Spate · Sandstone · East Devon, GB-ENG

River Otter

River Otter venue image

The Otter rises in the Blackdown Hills and runs quietly through east Devon's red-sandstone country — Honiton, Ottery St Mary, Otterton — before reaching the sea at Budleigh Salterton.

Poor · Brown Trout
Gold-ribbed Hare's Ear · 10-14
Poorlive now
Not the day for it
River temperature is the limiting factor today, not the flow. This is not the day to push it. Check the thermal advice above before you head out.
80% confidence
What moved it
  • Level0.22 m
  • Water temp21.8°C
  • ClarityClear
Today's fly
Gold-ribbed Hare's Ear
Gold-ribbed Hare's Ear10-14
Upstream, sub-surface
Conditions on the water
Live gauge
Level
Steady
0.22 m
Water temp21.8°C
ClarityClear
Weather21°C
WindW 26 km/h
Pressure1007 hPa
Rain · recent11.4 mm
Rain · ahead21.9 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
Warm — slow
22°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.
Why this works
Water at 21.8°C — above the brown trout caution line (18°C). Fish dawn or dusk only. Land it fast, wet hands, no air shots.
Hatch timeline · todayPeak at 11am

Hatch predictions

Today's headline hatch shown — see all 6 active hatches hour by hour with Pro.

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Sub-surface · on the nymphunder the surface

Hatch predictions

See the full sub-surface read with Pro.

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Beyond the hatch · worth watchingambient prey(1)

Hatch predictions

Top prey shown — see all 3 with Pro.

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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 · August highlighted
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
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

A quiet east-Devon sandstone river of modest wild browns and sparsely fished water — worth it as much for the beavers and the solitude as the fishing. Small-river tackle and a light touch.

Beats · 3
Ottery Fly Fishing Club water — Tipton St John to HonitonAccess varies
The Otter is a wild brown trout river — not a salmon river.
Visit official site ↗
Westcountry Angling Passport — River Tale at Escot ParkAccess varies
The simplest open visitor access in the catchment is a section of the River Tale (an Otter tributary) at Escot Park, fishable on the Westcountry Angling Passport.
Visit official site ↗
Lower Otter free water — near Budleigh SaltertonAccess varies
There is roughly a kilometre of free fishing on the lower Otter between the footbridge south of Otterton Road Bridge and the South Farm Road bridge near the Budleigh Salterton estuary.
What's coming
Plan ahead
5-day outlook
Cooler water nearby · 1
Water here around 22°C — probably warm enough to stress Brown Trout . These are likely cooler.
River Tone
22 km
~16°C
Brown trout
Gallery · 1
  1. Terrain map of the venue
    Terrain map
About this water

The Otter rises in the Blackdown Hills and runs quietly through east Devon's red-sandstone country — Honiton, Ottery St Mary, Otterton — before reaching the sea at Budleigh Salterton. It is a wild brown trout river of modest scale and modest pretensions: small fish, sober hatches, sparsely fished beats through woodland and water meadow. The Lower Otter Restoration Project, completed in 2023, returned the lowest reach to its natural tidal channel and the river now finishes in a proper estuary again. The famous reintroduced beavers — the River Otter Beaver Trial ran 2015–2020 and the population is now naturalised — are part of the modern character of the place; they have shaped some of the upper-river habitat in ways that have been good for fish as well as for the beavers themselves. Sea trout (peal) push up to the middle river from mid-June; salmon are rare and incidental.

  • Sandstone
The full read · show the working · for Brown Trout · confidence 80%
How the 4 is built — score × weight = contribution
Temperature2 × 28%0.6
Flow80 × 22%17.6
Clarity95 × 18%17.1
Feeding Time60 × 13%7.8
Pressure80 × 7%5.6
Insect activity66 × 12%7.9
Limiting factor: Water temperature (21.8°C) is outside Brown Trout's preferred range (10–16°C)= 57
Can you trust it?
Water temperatureair-to-water estimateestimated
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.
Directions
Apple MapsGoogle Maps
Seasons & zones
  • Trout 15 March → 30 September

Sea trout: Variable seasonal (2026)

Related guides
Yorkshire & SpidersNorth Country methodsTrout Near Londonaccess guideEuro Nymphingsubsurface methods
Casting instructors near here
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