Fishing in Oxley Wild Rivers National Park

Oxley Wild Rivers National Park sits on the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales, east of Armidale and Walcha, where rivers carve through some of the deepest gorge country in the state before dropping off the escarpment toward the coast.

The park covers more than 145,000 hectares of that transition zone — plateau to gorge to rainforest — and the rivers running through it reflect that range: cold, clear tablelands water giving way to warmer, slower pools deep in the gorges.

The Apsley River is the most talked-about water for fishing in the park. Access to the gorge section runs via the Riverside Trail, about an hour east of Walcha, and requires a Day Entry or Camping Permit — available online or by calling 1300 072 757.

The NPWS Walcha office can also help with permits on weekdays. This is where Eastern bass fishing in the warmer gorge water has built a following, and the terrain demands low-range 4WD to get there.

The Macleay River and the Wollomombi River are also within the park, part of the same Apsley-Macleay gorge system — one of the largest in Australia. Trout are the other half of the picture.

The Walcha Trout Club runs an annual stocking program of Rainbow and Brown Trout in the rivers around Walcha, and the Styx River, Chandler River, and other tablelands waters in and around the park fall within that broader fishing landscape.

A brochure covering fishing locations around Walcha is available from the Walcha Visitor Information Centre.

A standard NSW Freshwater Recreational Fishing Licence is required to fish here, with exemptions for under-18s, Commonwealth Pension Card holders, and Aboriginal people.

On top of that, the Riverside area of the park requires its own entry or camping permit from NPWS.

Check current conditions and any additional rules with the park before you go — access tracks in this country can close without much notice, and the gorge sections are serious terrain. The fishing here is tied directly to the landscape: you earn the water.

That's not a complaint — it's the reason the bass are still there.