Freestone · Granite · Morvan / Yonne (Avallon), FR

Cousin

Cousin River in Pontaubert
Poor · Brown Trout
Pheasant Tail Nymph · 14-18
New ruleReported 4 Sept 2026

Severe drought restrictions (crise) in force

VigiEau lists this venue's surface-water zone (Zone de gestion Cousin, dépt 89) at crise, under an official préfectoral drought arrêté. Fishing is not itself banned by it, but water levels are low — go gently on stressed fish.

Arrêté préfectoral n°37984 ↗

Temporary notices from official orders and recent fishery reports — they clear automatically once out of date. Always confirm locally before travelling.

Closed season
Out of season. Try elsewhere.
Closed — confidence not applicable today.
What moved it
  • LevelProxyvia Sioule
  • Water temp12.6°C
  • ClarityClear
Today's fly
Pheasant Tail Nymph
Pheasant Tail Nymph14-18
Upstream
Conditions on the water
Proxy gauge
Level
Steady
Proxy
via Sioule
Water temp12.6°C
ClarityClear
Weather14°C
WindSW 14 km/h
Pressure1023 hPa
Rain · recent0.0 mm
Rain · ahead1.3 mm

No gauge on this water — conditions are inferred from Sioule. The trend transfers, the absolute level does not.

Water temperature for Brown Trout
Ideal
13°C est.ideal 10–16°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.
Likely species
Stoneflies
Gammarids
Hatch timeline · todayPeak at 6 Uhr

Hatch predictions

Today's headline hatch shown — see all 12 active hatches hour by hour as a supporter.

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Sub-surface · on the nymphunder the surface

Hatch predictions

Supporters see the full sub-surface read.

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Beyond the hatch · worth watchingambient prey(1)

Hatch predictions

Supporters see what else is on the menu.

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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 · October highlighted
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Trout seasonSeason
1
2
2
2
2
2
1
Freshwater ShrimpHatch
2
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
2
Large Dark OliveHatch
1
2
2
1
Blue Winged OliveHatch
1
2
2
2
2
1
Autumn OliveHatch
1
2
1

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

Ranked for today
Fly box · Brown Trout
Permits & access
Permit required — see local rules.
  • AAPPMA Avallonnais
  • Standard 1ère catégorie.
What's coming
Plan ahead
5-day outlook
Other water nearby · 5
Serein
19 km
0
Brown trout · Grayling
Armançon (Upper Trout Reach)
35 km
0
Brown trout · Grayling
Yonne (Upper, Morvan Headwaters)
53 km
0
Brown trout
Cure
12 km
Brown trout
Pisciculture Moulin Tala
25 km
Rainbow trout
Gallery · 2
  1. Cousin River in Pontaubert
  2. Terrain map of the venue
    Terrain map
Water quality (WFD)
  • Ecology: Moderate
  • Chemical: Unknown
What this classification means

WFD ecological status Good → Moderate corrected to EEA WISE 2022 (3rd RBMP) classification for waterbody FRHR53 (was a stale earlier-cycle value). Source: EEA WISE SWB_SurfaceWaterBody (discodata.eea.europa.eu), verified 2026-06-18.

WFD classification · FRHR53

The full read · show the working · for Brown Trout · confidence 75%
How the 0 is built — score × weight = contribution
Temperature100 × 28%28.0
Flow80 × 22%17.6
Clarity95 × 18%17.1
Feeding Time55 × 13%7.2
Pressure80 × 7%5.6
Insect activity45 × 12%5.4
Conditions total= 81
Can you trust it?
Water temperatureair-to-water estimateestimated
Level / flowproxy via Siouleproxy
Prey activitysurvey-backed invertebrate datasurvey
What would change the calculation
The dawn and dusk windows score higher than the midday lull.
Directions
Apple MapsGoogle Maps
Seasons & zones
  • Trout 2. Saturday im March → 3. Sunday im September
Related guides
Pyrenees PlaybookFrench riversEuro Nymphingsubsurface methods
Booking & contacts