Spate · Mixed · South Wales / Powys / Swansea

Tawe

The River Tawe flowing through a wooded valley near Ystradgynlais, Wales
Contributor photo

The River Tawe below Heol Giedd, near Ystradgynlais in the Swansea Valley

Jaggery, CC BY-SA 2.0

Out of Bannau Brycheiniog past Ystradgynlais and down to Swansea Bay — a river of two halves.

Fair · Atlantic Salmon
Fairlive now
Decent — worth a look
River steady at a fishable height. A patient day. Cover water properly.
50% confidence
What moved it
  • Level0.51 mDropping in the last 6h
  • Water temp17.2°C
  • ClarityClear
Conditions on the water
Live gauge
Level
Steady
0.51 m
Dropping in the last 6h
Water temp17.2°C
ClarityClear
Weather16°C
WindN 5 km/h
Pressure1019 hPa
Rain · recent0.0 mm
Rain · ahead0.2 mm

Live readings — water temperature is an estimate where the gauge does not record it.

Water temperature for atlantic salmon
Warm — slow
17°C est.ideal 10–14°C
0°14°28°
How to fish it · for atlantic salmon
When
Summer through autumn. Fish on the drop after rain — small numbers throughout the season.
Where
Middle and lower Tawe pools. Tawe & Tributaries AA named beats.
Method
Small doubles 10 to 12 across-and-down on a floating line; small tubes on a sink-tip in spring water. Cover the pools methodically. Mandatory catch-and-release under NRW byelaw — every salmon goes back.
Kit
12 ft #7/8 double-hander or 11 ft switch. Floating line plus light sink-tip. 10 to 12 lb fluoro tippet.
Why this works
Fair — water clarity is working for you, but time of day is the limiting factor today.
Hatch timeline · todayQuiet day

Hatch predictions

Today's headline hatch shown — see all 8 active hatches hour by hour with Pro.

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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 · July highlighted
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Salmon runRun
1
2
2
2
2
1
Sea trout runRun
1
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
Trout seasonSeason
1
2
2
2
2
2
1
Daddy Long LegsHatch
2
3
2
March BrownHatch
2
3
2
GrannomHatch
2
2
Large StoneflyHatch
2
3
2

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

Beats · 4
Pontardawe & Swansea AA — day ticket via Fishing PassportAccess varies
Two and a half kilometres of lower Tawe — mostly single bank, with seven named salmon pools.
Tawe Beat 1 — day ticket via Fishing PassportAccess varies
Two and a half miles on the headwaters of the Tawe, shadowed by Llyn-y-Fan and set in the Brecon Beacons National Park.
Tawe Beat 2 — day ticket via Fishing PassportAccess varies
Just under two miles below Ystradgynlais — wild and stocked browns mixed (the club runs a triploid stocking programme to top up the wild head).
River Clydach (Upper & Lower) — Pontardawe & Swansea ASMembers
Two short Tawe tributaries through Pontardawe and Clydach village — Upper Clydach (up through Cwmdu Glen) and Lower Clydach (up to Lon Bridge).
What's coming
Plan ahead
5-day outlook
Other water nearby · 5
Afon Llwchwr (Loughor)
13 km
51
Sea trout · Brown trout · Salmon
Afan
12 km
0
Brown trout · Salmon · Sea trout
Afon Twrch
11 km
Brown trout
Amman
11 km
Brown trout · Sea trout · Salmon
Neath
16 km
Brown trout · Salmon · Sea trout
Gallery · 2
  1. The River Tawe flowing through a wooded valley near Ystradgynlais, Wales
    The River Tawe below Heol Giedd, near Ystradgynlais in the Swansea Valley
  2. Terrain map of the venue
    Terrain map
About this water

Out of Bannau Brycheiniog past Ystradgynlais and down to Swansea Bay — a river of two halves. The upper Tawe holds healthy fly life and proper wild brown trout fishing; the middle and lower reaches take migratory fish after water. The Tawe & Tributaries AA ticket covers most of it. Don't read all of the Tawe as sewin beat — the upper river is trout country, and the migratory fishing is genuinely a lower-river story after rain. Atlantic salmon are under serious conservation pressure — Natural Resources Wales mandates catch-and-release for salmon on all rivers, so all fish must be returned.

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

NRW (Wales) · UKGB110059032170

Why this score · for atlantic salmon
  • Temperature3630% weight
  • Flow6025% weight
  • Clarity9520% weight
  • Feeding Time1515% weight
  • Pressure8510% weight
Directions
Apple MapsGoogle Maps
Seasons & zones
  • Salmon1 May → 17 October
  • Sea trout3 March → 17 October
  • Trout3 March → 30 September

Sea trout: Variable seasonal (2026) — Sewin run on the lower and middle Tawe is genuine but modest — the river's better-known story is its upper-river brown trout fishing. All-Wales At Risk picture applies.

Related guides
Atlantic Salmonsalmon tacticsYorkshire & SpidersNorth Country methodsEuro Nymphingsubsurface methods
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