Freestone · Limestone · Friuli Venezia Giulia / Valli del Natisone, IT

Natisone

Panorama Natisone

A limestone-and-marl river that rises barely inside Italy, loops briefly through Slovenia, and re-enters near Stupizza to carve gin-clear gorges down through the Valli del Natisone to Cividale del Friuli.

Prime · Brown Trout
Hare's Ear Nymph · 12-16
Primelive now
About as good as it gets
River steady at a fishable height. On the feed top to bottom — start on the rises with a dry, drop a nymph if they stay down.
90% confidence
What moved it
  • Level0.63 mDropping in the last 6h
  • Water temp14.7°C
  • ClarityClear
Today's fly
Hare's Ear Nymph
Hare's Ear Nymph12-16
Upstream, sub-surface
Conditions on the water
Live gauge
Level
Steady
0.63 m
Dropping in the last 6h
Water temp14.7°C
ClarityClear
Weather19°C
WindNE 12 km/h
Pressure1024 hPa
Rain · recent67.0 mm
Rain · ahead1.0 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
15°C est.ideal 10–16°C
0°14°28°
How to fish it · for Brown Trout
When
Through the FVG trout season. The Natisone runs gin-clear for a limestone river, so approach and light matter more here than almost anywhere else in the region.
Where
Pool tails and current seams through the gorges below Pulfero and San Pietro al Natisone, where the valley narrows.
Method
Long, fine leaders and careful wading — the clarity that makes this river beautiful also makes it easy to put fish down. Upstream nymph and dry-dropper both work if you stay unseen.
Kit
9 to 10 ft #4, floating line, 12 ft leader to 4 to 5 lb fluoro, fined down further in low water.
Why this works
Excellent — conditions well-balanced, with water temperature particularly in your favour.
Likely species
Mayflies
Caddisflies
Damselflies & dragonflies
Hatch timeline · todayPeak at 1pm

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

Top nymph shown — see all 3 guilds as a supporter.

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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 · regionalModerate 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
Alpine RhithrogenaHatch
2
3
3
2
Sculpin / Baitfish (Rivers)Hatch
2
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
2
March BrownHatch
2
3
2
Late March BrownHatch
2
3
2

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

Ranked for today
Brown Trout fly box

A fuller Italian trout and grayling box for the southern Alps and northern limestone/alpine systems. It keeps the marble-trout streamer accent, but adds proper grayling dries and bugs, competition nymphs, caddis/olive work, terrestrials, pocket-water dries and alpine lake patterns.

SO
Small Olive / BWO Emerger
18-22 · Pattern
Upstream dry, in the film
Permits & access
Permit required — see local rules.
  • ETPI regional licence required
  • FVG Zone B season: trout open 07:00 on 29 March to 27 September, catch-and-release extension to 31 October
  • Marble trout minimum size follows the FVG regional default of 50cm in this collegio (Collegio 13 Cividale) — no local 35cm exception found for the Natisone
  • Grayling minimum size 60cm, one retained specimen per angler per calendar year region-wide
  • Single barbless hook mandatory on the Cividale No-Kill and RPS water.
What's coming
Plan ahead
5-day outlook
Other water nearby · 5
Nadiža
7.0 km
Marble trout · Marble brown hybrid trout · Grayling
Bela (Breginj)
12 km
Marble trout · Brown trout
Učja
17 km
Marble trout · Brown trout · Rainbow trout
River Bača
19 km
84
Brown trout · Marble trout · Rainbow trout
Tolminka
20 km
Marble trout · Marble brown hybrid trout · Brown trout
Gallery · 2
  1. Panorama Natisone
  2. Terrain map of the venue
    Terrain map
About this water

A limestone-and-marl river that rises barely inside Italy, loops briefly through Slovenia, and re-enters near Stupizza to carve gin-clear gorges down through the Valli del Natisone to Cividale del Friuli. Marble trout have historically spawned here in real numbers — well over a hundred nests in a good year on one well-studied stretch — alongside brown trout and grayling. The No-Kill and RPS water around Cividale is some of the most respected marble trout fishing in the region, and demands quiet wading and fine tippet in water this clear.

  • Limestone
The full read · show the working · for Brown Trout · confidence 90%
How the 86 is built — score × weight = contribution
Temperature100 × 28%28.0
Flow80 × 22%17.6
Clarity95 × 18%17.1
Feeding Time75 × 13%9.8
Pressure80 × 7%5.6
Insect activity70 × 12%8.4
Conditions total= 87
Can you trust it?
Water temperatureair-to-water estimateestimated
Level / flowon-river gaugeobserved
Prey activitysurvey-backed invertebrate datasurvey
Directions
Apple MapsGoogle Maps
Seasons & zones
  • Trout 2026-03-29 → 2026-09-27
  • Grayling 2026-06-01 → 2026-09-27

    Rules are set at province or association level — check locally.

  • Marble trout 2026-03-29 → 2026-09-27
Related guides
Grayling Playbookgrayling tacticsEuro Nymphingsubsurface methods
Booking & contacts