Spate · Mixed · Pyrénées-Atlantiques / Pays Basque, FR

Nive

Photo of Nive

The Nive is the salmon river of French Basque country, running with assured composure through mountains and beats where every family has fished for generations.

Today · Closed season
Czech Nymph
Forecast · Today
Closed season
Out of season. Try elsewhere.
45% projected
Today's fly
Czech Nymph
Czech Nymph
Conditions on the water · Today
Live gauge
Level
Rising
0.44 m
Lifting fast
Water temp11.0°C
ClarityUnfishable
Weather13°C
WindN 19 km/h
Pressure1011 hPa
Rain · recent27.8 mm
Rain · ahead4.4 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
11°C est.ideal 10–16°C
0°14°28°
How to fish it · for Brown Trout
When
Through the open trout season. Spring olives April through May; sedges through summer evenings; small dark flies into late September.
Where
Upper Nive through the Basque Pyrénées is tight pocket water; the middle river through Cambo widens. Pool tails and the seams behind boulders.
Method
Upstream dry to risers; dry-dropper through the riffles. The Nive's Basque water is clear — long leader, fine tippet.
Kit
9 ft #4 — French freestone default. Floating line, 12 ft leader to 4 to 5 lb fluoro. Studded boots.
Likely species
Stoneflies
Gammarids
Hatch timeline · todayPeak at 11am

12pm(now) — Autumn Needle Fly

Stage: Creeping nymphsApproach: Heavy nymphActivity: 31%
Also:Autumn Olive21%
Peak emergence window4 food groups active

Peak activity at 11am — Autumn Needle Fly (Autumn Needle Fly, Peak emergence window)

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

Supporters see what else is on the menu.

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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
Trout seasonSeason
1
2
2
2
2
2
1
Autumn DunHatch
2
3
2
March BrownHatch
2
3
2
Late March BrownHatch
2
3
2
Large Brook DunHatch
2
3
2

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

Ranked for today
Brown Trout fly box

More balanced than the mountain-river pack. French nymphing still matters, but there is more room for dries, spiders and general searching flies.

Permits & access
Permit required — see local rules.
  • Basque AAPPMA permits
  • Mandatory catch-and-release in some years — verify with local federation.
What's coming
Plan ahead
5-day outlook
Fishing better nearby · 5
Bidasoa
28 km
80
Brown trout · Sea trout
Bidasoa tributaries (Navarra side)
24 km
0
Brown trout · Sea trout
Río Erro
26 km
0
Brown trout
Río Irati
27 km
Brown trout
Río Urrobi
31 km
Brown trout
Gallery · 2
  1. Photo of Nive
    Nive — image via Wikipedia (Nive)
  2. Terrain map of the venue
    Terrain map
About this water

Salmon fishing is closed across the Adour and Gaves basin under the 2026 prefectoral order. The river remains spate-responsive — a five-hour lag from mountain rain to river rise — which means a competent angler can read the weather and plan the fishing with precision. Brown trout in the headwaters and tributaries offer orthodox dry-fly sport above Saint-Étienne-de-Baïgorry. Sea trout enter on the floods and are fishable in season. Check the current AAPPMA arrêté: the Basque federations manage their waters with exactitude, and the regulations shift yearly.

Hatches & food

No venue-specific emergence timing has been documented, but OFB monitoring upstream of the Bastan at Bidarray confirms a strong stonefly, caddis and mayfly fauna is present (including Perla, Rhyacophila, Baetis and Ephemerella) — a genuine food base without a confirmed hatch calendar.

  • Mixed
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 FRFR271C (was a stale earlier-cycle value). Source: EEA WISE SWB_SurfaceWaterBody (discodata.eea.europa.eu), verified 2026-06-18.

WFD classification · FRFR271C

The full read · show the working · for Brown Trout · confidence 75%
How the 0 is built — score × weight = contribution
Temperature100 × 28%28.0
Flow80 × 22%17.6
Clarity95 × 18%17.1
Feeding Time40 × 13%5.2
Pressure80 × 7%5.6
Insect activity43 × 12%5.2
Conditions total= 79
Can you trust it?
Water temperatureair-to-water estimateestimated
Level / flowon-river gaugeobserved
Prey activitysurvey-backed invertebrate datasurvey
What would change the calculation
The dawn and dusk windows score higher than the midday lull.
Directions
Apple MapsGoogle Maps
Seasons & zones
  • Trout 2nd Saturday of March → 3rd Sunday of September

Salmon: Banned (2026) — Salmon fishing is closed across the Adour and Gaves basin under the 2026 prefectoral order (Nouvelle-Aquitaine), which renewed the 2025 total prohibition.

Sea trout: Seasonal open (2026) — Nive — the Basque river draining from the Pyrenees through Bayonne. Sea trout (truite de mer) confirmed as a seasonal quarry alongside salmon. Active sea trout fishery in the Basque Pyrénées-Atlantiques zone. Supersedes earlier 'verify_locally' provisional status.

Related guides
Pyrenees PlaybookFrench riversEuro Nymphingsubsurface methods
Booking & contacts
At a glance

Nive is a spate river in Pyrénées-Atlantiques / Pays Basque, France. It sits at about 210 m above sea level. The river is described as roughly 79 km long. Our data lists brown trout, salmon and sea trout here. The salmon season is recorded as running from CLOSED to CLOSED. The trout season is recorded as running from 2nd Saturday of March to 3rd Sunday of September. Best window recorded for anglers: March–September (trout). Core methods listed: Spey casting; nymphing; dry fly. Level and flow data for this water is linked from 2 gauges. Its Water Framework Directive ecological status is recorded as good. Access is recorded as day tickets through the local AAPPMA (angling association). Nearby waters in our listings include Bidasoa tributaries (Navarra side) at 24 km, Río Erro at 26 km and Río Irati at 27 km.