Spate · Mixed · South Wales / Powys / Swansea

Tawe

The River Tawe flowing through a wooded valley near Ystradgynlais, Wales

Out of Bannau Brycheiniog past Ystradgynlais and down to Swansea Bay — a river of two halves.

Poor · Atlantic Salmon
Cascade · 10-14
Poorlive now
Slow going — better windows ahead
River dropping into shape after a lift. Little in your favour today. Fish the certain lies, or leave it for a better one.
90% confidence
What moved it
  • Level0.27 mDropping after lift
  • Water temp22.1°C
  • ClarityVery colouredColouring up
Today's fly
Cascade
Cascade10-14
Regional salmon default — river-specific evidence is thin.
Conditions on the water
Live gauge
Level
Steady
0.27 m
Dropping after lift
Water temp22.1°C
ClarityVery coloured
Weather28°C
WindW 9 km/h
Pressure1021 hPa
Rain · recent0.0 mm
Rain · ahead0.3 mm

The nearest gauge doesn't record temperatures, so we've estimated it — defer to the river keeper's advice.

Water temperature for Atlantic Salmon
Welfare risk
22°C est.ideal 10–14°C
0°14°28°
How to fish it · for Atlantic Salmon
When
Summer through autumn. Fish on the drop after rain — small numbers throughout the season.
Where
Middle and lower Tawe pools. Tawe & Tributaries AA named beats.
Method
Small doubles 10 to 12 across-and-down on a floating line; small tubes on a sink-tip in spring water. Cover the pools methodically. Mandatory catch-and-release under NRW byelaw — every salmon goes back.
Kit
12 ft #7/8 double-hander or 11 ft switch. Floating line plus light sink-tip. 10 to 12 lb fluoro tippet.
Why this works
Water at 22.1°C. This is the line where catch-and-release kills atlantic salmon. Do not fish for them today.
Hatch timeline · todayQuiet day

Hatch predictions

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Sub-surface · on the nymphunder the surface

Hatch predictions

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Beyond the hatch · worth watchingambient prey

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Evidence
Survey-backed · regionalHigh confidence

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

Through the year
0–3 scale · August highlighted
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Salmon runRun
1
2
2
2
2
1
Sea trout runRun
1
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
Trout seasonSeason
1
2
2
2
2
2
1
Daddy Long LegsHatch
2
3
2
March BrownHatch
2
3
2
GrannomHatch
2
2
Large StoneflyHatch
2
3
2

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

Ranked for today
Atlantic Salmon fly box

Wild-river first principles. Early-season nymphs and practical searching, then dry flies, emergers and spiders as hatches and surface activity improve.

Beats · 4
Pontardawe & Swansea AA — day ticket via Fishing PassportAccess varies
Two and a half kilometres of lower Tawe — mostly single bank, with seven named salmon pools.
Tawe Beat 1 — day ticket via Fishing PassportAccess varies
Two and a half miles on the headwaters of the Tawe, shadowed by Llyn-y-Fan and set in the Brecon Beacons National Park.
Tawe Beat 2 — day ticket via Fishing PassportAccess varies
Just under two miles below Ystradgynlais — wild and stocked browns mixed (the club runs a triploid stocking programme to top up the wild head).
River Clydach (Upper & Lower) — Pontardawe & Swansea ASMembers
Two short Tawe tributaries through Pontardawe and Clydach village — Upper Clydach (up through Cwmdu Glen) and Lower Clydach (up to Lon Bridge).
What's coming
Plan ahead
5-day outlook
Cooler water nearby · 1
Probably above the Atlantic Salmon safety line — these are likely cooler, but carry a thermometer.
Afon Twrch
11 km
~21°C
Brown trout
Gallery · 2
  1. The River Tawe flowing through a wooded valley near Ystradgynlais, Wales
    The River Tawe below Heol Giedd, near Ystradgynlais in the Swansea Valley
  2. Terrain map of the venue
    Terrain map
About this water

Out of Bannau Brycheiniog past Ystradgynlais and down to Swansea Bay — a river of two halves. The upper Tawe holds healthy fly life and proper wild brown trout fishing; the middle and lower reaches take migratory fish after water. The Tawe & Tributaries AA ticket covers most of it. Don't read all of the Tawe as sewin beat — the upper river is trout country, and the migratory fishing is genuinely a lower-river story after rain. Atlantic salmon are under serious conservation pressure — Natural Resources Wales mandates catch-and-release for salmon on all rivers, so all fish must be returned.

Sea trout here

Summer-autumn runs (June–September), primarily nocturnal

  • Mixed
Water quality (WFD)
  • Ecology: Good
  • Chemical: Unknown

NRW (Wales) · UKGB110059032170

Why this score · for Atlantic Salmon
  • Temperature030% weight
  • Flow6025% weight
  • Clarity1520% weight
  • Feeding Time9515% weight
  • Pressure8510% weight
Directions
Apple MapsGoogle Maps
Seasons & zones
  • Salmon 1 May → 17 October
  • Sea trout 3 March → 17 October
  • Trout 3 March → 30 September

Sea trout: Variable seasonal (2026) — Sewin run on the lower and middle Tawe is genuine but modest — the river's better-known story is its upper-river brown trout fishing. All-Wales At Risk picture applies.

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Fly Fishing Near Swanseafeatured in this city guideAtlantic Salmonsalmon tacticsYorkshire & SpidersNorth Country methods
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