Spate · Granite · Highlands / Strathspey, GB-SCT

River Dulnain

The River Dulnain flowing fast and peat-stained under an old stone packhorse bridge at Carrbridge, surrounded by autumn trees.
Today · Not the day for it
Olive Klinkhamer
Forecast · Today
Not the day for it
Not much stacked in your favour today. Worth an hour if you are nearby, not worth the special trip.
45% projected
Today's fly
Olive Klinkhamer
Olive Klinkhamer
Conditions on the water · Today
Live gauge
Level
Rising
0.21 m
Lifting fast
Water temp13.8°C
ClarityUnfishable
Weather15°C
WindN 23 km/h
Pressure1002 hPa
Rain · recent0.2 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
Ideal
14°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.
Why this works
Excellent — water temperature is right today, though time of day could be better.
Likely species
Mayflies
Stoneflies
Caddisflies
Hatch timeline · todayPeak at 14:00

12:00(now) — Heather Fly

Stage: Terrestrials on topApproach: Dry flyActivity: 63%
Also:Reed Smut47%Autumn Dun35%Cinnamon Sedge25%
Peak emergence window11 food groups active

Peak activity at 14:00 — Autumn Dun (Autumn Dun, 12 food groups active)

Sub-surface · on the nymphunder the surface

Hatch predictions

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Beyond the hatch · worth watchingambient prey(1)

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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 · September highlighted
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
March BrownHatch
2
3
2
CapererHatch
2
3
3
2
Heather FlyHatch
2
2
Autumn DunHatch
2
3
2

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

Ranked for today
Fly box · Brown Trout
What's coming
Plan ahead
5-day outlook
Other water nearby · 5
Spey
6.0 km
82
Brown trout · Salmon · Sea trout
Rothiemurchus Fishery
15 km
Rainbow trout · Brown trout
Achagour Fishery
22 km
Brown trout
River Avon (Spey)
23 km
Atlantic salmon · Brown trout · Sea trout
River Livet
23 km
82
Brown trout
Gallery · 2
  1. The River Dulnain flowing fast and peat-stained under an old stone packhorse bridge at Carrbridge, surrounded by autumn trees.
    The Packhorse Bridge
  2. Terrain map of the venue
    Terrain map
Water quality (WFD)
  • Ecology: Moderate
  • Chemical: Unknown
What this classification means

SEPA WFD 2022 — Dulnain: Moderate status. Corrected 2026-06-18 (was recorded Good). Source: SEPA WFD 2022 classification (spatialdata.gov.scot / SEPA Aquatic Classification Hub).

SEPA (Scotland) · UKSC023114

The full read · show the working · for Brown Trout · confidence 90%
How the 85 is built — score × weight = contribution
Temperature100 × 28%28.0
Flow80 × 22%17.6
Clarity95 × 18%17.1
Feeding Time60 × 13%7.8
Pressure80 × 7%5.6
Insect activity77 × 12%9.2
Conditions total= 85
Can you trust it?
Water temperatureair-to-water estimateestimated
Level / flowon-river gaugeobserved
Prey activitysurvey-backed invertebrate datasurvey
What would change the calculation
The dawn and dusk windows score higher than the midday lull.
Related guides
Scotland Playbookloch & river fishingYorkshire & SpidersNorth Country methodsEuro Nymphingsubsurface methods
Casting instructors near here
Booking & contacts