Spate · Mixed · East / Louth, IE

River Dee (Louth)

River Dee venue image

East coast spate river in County Louth.

Poor · Brown Trout
Wickham's Fancy · 12–16
Closed season
Out of season. Try elsewhere.
Closed — confidence not applicable today.
What moved it
  • Level0.60 mLast reading 6h ago
  • Water temp10.3°C
  • ClarityClear
Today's fly
Wickham's Fancy
Wickham's Fancy12–16
Upstream dry
Conditions on the water
Live gauge
Level
Steady
0.60 m
Last reading 6h ago
Water temp10.3°C
ClarityClear
Weather8°C
WindS 26 km/h
Pressure1011 hPa
Rain · recent0.0 mm
Rain · ahead3.2 mm

The nearest gauge doesn't record temperatures, so we've estimated it — defer to the river keeper's advice.

Water temperature for Brown Trout
Ideal
10°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.
Likely species
Mayflies
Stoneflies
Gammarids
Hatch timeline · todayQuiet day

Hatch predictions

Today's headline hatch shown — see all 6 active hatches hour by hour as a supporter.

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Sub-surface · on the nymphunder the surface

Hatch predictions

Top nymph shown — see all 4 guilds as a supporter.

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Beyond the hatch · worth watchingambient prey(1)

Hatch predictions

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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 · November highlighted
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Salmon runRun
Sea trout runRun
Trout seasonSeason
1
2
2
2
2
2
1
March BrownHatch
2
3
2
CapererHatch
2
3
3
2
Heather FlyHatch
2
2
Autumn DunHatch
2
3
2

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
Other water nearby · 5
Ballymascanlan River
16 km
0
Brown trout · Sea trout
River Fane
20 km
0
Brown trout
River Dee (Louth)
< 1 km
Brown trout
Castletown River
16 km
Brown trout · Sea trout
River Fane
20 km
Brown trout
Gallery · 1
  1. Terrain map of the venue
    Terrain map
About this water

Wild brown trout and occasional sea trout. Mixed geology catchment draining the Cooley peninsula hinterland. Good fly hatches: mayfly (E. danica), olives, sedges, black gnat, reed smut. Salmon and sea-trout runs in the lower river below Cappogue Bridge.

Hatches & food

EPA invertebrate monitoring on the River Dee (Louth) confirms mayflies, caddis, midges and blackflies, and freshwater shrimp and hoglice are present across its WFD segments, with stoneflies recorded too though only lightly. This is food-presence evidence from kick sampling, not a dated hatch calendar.

  • Mixed
The full read · show the working · for Brown Trout · confidence 90%
How the 0 is built — score × weight = contribution
Temperature100 × 28%28.0
Flow80 × 22%17.6
Clarity95 × 18%17.1
Feeding Time70 × 13%9.1
Pressure80 × 7%5.6
Insect activity57 × 12%6.8
Conditions total= 84
Can you trust it?
Water temperatureair-to-water estimateestimated
Level / flowon-river gaugeobserved
Prey activitysurvey-backed invertebrate datasurvey
Directions
Apple MapsGoogle Maps
Seasons & zones
  • Salmon 1 February → 30 SeptemberClosed
  • Sea trout 1 February → 30 SeptemberClosed
  • Trout 1 March → 30 September
Related guides
ConnemaraIrish fishingEuro Nymphingsubsurface methods
Casting instructors near here
Booking & contacts
At a glance

River Dee (Louth) is a spate river in East / Louth, Ireland. It sits at about 16 m above sea level. The species listed for this water is brown trout. The trout season is recorded as running from 1 March to 30 September. The salmon season is recorded as running from 1 February to 30 September. Core methods listed: soft_hackle_swing; upstream_nymph; small_wet_fly. Level and flow data for this water is linked from 1 gauge. Nearby waters in our listings include River Dee (Louth) at < 1 km, Ballymascanlan River at 16 km and Castletown River at 16 km.