Spate · Slate · West Wales / Ceredigion, GB-WLS

Teifi

The River Teifi viewed westward from Newcastle Emlyn bridge, the green valley and tree-lined banks stretching away.

Classic West Wales salmon and sewin river with historic coracle fishing tradition.

Marginal · Brown Trout
CDC Emerger · 16-18
Marginallive now
Slow going — pick your moments
River temperature is the limiting factor today, not the flow. Fish dawn or dusk if you go at all, and handle everything with extra care.
80% confidence
What moved it
  • Level0.63 mRising in the last 6h
  • Water temp18.9°C
  • ClarityClear
Today's fly
CDC Emerger
CDC Emerger16-18
Upstream dry, in the film
Conditions on the water
Live gauge
Level
Steady
0.63 m
Rising in the last 6h
Water temp18.9°C
ClarityClear
Weather19°C
WindN 20 km/h
Pressure1020 hPa
Rain · recent0.0 mm
Rain · ahead0.0 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
Warm — slow
19°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 autumn close.
Where
Pool tails and the seams behind boulders through the West Wales beats. The Teifi runs Cambrian Mountains freestone with broader stretches lower down.
Method
Upstream dry to risers; dry-dropper through the riffles. North Country spider on the swing in cooler water. Spate-driven on falling water.
Kit
9 ft #4 — Welsh freestone default. Floating line, 9 to 12 ft leader to 4 to 5 lb fluoro. Studded boots — slate slabs run slick.
Why this works
Water at 18.9°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 6am

Hatch predictions

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

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Sub-surface · on the nymphunder the surface

Hatch predictions

Top nymph shown — see all 3 guilds with Pro.

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Beyond the hatch · worth watchingambient prey

Hatch predictions

Top prey shown — see all 2 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
Salmon runRun
1
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.

Ranked for today
Brown Trout fly box

Shrimp patterns — fished swing, wet_fly_swing

Beats · 3
Middle Teifi — Llandysul Angling AssociationAccess varies
The Teifi is the longest river to rise and meet the sea wholly within Wales and reports more salmon caught than any other Welsh river.
Visit official site ↗
Lower Teifi — Teifi Trout Association (Llechryd to Henllan)Access varies
The Teifi Trout Association, founded in 1925, holds over twenty miles of the lower Teifi between Llechryd Bridge and Henllan.
Visit official site ↗
Pontarddulais AA Teifi — day ticket via Fishing PassportAccess varies
About a mile of middle-Teifi right bank below Lampeter, controlled by Pontarddulais AA.
Visit official site ↗
What's coming
Plan ahead
5-day outlook
Cooler water nearby · 2
Water here around 19°C — probably warm enough to stress Brown Trout . These are likely cooler.
Towy (Tywi)
35 km
~16°C
Brown trout · Salmon · Sea trout
Aeron
23 km
~17°C
Brown trout · Salmon · Sea trout
Gallery · 6
  1. The River Teifi viewed westward from Newcastle Emlyn bridge, the green valley and tree-lined banks stretching away.
    The River Teifi at Newcastle Emlyn
  2. Cenarth Falls on the River Teifi with the historic water mill on the far bank, the river rushing white over ledges.
    Cenarth Falls, River Teifi
  3. The River Teifi flowing through a wooded gorge below Cilgerran, steep tree-lined banks reflected in dark water.
    River Teifi below Cilgerran
  4. Sweeping meanders of the Teifi near Newcastle Emlyn in winter spate, wide and dark between alder-lined banks.
    Bends in the Teifi, Newcastle Emlyn
  5. The River Teifi at Llandysul showing rocky rapids and bankside vegetation between Llandysul and Pontwelly.
    River Teifi at Llandysul
  6. Terrain map of the venue
    Terrain map
About this water

Classic West Wales salmon and sewin river with historic coracle fishing tradition. Salmon from spring through autumn; sea trout (sewin) from June onwards with excellent summer runs. The Teifi is a spate river — fish it on fresh water after rain with sinking-tip line and medium tubes for salmon, smaller wet flies for sea trout. Good brown trout in the upper reaches. Newcastle Emlyn and Cenarth Falls are well-known productive beats. Responsive in 6 hours; fish the drop. Slate and schist bedrock underlie this river. 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.

Sea trout here

Summer-autumn runs (June–September), primarily nocturnal

  • Slate
Water quality (WFD)
  • Ecology: Good
  • Chemical: Unknown
What this classification means

NRW WFD Cycle 3 — Teifi (Afon Clettwr to Afon Ceri): Good ecological status; the Llandysul/Newcastle Emlyn middle beats. Corrected 2026-06-18 from an Arberth-tributary tag (was recorded Moderate). Source: NRW DataMapWales WFD Cycle 3 classification layer.

NRW (Wales) · GB110062043564

The full read · show the working · for Brown Trout · confidence 80%
How the 34 is built — score × weight = contribution
Temperature41 × 28%11.5
Flow80 × 22%17.6
Clarity95 × 18%17.1
Feeding Time55 × 13%7.2
Pressure80 × 7%5.6
Insect activity62 × 12%7.4
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.
The dawn and dusk windows score higher than the midday lull.
Directions
Apple MapsGoogle Maps
Seasons & zones
  • Salmon 1 April → 17 October
  • Trout 3 March → 30 September

Sea trout: Variable seasonal (2026) — NRW At Risk classification. The Teifi holds sewin but stocks have declined across the wider West Wales catchment. Runs are condition-led — a good spate in June or July can produce excellent night fishing; a dry summer is a write-off. Historic coracle fishing tradition on sewin; the modern fishery demands catch-and-release discipline.

Salmon: Negligible (2026) — NRW / EA 2024 Salmon Stocks Assessment classifies this Welsh principal salmon river 'at risk' — egg deposition below Conservation Limit. All Wales byelaws (in force 2020-2030) make catch & release mandatory. Conservation priority; not a salmon fishing destination. The Teifi remains a famous fly fishing river but salmon are scarce.

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Yorkshire & SpidersNorth Country methodsEuro Nymphingsubsurface methods
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