Chalk · Normandy / Seine-Maritime (Eu), FR

Bresle

Bresle — Vieux Rouen-sur-Bresle, Seine Maritime, France

The Bresle rises in the hills above Aumale and runs seventy kilometres to its tidal mouth at Le Tréport.

Poor · Sea Trout
Black & Silver Tube · 1-2 inch
Poorlive now
Slow going — better windows ahead
Low and clear — careful approach country. Stale fish in low clear water spook easily — pick your hour.
55% confidence
What moved it
  • LevelProxyvia Arques
  • Water temp17.7°C
  • ClarityClear
Today's fly
BS
Black & Silver Tube1-2 inch
In deep pools and dark water, silhouette and contrast do the work colour cannot. A fly that reads as black against depth is enough. Fish it broadside, hold the swing, let it hang at the dangle — that is when the best fish take.
Conditions on the water
Proxy gauge
Level
Steady
Proxy
via Arques
Water temp17.7°C
ClarityClear
Weather21°C
WindSE 22 km/h
Pressure1012 hPa
Rain · recent9.7 mm
Rain · ahead10.3 mm

No gauge on this water — conditions are inferred from Arques. The trend transfers, the absolute level does not.

Water temperature for Sea Trout
Warm — slow
18°C est.ideal 8–15°C
0°14°28°
How to fish it · for Sea Trout
When
Sea trout enter from April; main run summer through October. Variable-seasonal stock — fish carefully if at all. Evening into night where the AAPPMA night extension applies on the lower beats.
Where
Lower Bresle pool tails and weeded glides walked in daylight before fishing them at night. The AAPPMA Bresle manages the water; check beat boundaries before you wade in.
Method
Across-and-down on a floating line with size 10 to 12 wet — Steer's Head and soft-hackle emerger patterns suit clear chalk water; Medicine and Stoat's Tail when colour enters. Steady swing, never hurry.
Kit
10 ft #6/7, floating line, 8 lb fluoro tippet. Spare leader on a wrist spool. Permit with timbre migrateur — non-optional.
Why this works
Poor — water clarity is working for you, but water temperature is the limiting factor today.
Likely species
Hatch timeline · todayPeak at 11am

Hatch predictions

Today's headline hatch shown — see all 12 active hatches hour by hour as a supporter.

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Sub-surface · on the nymphunder the surface

Hatch predictions

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Beyond the hatch · worth watchingambient prey(1)

Hatch predictions

Top prey shown — see all 3 as a supporter.

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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
Sea trout runRun
1
2
2
2
2
2
1
Trout seasonSeason
1
2
2
2
2
2
1
Grayling seasonSeason
1
2
2
2
1
Freshwater ShrimpHatch
2
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
2
Mayfly (Green Drake)Hatch
2
2
Brown SedgeHatch
2
3
3
3
2
Small SpurwingHatch
2
3
3
3
2

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

Ranked for today
Sea Trout fly box

Classic French chalkstream fishing. Gin-clear, weed-rich, slow to moderate flow. Dry fly and sight nymphing dominate. Stronger sedge hatches than English equivalents. French tradition favours flush-sitting dries (comparaduns, CDC patterns) and upstream presentation.

BS
Black & Silver TubeTop
1-2 inch · Tube
In deep pools and dark water, silhouette and contrast do the work colour cannot. A fly that reads as black against depth is enough. Fish it broadside, hold the swing, let it hang at the dangle — that is when the best fish take.
Medicine Fly
Medicine Fly
8-12 · Streamer
Slim and mobile — fished sunk through the pool when surface work is not producing. Consistently takes fish that will not come to the surface.
SF
Snake Fly (Black)
2-4 inch · Streamer
A mobile eel-like profile that undulates through deep pools — effective when sea trout are lying deep and not responding to conventional wets.
Permits & access
Permit required — see local rules.
  • AAPPMA du Pays de Bray and AAPPMA d'Eu control most beats
  • Night fishing permitted for sea trout during summer peak — always verify current rules.
What's coming
Plan ahead
5-day outlook
Other water nearby · 5
Gallery · 2
  1. Bresle — Vieux Rouen-sur-Bresle, Seine Maritime, France
    Vieux Rouen-sur-Bresle, Seine Maritime, France
  2. Terrain map of the venue
    Terrain map
About this water

The Bresle rises in the hills above Aumale and runs seventy kilometres to its tidal mouth at Le Tréport. For the last thirty of those kilometres — from Blangy-sur-Bresle through Gamaches to Eu — it is the most productive sea-trout river in France. Runs enter the system from June onwards, peaking in late July and August when warm nights coincide with low summer water. Fish the classical way: a floating line, a size 8 or 10 Medicine or Peter Ross, cast across and slightly down, swung through the pool tails in the last hour of light and the first hours of darkness. Numbers do not match the Welsh rivers and the fish are not as large as the Scottish, but a good night on the Bresle in August can produce three or four fish. Salmon are present in small numbers. The AAPPMA controls most of the water, and the best beats are below Eu.

Hatches & food

In chalk-spring and karst trout systems, generally stable temperatures broaden olive and other mayfly activity from early spring into autumn, with strong evening caddis, steady subsurface scuds and buzzers where clear groundwater and weedbeds develop, and terrestrials from meadow and woodland banks rounding out the food calendar, depending on how fast each river drops and clears after rain.

  • Chalk
Water quality (WFD)
  • Ecology: Good
  • Chemical: Unknown
What this classification means

WFD ecological status Moderate → Good corrected to EEA WISE 2022 (3rd RBMP) classification for waterbody FRHR160 (was a stale earlier-cycle value). Source: EEA WISE SWB_SurfaceWaterBody (discodata.eea.europa.eu), verified 2026-06-18.

WFD classification · FRHR160

Why this score · for Sea Trout
  • Temperature1028% weight
  • Flow8022% weight
  • Clarity8518% weight
  • Feeding Time6013% weight
  • Pressure857% weight
  • Insect activity7012% weight
Directions
Seasons & zones
  • Sea trout 1 April → 31 October
  • Trout 2nd Saturday of March → 3rd Sunday of September
  • Grayling 3rd Saturday of May → 3rd Sunday of September

    France national rule: grayling opens 3rd Saturday of May in all waters. In 1st category (salmonid) rivers, grayling closes with the trout season on the 3rd Sunday of September. Departmental regulations may impose additional restrictions. Always check the relevant département's 2026 arrêté préfectoral.

Salmon: Banned (2026) — Salmon fishing is closed throughout the Seine-Normandie basin, fresh and estuarine, under the 2026–27 basin order.

Sea trout: Variable seasonal (2026) — Bresle — Normandy river forming the Seine-Maritime/Somme border. Sea trout (truite de mer) historically significant; still an active sea trout fishery but stocks are condition-sensitive and management-dependent. AAPPMA Bresle manages the water.

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