Stillwater · Granite · Castilla y León / Salamanca (Arribes del Duero)

Embalse de Aldeadávila

Embalse de Aldeadávila — 🇪🇸 🇵🇹 🇪🇺 Presa de Aldeadávila (Castilla y León, España, 27-2-2025)
Contributor photo

🇪🇸 🇵🇹 🇪🇺 Presa de Aldeadávila (Castilla y León, España, 27-2-2025)

Juanje Orío (https://www.flickr.com/photos/26119068@N03) - CC BY-SA

A reservoir on the Duero itself, deep in the Arribes del Duero natural park where the river forms the Spain–Portugal border in a sheer granite gorge.

Fair · Pike
Large pike streamer / baitfish (2/0–4) · 8–10
Fairlive now
Summer pike — dawn and dusk topwater
Good wave on — drift country. A useful wave. Work the productive shore.
55% confidence
What moved it
  • WindS 6 km/hLight breeze
Today’s fly
LP
Large pike streamer / baitfish (2/0–4)8–10
Strip it for fish chasing fry or in coloured water.
Conditions on the water
Live gauge
Wind
Light breeze
S 6 km/h
N
S
from the south
WaveRipple
Water temp
Air temp17°C
CloudBroken
Pressure1018 hPa
Rain · recent0.0 mm

Some readings unavailable — check directly before fishing.

Reservoir levelas of 13 Jul
95% 10-yr norm
Filling
95% full
High & filling
0 ptsvs seasonal norm
0 ptsvs last year
+4 ptsthis week
High and still filling — new water inundating margins, surface fishing improves dramatically.
How to fish it · for pike
When
Pike are ambush-feeding from weed cover. Fry and small perch concentrate in the warm shallows, drawing pike in during low-light periods. Mid-day pike retreat to deeper weed channels.
Where
Summer pike on the fly. Fish early (first light) and late (last hour) when pike push shallow to feed. Topwater is king — poppers and gurglers over weed beds. Mid-day fish hold deep in weed channels. Take a break during the heat of the day. Use a 9-10wt rod with a stiff butt for turning big fish away from weed.
The plan
Plan A

Summer pike on the fly. Fish early (first light) and late (last hour) when pike push shallow to feed. Topwater is king — poppers and gurglers over weed beds. Mid-day fish hold deep in weed channels. Take a break during the heat of the day. Use a 9-10wt rod with a stiff butt for turning big fish away from weed.

Plan B

Fish early and late, try deeper during the heat of the day with a fast-sinking line.

Watch for

Evening tends to be the best period in summer — stay late if you can for a sedge or spinner fall.

Either bank or boat

Good ripple suits both bank and boat. Bank: work inflows, dam walls, and points. Boat: broadside drift covering wind lanes.

Sub-surface · on the nymphunder the surface

Hatch predictions

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Beyond the hatch · worth watchingambient prey

Hatch predictions

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Through the year
0–3 scale · July highlighted
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Black MidgeHatch
2
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
2
Reservoir BuzzerHatch
2
3
3
3
3
3
2
Lake OliveHatch
2
3
3
3
3
3
2
Silverhorns & LonghornsHatch
1
2
2
2
1

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

Ranked for today
Pike fly box
LP
Large pike streamer / baitfish (2/0–4)Top
8–10 · Streamer
Strip it for fish chasing fry or in coloured water.
HW
Heavily weighted baitfish for deep work (1/0–4)
12–16 · Fly
A dependable searching pattern for these waters.
OB
Olive/black woolly bugger (6–10)
8–10 · Streamer
Strip it for fish chasing fry or in coloured water.
Permits & access
Permit required — see local rules.
  • Castilla y León licence required (Confederación Hidrográfica del Duero); note the Portuguese border — fish the Spanish side under Spanish rules
  • Barbel protected during spawning
  • Wels catfish and zander are invasive in the Duero — retention and handling rules apply; check current regulations.
What's coming
Plan ahead
5-day outlook
Condition match
91%
Cloud70%
Wind100%
Temp100%

Conditions are ideal for Embalse de Aldeadávila — wind, cloud and temperature all line up.

Other water nearby · 2
Gallery · 2
  1. Embalse de Aldeadávila — 🇪🇸 🇵🇹 🇪🇺 Presa de Aldeadávila (Castilla y León, España, 27-2-2025)
    🇪🇸 🇵🇹 🇪🇺 Presa de Aldeadávila (Castilla y León, España, 27-2-2025)
  2. Terrain map of the venue
    Terrain map
About this water

A reservoir on the Duero itself, deep in the Arribes del Duero natural park where the river forms the Spain–Portugal border in a sheer granite gorge. It feeds one of the most powerful hydroelectric stations in Spain, and the setting is dramatic — cliffs of bare rock dropping straight into cold, deep, clear water with griffon vultures overhead. This is not a sight-fishing flats venue: it is a deep canyon water dominated by predators, with zander and very large wels catfish (siluro) in the depths and pike and barbel where the side-streams and shallower necks let fish hold. Bank access is genuinely difficult on the gorge sections; the upper necks and tributary mouths are the realistic fly water.

  • Reservoir
  • Granite
Why this score
  • Wind conditions (ripple) closely match what this water fishes best in.
  • Temperature (cool) is in the sweet spot for summer fishing.
  • High and still filling — new water inundating margins, surface fishing improves dramatically.
Related guides
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