Spate · Granite · Galicia

Ulla

Ulla — Cabellos dorados (Río Ulla)
Contributor photo

Cabellos dorados (Río Ulla)

-Merce- (https://www.flickr.com/photos/14264808@N00) - CC BY-SA

The Ulla is Galicia's best-known heritage salmon river, but current salmon stocks are badly depleted and salmon fishing is out of bounds.

Poor · Brown Trout
Klinkhammer · 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.
80% confidence
What moved it
  • Level3.82 mDropping in the last 6h
  • Water temp21.5°C
  • ClarityClear
Today’s fly
Klinkhammer
Klinkhammer14-18
High-confidence seasonal pick
Conditions on the water
Live gauge
Level
Steady
3.82 m
Dropping in the last 6h
Water temp21.5°C
ClarityClear
Weather23°C
WindW 10 km/h
Pressure1017 hPa
Rain · recent0.1 mm
Rain · ahead5.9 mm

Live readings — water temperature is an estimate where the gauge does not record it.

Water temperature for brown trout
Warm — slow
22°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
⚠️ Water at 21.5°C — above the brown trout caution line (18°C). Fish dawn or dusk only. Land it fast, wet hands, no air shots. Otherwise very poor — water clarity is in the right range.
Hatch timeline · todayPeak at 6pm

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

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 · July highlighted
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Sea trout runRun
1
2
1
Trout seasonSeason
1
2
1
March BrownHatch
2
3
2
GrannomHatch
2
2
Large StoneflyHatch
2
3
2
Yellow SallyHatch
2
3
2

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

Ranked for today
Brown Trout fly box
Permits & access
Permit required — see local rules.
  • Se requiere licencia de pesca gallega
  • Puede ser necesario un permiso adicional de coto o tramo según la zona
  • Comprueba las normas vigentes de la Xunta antes de viajar; el estatus histórico como río salmonero no convierte al salmón en una especie legal.
What's coming
Plan ahead
5-day outlook
Cooler water nearby · 1
Water here around 22°C — probably warm enough to stress brown trout. These are likely cooler.
Río Furelos
34 km
~19°C
Brown trout
Gallery · 2
  1. Ulla — Cabellos dorados (Río Ulla)
    Cabellos dorados (Río Ulla)
  2. Terrain map of the venue
    Terrain map
About this water

The Ulla is Galicia's best-known heritage salmon river, but current salmon stocks are badly depleted and salmon fishing is out of bounds. It remains a wide, lowland granite river of real trout-and-sea-trout interest, with extensive spawning gravels, moderate gradients and slower-clearing spates than many Asturian limestone systems. Lower and middle beats still matter for migratory-fish culture, but in practical terms it is now best fished as brown-trout and reo water on a river that once held major salmon stocks.

  • Granite
Water quality (WFD)
  • Ecology: High
  • Chemical: Unknown
What this classification means

WFD ecological status Good → High corrected to EEA WISE 2022 (3rd RBMP) classification for waterbody ES014MSPFES-014-NR-244-059-03-02 (was a stale earlier-cycle value). Source: EEA WISE SWB_SurfaceWaterBody (discodata.eea.europa.eu), verified 2026-06-18.

WFD classification · ES014MSPFES-014-NR-244-059-03-02

The full read · show the working · for brown trout · confidence 80%
How the 18 is built — score × weight = contribution
Temperature10 × 28%2.8
Flow80 × 22%17.6
Clarity95 × 18%17.1
Feeding Time55 × 13%7.2
Pressure80 × 7%5.6
Insect activity56 × 12%6.7
Limiting factor: Water temperature (21.5°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.
The dawn and dusk windows score higher than the midday lull.
Directions
Apple MapsGoogle Maps
Seasons & zones
  • Sea trout1 May → 31 July
  • Trout1 May → 31 July

Salmon: Banned (2026) — Salmon fishing banned in Galicia by 2026 Xunta decree. Historic salmon presence (salmon_presence: historic) reflects the cultural and ecological importance, but no rod harvest is permitted in 2026. Sea trout (reo) and brown trout fishing remain open under standard Galician regional rules.

Sea trout: Variable seasonal (2026) — Galician reo (sea trout / Salmo trutta) present in the lower Ulla estuary and lower river reaches. Salmon are prohibited 2026 (Xunta emergency decree). Sea trout are legal but stocks are fragile — reo fishing is condition-dependent and low-intensity. Not a primary sea-trout destination in the tradition of Irish or Welsh fisheries.

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