the streams are closed, dams can produce good fishing as long as you are prepared for possible Siberian conditions. Many dams hold large amounts of snails and the fish feed eagerly on them, particularly on windy days when the snails are dislodged and float sub-surface. It’s almost dry fly fishing. During the winter I fish several private dams and the larger Lake Lyell and Lake Oberon. They've all fished very well; you can Polaroid trout often within a meter of the shoreline. When the trout go deep an intermediate line with a Wooly Bugger or a bead head Mrs. Simpson have brought several good trout unstuck. In late April, Dave Wilson at Lake Lyell landed a magnificent 3.2 kg Rainbow on an Orange Dog Nobbler. The following day there was a slick of blue green algae in a wind lane just off one of the points. Small gudgeon were suffering from the algae wriggling belly up in the slick. We watched a very large brown attack them with great gusto, unfortunately the floating fry patterns I had would not entice the fish.

The Oberon area is beautiful, I love its seasons. It offers fly fishers a great deal of variety. It's a place that we should all cherish, snakes and all. If you visit the area please respect the landowners and the fish, I recommend catch and release of all stream fish just take the odd one for dinner from a dam, that way we keep the dream alive.