Spate · Granite · Devon / Dartmoor

River Walkham

The Walkham is a classic small Dartmoor freestone — a granite-bedded spate stream that drops off the west moor through Merrivale and Horrabridge before joining the Tavy below Buckland Monachorum.

Species

Prime conditions — go now

Low and clear — careful approach country. Cover the water properly, fish each lie once.

75% confidence in this read
Water temperature for sea trout
Ideal
8°C est.ideal 8–15°C
0°14°28°
Why this score · for sea trout
  • Temperature10028% weight
  • Flow8022% weight
  • Clarity8518% weight
  • Feeding Time9513% weight
  • Pressure857% weight
  • Insect activity4912% weight
Conditions
Level
0.23 m
Water temp
8.4°C
Estimated
Clarity
Clear
Air temp
13°C
Wind
N 9 km/h
Light breeze
Pressure
1022 hPa
Rain · 48h
0.0 mm
No meaningful rain
Rain · ahead
0.5 mm
No meaningful rain · next 48h

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

How to fish it · for sea trout
When
From dusk into the first half of the night.
Where
Deeper pools and slower glides · hold water and current seams.
Method
Fish dark patterns on a sink-tip or lightly sunk line, especially near structure.
Kit
10 ft #6/7 rod, floating line with a sink-tip option, 8–10 lb fluoro tippet for the swing.
Why this works
Excellent — water temperature is right today, though insect activity could be better. ⏰ Sea trout become most active after dark, but this stretch closes at 21:00 — before that window fully opens. Fish hard in the last legal hour: overcast skies and warm evenings can bring fish on early even in fading light.
Through the year
0–3 scale · May highlighted
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Trout seasonSeason
1
2
2
2
2
2
1
March BrownHatch
2
3
2
GrannomHatch
2
2
Large StoneflyHatch
2
3
2
Yellow SallyHatch
2
3
2

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

Directions
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About this water

The Walkham is a classic small Dartmoor freestone — a granite-bedded spate stream that drops off the west moor through Merrivale and Horrabridge before joining the Tavy below Buckland Monachorum. It is the kind of pocket-water trout fishing the south-west does best: short broken pools, wild brown trout that rarely make a pound, hatches reliable enough to keep a dry fly honest from April through autumn. The Tavy, Walkham and Plym Fishing Club holds most of the rod fishing, and the Horrabridge gauge falls almost as quickly as it rises — a wet morning and you can be fishing the same afternoon. Small numbers of sea trout (peal) reach the lower river from mid-June via the Tavy confluence; salmon are rare strays.

  • Granite
Seasons & zones
  • Trout15 March → 30 September
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