Above Langeac the Allier becomes a different river. The gorge work starts — proper basalt-and-granite gorge, cut deep, with long pools and pocket water between them — and the salmon water gives way to trout and grayling country. This is the Haute-Loire reach, running up through Monistrol and Brioude and then up into the volcanic highlands of the Lozère, where the river is clear, cold, and stony, and the crowds of the Brioude salmon beats are a memory. The wild brown trout here are honest fish — six to twelve inches the general run, with the occasional surprise in the gorge pools that makes you pay attention. The grayling are steady and rise well to small olives from May onwards. The hatches are proper freestone work: Baetis through spring, building caddis from May, good stoneflies in the rough water, and enough March Brown action in the lower sections to remind you that this is still a significant river even when it is behaving like a small one. Fish it with nymph through April and the first half of May, shift to dry fly once the caddis are out, and accept that the best water takes commitment to reach. The Haute-Loire landscape is part of the bargain.

• Granite

• Ecology: Good
• Chemical: Failing to achieve good