Spate · Granite · Devon / Dartmoor

River Walkham

River Walkham terrain map
Terrain map

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.

Poor · Brown Trout
CDC Emerger · 14-18
Poorlive now
Not the day for it
River temperature is the limiting factor today, not the flow. This is not the day to push it. Check the thermal advice above before you head out.
80% confidence
What moved it
  • Level0.22 m
  • Water temp21.2°C
  • ClarityClear
Today’s fly
CDC Emerger
CDC Emerger14-18
Upstream dry, in the film
Conditions on the water
Live gauge
Level
Steady
0.22 m
Water temp21.2°C
ClarityClear
Weather21°C
WindE 27 km/h
Pressure1020 hPa
Rain · recent0.0 mm
Rain · ahead0.0 mm

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

Water temperature for brown trout
Warm — slow
21°C est.ideal 10–16°C
0°14°28°
How to fish it · for brown trout
When
Nymphing can work through most of the day.
Where
Cover mixed depths.
Method
Start with tight-line nymphs and adjust if fish rise or drift higher.
Kit
9 ft #4 rod, floating line, 12 ft tapered leader to 4–5 lb fluoro tippet.
Why this works
⚠️ Water at 21.2°C — above the brown trout caution line (18°C). Fish dawn or dusk only. Land it fast, wet hands, no air shots. Otherwise poor — water clarity is in the right range.
Beyond the hatch · worth watchingambient prey

Hatch predictions

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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
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
BB
Black Beetle
14-18 · Pattern
Upstream dry, on top
What's coming
Plan ahead
5-day outlook
Water here around 21°C. Nothing cooler within range — carry a thermometer.
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
The full read · show the working · for brown trout · confidence 80%
How the 20 is built — score × weight = contribution
Temperature12 × 28%3.4
Flow80 × 22%17.6
Clarity95 × 18%17.1
Feeding Time70 × 13%9.1
Pressure80 × 7%5.6
Insect activity45 × 12%5.4
Limiting factor: Water temperature (21.2°C) is outside Brown Trout's preferred range (10–16°C)= 58
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.
Directions
Apple MapsGoogle Maps
Seasons & zones
  • Trout15 March → 30 September

Sea trout: Variable seasonal (2026)

Related guides
Yorkshire & SpidersNorth Country methodsTrout Near Londonaccess guideEuro Nymphingsubsurface methods
Booking & contacts