Spate · Granite · Devon / South Hams

River Yealm

River Yealm venue image

The Yealm falls off the south flank of Dartmoor above Cornwood and runs through the wooded South Hams country to its estuary at Newton Ferrers — a small, intimate river with a disproportionate sea trout (peal) reputation.

Poor · Brown Trout
CDC Emerger · 14-18
Poorlive now
Not the day for it
River temperature is the limiting factor today, not the flow. This is not the day to push it. Check the thermal advice above before you head out.
90% confidence
What moved it
  • Level0.17 mDropping in the last 6h
  • Water temp22.5°C
  • ClarityClear
Today's fly
CDC Emerger
CDC Emerger14-18
Upstream dry, in the film
Conditions on the water
Live gauge
Level
Steady
0.17 m
Dropping in the last 6h
Water temp22.5°C
ClarityClear
Weather26°C
WindNW 19 km/h
Pressure1018 hPa
Rain · recent0.0 mm
Rain · ahead0.0 mm

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

Water temperature for Brown Trout
Warm — slow
23°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 22.5°C. This is the line where catch-and-release kills brown trout. Do not fish for them today.
Hatch timeline · todayPeak at 6am

Hatch predictions

Today's headline hatch shown — see all 6 active hatches hour by hour with Pro.

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Sub-surface · on the nymphunder the surface

Hatch predictions

See the full sub-surface read 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.

Through the year
0–3 scale · August highlighted
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
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
Brown Trout fly box

A small South Hams peal river with wild-trout upper reaches — largely private, syndicated water, with a steady sea trout run for the size of the catchment.

What's coming
Plan ahead
5-day outlook
Cooler water nearby · 2
Probably above the Brown Trout safety line — these are likely cooler, but carry a thermometer.
Gallery · 1
  1. Terrain map of the venue
    Terrain map
About this water

The Yealm falls off the south flank of Dartmoor above Cornwood and runs through the wooded South Hams country to its estuary at Newton Ferrers — a small, intimate river with a disproportionate sea trout (peal) reputation. The upper river above Cornwood is granite pocket-water wild brown trout fishing; the middle river through Puslinch and Lee Mill is sea trout country from mid-June. The Yealm has historically been a private and syndicated fishery for much of its length, but the rod-caught peal run is one of the steadier small-river sea trout fisheries in south Devon. Salmon are not a feature.

  • Granite
The full read · show the working · for Brown Trout · confidence 90%
How the 8 is built — score × weight = contribution
Temperature4 × 28%1.1
Flow80 × 22%17.6
Clarity95 × 18%17.1
Feeding Time70 × 13%9.1
Pressure80 × 7%5.6
Insect activity55 × 12%6.6
Limiting factor: Water temperature (22.5°C) is outside Brown Trout's preferred range (10–16°C)= 57
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.
Directions
Seasons & zones
  • Trout 15 March30 September

Sea trout: Variable seasonal (2026)

Related guides
Casting instructors near here
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