Limestone · Baden-Württemberg / Bavaria, DE

Upper Danube (Obere Donau)

Naturpark Obere Donau, Blick über das nebelverhangene Donautal

The young Danube flows through the Swabian Jura limestone gorge—excellent grayling and brown trout in clear, alkaline water.

Prime · Grayling
Pink Grayling Bug · Hook 16
Primelive now
About as good as it gets
Low and clear — careful approach country. Take your time — read the water before you cast.
90% confidence
What moved it
  • Level0.27 mLast reading 6h ago
  • Water temp12.6°C
  • ClarityClear
Today's fly
Pink Grayling Bug
Pink Grayling BugHook 16
in season · matches water height · all-rounder
Conditions on the water
Live gauge
Level
Steady
0.27 m
Last reading 6h ago
Water temp12.6°C
ClarityClear
Weather21°C
WindW 4 km/h
Pressure1021 hPa
Rain · recent0.0 mm
Rain · ahead6.0 mm

The nearest gauge doesn't record temperatures, so we've estimated it — defer to the river keeper's advice.

Water temperature for Grayling
Ideal
13°C est.ideal 4–14°C
0°14°28°
How to fish it · for Grayling
When
Midday window — grayling feed best from late morning into early afternoon.
Where
Work runs and glides — grayling shoal in the bottom third of the water column.
Method
Tight-line nymph the bottom third with weighted patterns.
Kit
10 ft #3 rod, floating line, long leader to 4 lb fluoro for nymphs.
Why this works
Excellent — conditions well-balanced, with water temperature particularly in your favour.
Likely species
Mayflies
Stoneflies
Caddisflies
Damselflies & dragonflies
Gammarids
Hatch timeline · todayPeak at 2pm

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 5 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
Trout seasonSeason
1
2
2
2
2
2
1
Grayling seasonSeason
1
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
Evening SedgeHatch
2
3
3
3
2
Large Dark OliveHatch
1
2
2
1
Iron BlueHatch
1
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
Blue Winged OliveHatch
1
2
2
2
2
1

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

Ranked for today
Grayling fly box

Southern Germany only. Trout and grayling in Bavarian meadow streams, alpine creeks and famous upper-river systems.

Small Perdigón
Small Perdigón
Hook 14–18 · Fly
in season · matches water height
Permits & access
Permit required — see local rules.
  • Upper Danube source
  • Fischereischein + Erlaubnisschein required.
What's coming
Plan ahead
5-day outlook
Other water nearby · 3
Wutach
48 km
87
Brown trout · Grayling
Gutach
55 km
Brown trout
Nagold
55 km
70
Brown trout · Rainbow trout · Grayling
Gallery · 2
  1. Naturpark Obere Donau, Blick über das nebelverhangene Donautal
  2. Terrain map of the venue
    Terrain map
About this water

The young Danube flows through the Swabian Jura limestone gorge—excellent grayling and brown trout in clear, alkaline water. The gorge section between Tuttlingen and Sigmaringen is genuinely spectacular. Dry fly and nymphing on classic European limestone water—one of southern Germany's finest grayling rivers.

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

WFD classification · DERW_DEBW_6-02

The full read · show the working · for Grayling · confidence 90%
How the 87 is built — score × weight = contribution
Temperature100 × 28%28.0
Flow80 × 22%17.6
Clarity85 × 18%15.3
Feeding Time95 × 13%12.4
Pressure80 × 7%5.6
Insect activity70 × 12%8.4
Conditions total= 87
Can you trust it?
Water temperatureair-to-water estimateestimated
Level / flowon-river gaugeobserved
Prey activitysurvey-backed invertebrate datasurvey
Directions
Apple MapsGoogle Maps
Seasons & zones
  • Trout 1 March → 30 September
  • Grayling 1 May → 31 December

    Upper Danube access spans Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria, with much of the classic gorge context (Tuttlingen–Sigmaringen) in Baden-Württemberg. Grayling rules must be checked against the exact Bundesland and fishery permit; do not apply the Bavaria default blindly. Individual fishery/Hegering or club rules may impose stricter limits or shorter access.

    Season dates are set at state or regional level — confirm the local rules.

    Prime sport 1 August → 30 November

Related guides
Grayling Playbookgrayling tacticsEuro Nymphingsubsurface methods
Booking & contacts