Freestone · Mixed · Borders

Blackadder Water

Blackadder Water venue image
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The Blackadder is one of the Tweed's lower tributaries — it drains the Berwickshire Merse country and joins the Whiteadder near Allanton before both flow into the Tweed near Berwick.

Poor · Brown Trout
Elk Hair Caddis · 12-16
Poorlive now
Not the day for it
Low and clear — careful approach country. A morning for the obvious fish only.
80% confidence
What moved it
  • Level0.22 mLast reading 3h ago
  • Water temp20.9°C
  • ClarityClear
Today’s fly
Elk Hair Caddis
Elk Hair Caddis12-16
High-confidence seasonal pick
Conditions on the water
Live gauge
Level
Steady
0.22 m
Last reading 3h ago
Water temp20.9°C
ClarityClear
Weather14°C
WindNW 7 km/h
Pressure1020 hPa
Rain · recent3.0 mm
Rain · ahead3.3 mm

Live readings only. Trends shown where the gauge supports them.

Water temperature for brown trout
Warm — slow
20.9°Cideal 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 20.9°C — above the brown trout caution line (18°C). Fish dawn or dusk only. Land it fast, wet hands, no air shots. Otherwise poor — water clarity is in the right range.
Hatch timeline · todayQuiet day

Hatch predictions

Today's headline hatch shown — see all 3 active hatches hour by hour with Pro.

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Evidence
Survey-backed · regionalModerate 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
Daddy Long LegsHatch
2
3
2
GrannomHatch
2
2
Evening SedgeHatch
2
3
3
3
2
Large Dark OliveHatch
1
2
2
1

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

Ranked for today
Brown Trout fly box
What's coming
Plan ahead
5-day outlook
Water here at 20.9°C. Nothing cooler within range.
Gallery · 1
  1. Terrain map of the venue
    Terrain map
About this water

The Blackadder is one of the Tweed's lower tributaries — it drains the Berwickshire Merse country and joins the Whiteadder near Allanton before both flow into the Tweed near Berwick. It is a slow, meandering, farmland river with a good head of wild brown trout, better-than-average insect life, and the kind of quiet Borders character that means you often fish a whole day without seeing another angler. The fishing is best in May and June when the olives are on, and from late August through September when the grasshoppers start to fall on the water. Day tickets through Duns & District Angling Association. Nothing dramatic, but a genuine pleasure to fish if you like your rivers quiet and your trout wild.

  • Mixed
The full read · show the working · for brown trout · confidence 80%
How the 22 is built — score × weight = contribution
Temperature15 × 28%4.2
Flow80 × 22%17.6
Clarity95 × 18%17.1
Feeding Time60 × 13%7.8
Pressure80 × 7%5.6
Insect activity48 × 12%5.8
Limiting factor: Water temperature (20.9°C) is outside Brown Trout's preferred range (10–16°C)= 58
Can you trust it?
Water temperaturelive gauge readinggauge
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.
Related guides
Scotland Playbookloch & river fishingYorkshire & SpidersNorth Country methodsEuro Nymphingsubsurface methods
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