Spate · Limestone · Pyrénées-Atlantiques / Soule, FR

Saison (Gave de Mauléon)

Clear green river flowing under an arched stone bridge past riverside houses in Mauléon-Licharre, France.

Major tributary of the Gave d'Oloron.

Poor · Brown Trout
Pheasant Tail Nymph · 14-18
New ruleReported 17 Jul 2026

Severe drought restrictions (crise) in force

VigiEau lists this venue's surface-water zone (Bassin du Lausset, dépt 64) at crise, under an official préfectoral drought arrêté. Fishing is not itself banned by it, but water levels are low — go gently on stressed fish.

Arrêté préfectoral n°37314 ↗

Temporary notices from official orders and recent fishery reports — they clear automatically once out of date. Always confirm locally before travelling.

Closed season
Out of season. Try elsewhere.
Closed — confidence not applicable today.
What moved it
  • Level0.06 mLast reading 2h ago
  • Water temp18.4°C
  • ClarityClear
Today's fly
Pheasant Tail Nymph
Pheasant Tail Nymph14-18
Upstream
Conditions on the water
Live gauge
Level
Steady
0.06 m
Last reading 2h ago
Water temp18.4°C
ClarityClear
Weather23°C
WindN 4 km/h
Pressure1015 hPa
Rain · recent2.9 mm
Rain · ahead1.7 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
18°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; small dark flies into late September.
Where
Pool tails and seams behind boulders through the Mauléon valley. The Saison runs intimate Basque freestone water.
Method
Upstream dry to risers; dry-dropper through the riffles. Long leader, fine tippet.
Kit
9 ft #4 — French freestone default. Floating line, 12 ft leader to 4 to 5 lb fluoro. Studded boots.
Why this works
Water at 18.4°C — above the brown trout caution line (18°C). Fish dawn or dusk only. Land it fast, wet hands, no air shots.
Likely species
Caddisflies
Gammarids
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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Beyond the hatch · worth watchingambient prey(1)

Hatch predictions

Top prey shown — see all 4 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
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.
  • AAPPMA permits required.
What's coming
Plan ahead
5-day outlook
Water here around 18°C. Nothing cooler within range — carry a thermometer.
Gallery · 2
  1. Clear green river flowing under an arched stone bridge past riverside houses in Mauléon-Licharre, France.
    Mauléon-Licharre (Pyrénées-Atlantiques)
  2. Terrain map of the venue
    Terrain map
About this water

Major tributary of the Gave d'Oloron. Mountain spate river with limestone clarity and a four-hour response time. Salmon fishing is closed across the Adour and Gaves basin under the 2026 prefectoral order. Large wild brown trout remain, best fished during the rising phase when snowmelt brings fresh water down. Check the regional arrêté for season and parcours regulations.

Hatches & food

Named alongside the other Oloron-basin gaves in departmental federation reporting as one of the rivers where trout took insects at the surface in early afternoon around the March opening — a basin-wide regional account, not a Saison-specific observation.

  • Limestone
Water quality (WFD)
  • Ecology: Good
  • Chemical: Unknown

WFD classification · FRFR262

The full read · show the working · for Brown Trout · confidence 80%
How the 0 is built — score × weight = contribution
Temperature34 × 28%9.5
Flow80 × 22%17.6
Clarity95 × 18%17.1
Feeding Time70 × 13%9.1
Pressure80 × 7%5.6
Insect activity58 × 12%7.0
Conditions total= 66
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.
Directions
Apple MapsGoogle Maps
Seasons & zones

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.

Related guides
Pyrenees PlaybookFrench riversEuro Nymphingsubsurface methods
Booking & contacts