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

Towy (Tywi)

The River Towy flowing in broad meanders through the valley below Dinefwr Castle near Llandeilo.

Wales's premier sewin (sea trout) river and major salmon river.

Prime · Brown Trout
Hare's Ear Nymph · 12-16
Primelive now
About as good as it gets
River steady at a fishable height. On the feed top to bottom — start on the rises with a dry, drop a nymph if they stay down.
90% confidence
What moved it
  • Level0.94 m
  • Water temp15.8°C
  • ClarityClear
Today's fly
Hare's Ear Nymph
Hare's Ear Nymph12-16
Upstream, sub-surface
Conditions on the water
Live gauge
Level
Steady
0.94 m
Water temp15.8°C
ClarityClear
Weather18°C
WindSE 32 km/h
Pressure1010 hPa
Rain · recent2.6 mm
Rain · ahead21.0 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
Ideal
16°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. Spate-driven — fish 12 to 24 hours after rain.
Where
Pool tails, riffle heads, and the seams behind boulders through the upper and middle Tywi. Welsh freestone — pocket-to-pocket reading.
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
Excellent — water temperature is right today, though time of day could be better.
Likely species
Stoneflies
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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Sub-surface · on the nymphunder the surface

Hatch predictions

Top nymph shown — see all 2 guilds as a supporter.

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Beyond the hatch · worth watchingambient prey(1)

Hatch predictions

Top prey shown — see all 3 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
Salmon runRun
1
2
2
2
2
2
1
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

Shrimp fly theme — fished swing, wet_fly_swing

Beats · 5 · 3 reaches
Main Towy — association water (Llandovery to Carmarthen)Access varies
The Towy (Tywi) is one of the finest sea trout — sewin — rivers in the British Isles, with a good run of salmon to autumn and brown trout throughout.
Visit official site ↗
Golden Grove & estate beatsAccess varies
Alongside the associations, several private estate beats on the lower and middle Towy — including a cluster around Golden Grove (Cilsane, Dryslwyn Castle, Glanyrafon, Upper and Lower Ro Fawr) — are let to visiting rods through the Fishing Passport.
Visit official site ↗
Towy tributaries · 3 beatsMixed
River Gwili — Carmarthen Amateur AA, River Gwili — Carmarthen & District AC, River Camddwr (Towy headwaters) — Tregaron AA
The 3 beats
River Gwili — Carmarthen Amateur AADay tickets
Carmarthen Amateur Angling Association
Two beats totalling 4.5 miles (Glangwili Bridge to Bronwydd, and Bronwydd Village to Dyffryn Gwili) on this Tywi tributary — sea trout (sewin) is the headline draw, alongside wild brown trout.
Day ticket £30, weekly £135 (2026 pricing).
Visit official site ↗
River Gwili — Carmarthen & District ACMembers
Carmarthen & District Angling Club
Two further Gwili stretches near the Gwili Railway and a Quarry stretch further out toward the A484 — a separate club from Carmarthen Amateur AA, est. 1953.
Members only via Clubmate — no day tickets, no published price.
Visit official site ↗
River Camddwr (Towy headwaters) — Tregaron AADay tickets
Tregaron Angling Association
Seven miles of remote wilderness fishing on a Towy tributary in the Cambrian Mountains near Llyn Brianne reservoir — small but plentiful wild brown trout. Note: there's a second, unrelated river also called Camddwr near Tregaron itself, a Teifi tributary through Cors Caron bog — this is not that river.
Tregaron AA also controls 17 miles of the Teifi itself, Llyn Berwyn and the Teifi Pools.
Visit official site ↗
What's coming
Plan ahead
5-day outlook
Other water nearby · 5
Irfon
16 km
Brown trout · Grayling · Salmon
Cothi
19 km
Brown trout · Salmon · Sea trout
Afon Twrch
22 km
85
Brown trout
Amman
22 km
Brown trout · Sea trout · Salmon
Wye
28 km
Brown trout · Salmon · Grayling
Gallery · 6
  1. The River Towy flowing in broad meanders through the valley below Dinefwr Castle near Llandeilo.
    River Towy below Dinefwr Castle
  2. The River Towy running through Llandovery, Carmarthenshire, with the valley beyond.
    River Towy at Llandovery
  3. A wide view of the River Towy flowing through the Llangunnor reach at Carmarthen.
    River Towy at Carmarthen
  4. The River Towy at Llandilo-yr-ynys near Nantgaredig, a wide shallow reach in Carmarthenshire.
    River Towy at Llandilo-yr-ynys, Nantgaredig
  5. The Afon Tywi winding through its flood plain near Llandovery, Carmarthenshire.
    Afon Tywi near Llandovery
  6. Terrain map of the venue
    Terrain map
About this water

Wales's premier sewin (sea trout) river and major salmon river. Night fishing for sewin from April through summer is legendary — large fish, aggressive takes. Salmon from February onwards. Fish sinking-tip line with medium tubes in spring for salmon; switch to smaller doubles and wet flies for daytime fishing. Sea trout take throughout spring and summer; night fishing (June–August, particularly July) is most productive. Flows through Llandeilo and Carmarthen. 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 — Tywi (confluence with Cothi to spring tidal limit): Good ecological status; the association main-stem water (Llandovery–Carmarthen). Corrected 2026-06-18 from a Gwili-tributary tag (Crychiau), not the Towy main stem. Source: NRW DataMapWales WFD Cycle 3 classification layer.

NRW (Wales) · GB110060029290

The full read · show the working · for Brown Trout · confidence 90%
How the 85 is built — score × weight = contribution
Temperature100 × 28%28.0
Flow80 × 22%17.6
Clarity95 × 18%17.1
Feeding Time60 × 13%7.8
Pressure80 × 7%5.6
Insect activity73 × 12%8.8
Conditions total= 85
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
  • Salmon 1 April → 17 October
  • Trout 3 March → 30 September

Sea trout: Variable seasonal (2026) — NRW monitoring places 32 of 33 Welsh sea trout stocks in the 'At Risk' category. The Towy (Tywi) remains Wales's most productive sewin river and holds genuine runs, but stocks are materially below their 1970s–80s peak. Condition-sensitive: night fishing after rain is productive; low summer water is difficult. Catch-and-release is the conservation default on most beats.

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 Tywi was one of Wales's premier salmon rivers; catches have collapsed.

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