Freestone · Limestone · Navarra

Río Irati

Río Irati terrain map

Navarra's most celebrated trout river.

Poor · Brown Trout
Klinkhammer · 14-18
Closed season
Out of season. Plenty of other water available now.
Closed — confidence not applicable today.
What moved it
  • Level0.50 mLast reading 18h ago
  • Water temp18.5°C
  • ClarityClear
Today's fly
Klinkhammer
Klinkhammer14-18
High-confidence seasonal pick
Conditions on the water
Live gauge
Level
Steady
0.50 m
Last reading 18h ago
Water temp18.5°C
ClarityClear
Weather22°C
WindNE 12 km/h
Pressure1021 hPa
Rain · recent0.0 mm
Rain · ahead16.5 mm

Live readings — water temperature is an estimate where the gauge does not record it.

Water temperature for Brown Trout
Warm — slow
19°C est.ideal 1016°C
0°14°28°
How to fish it · for Brown Trout
When
Nymphing can work through most of the day.
Where
Cover mixed depths.
Method
Start with tight-line nymphs and adjust if fish rise or drift higher.
Kit
9 ft #4 rod, floating line, 12 ft tapered leader to 4–5 lb fluoro tippet.
Why this works
Water at 18.5°C — above the brown trout caution line (18°C). Fish dawn or dusk only. Land it fast, wet hands, no air shots.
Hatch timeline · todayPeak at 6am

Hatch predictions

Today's headline hatch shown — see all 9 active hatches hour by hour with Pro.

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Sub-surface · on the nymphunder the surface

Hatch predictions

Top nymph shown — see all 2 guilds with Pro.

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Beyond the hatch · worth watchingambient prey

Hatch predictions

Top prey shown — see all 2 with Pro.

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Evidence
Survey-backed · regionalHigh confidence

Backed by regional invertebrate surveys; no sampling on this exact reach yet.

Updated 20 hours ago

Through the year
0–3 scale · August highlighted
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Trout seasonSeason
1
1
GrannomHatch
2
2
Evening SedgeHatch
2
3
3
3
2
Large Dark OliveHatch
1
2
2
1
Iron BlueHatch
1
2
2
1

Numbers are intensity 0 (none) to 3 (peak) — a guide, not a guarantee.

Ranked for today
Brown Trout fly box
Permits & access
Permit required — see local rules.
  • Gobierno de Navarra fishing licence required
  • The Irati should be planned by exact tramo and permit category, not just by river name, because coto and daily-permit logic varies by section.
What's coming
Plan ahead
5-day outlook
Water here around 19°C. Nothing cooler within range — carry a thermometer.
About this water

Navarra's most celebrated trout river. The Irati rises in limestone karst near Pic d'Anie and flows southwest through the Selva de Irati UNESCO primeval beech forest before joining the Aragón and ultimately the Ebro (Mediterranean drainage — no Atlantic salmon access). Clear, alkaline freestone with dramatic canyons, transparent pools, and technical pocket runs. This is arguably Spain's finest dry-fly river — the limestone clarity and prolific upwing hatches (Baetis, Rhithrogena, Ecdyonurus) create surface-feeding windows from late April through July that reward delicate presentation with 4x–5x tippet and size 16–20 dries. Brown trout fishing is the primary draw — wild fish of exceptional quality averaging 25–35 cm, with occasional specimens to 45 cm in the deeper canyon pools. Upper valley accessible via Orbaitzeta; lower sections have private cotos. Dry fly and short-line nymphing dominate.

  • Limestone
Water quality (WFD)
  • EcologyGood
  • ChemicalGood
What this classification means

WFD re-coded 2026-06-18: prior id ES091MSPF537 actually identifies its tributary the Areta — this river was mis-tagged to a neighbouring water body. Re-mapped to ES091MSPF534. Status: EEA WISE 2022 (3rd RBMP). Confidence: medium-low — VERIFY reach: the Irati has 6 water bodies; ES091MSPF534 is Itoiz dam→Erro. Pick by the fished stretch. Source: discodata.eea.europa.eu.

WFD classification · ES091MSPF534

The full read · show the working · for Brown Trout · confidence 80%
How the 0 is built — score × weight = contribution
Temperature47 × 28%13.2
Flow80 × 22%17.6
Clarity95 × 18%17.1
Feeding Time60 × 13%7.8
Pressure80 × 7%5.6
Insect activity65 × 12%7.8
Conditions total= 69
Can you trust it?
Water temperatureair-to-water estimateestimated
Level / flowon-river gaugeobserved
Prey activitysurvey-backed invertebrate datasurvey
What would change the calculation
Cooler water — back toward the 10–16 °C ideal band — would lift the score and ease welfare.
The dawn and dusk windows score higher than the midday lull.
Directions
Seasons & zones
  • Trout 1 May30 June

    RSS Irati–Erro basin (2,728 permits in 2026). All catch-and-release. Extendable to 15 Jul by resolution. Daily basin permit required. Coto de Eugi (500 permits) covers a specific stretch — coto pass required instead of standard RSS permit.

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