Limestone · Peak District / Derbyshire, GB-ENG

Derbyshire Wye

A stone weir crossing the River Wye in wooded Monsal Dale, Derbyshire, with a footpath along the near bank

One of England's most iconic wild trout rivers — clear, alkaline limestone water through Bakewell, Rowsley and the Haddon Estate.

Today · About as good as it gets
Black Gnat
Forecast · Today
About as good as it gets
On the feed top to bottom — start on the rises with a dry, drop a nymph if they stay down.
90% projected
Today's fly
Black Gnat
Black Gnat
Conditions on the water · Today
Live gauge
Level
Steady
0.58 m
Water temp12.9°C
ClarityClear
Weather15°C
WindN 37 km/h
Pressure1011 hPa
Rain · recent3.8 mm
Rain · ahead0.2 mm

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

Water temperature for Rainbow Trout
Ideal
13°C est.ideal 10–18°C
0°14°28°
How to fish it · for Rainbow 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 19.1°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 12pm

12pm(now) — Heather Fly

Stage: Terrestrials on topApproach: Dry flyActivity: 95%
Also:Black Gnat77%Autumn Dun51%Cinnamon Sedge42%
Peak emergence windowWeather boost11 food groups active

Peak activity at 12pm — Heather Fly (Heather Fly, Peak emergence window)

Sub-surface · on the nymphunder the surface

Hatch predictions

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Beyond the hatch · worth watchingambient prey(1)

Hatch predictions

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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
2
2
1
1
2
2
2
2
2
2
Daddy Long LegsHatch
2
3
2
CapererHatch
2
3
3
2
Hawthorn FlyHatch
2
2
GrannomHatch
2
2

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

Ranked for today
Rainbow Trout fly box

Haddon's dry-fly-only water on the Wye and Lathkill has held the line for over 150 years, so the upstream dry is the natural first move. Sight-fish the wild browns, wild rainbows, and grayling on fine tippet and stealth.

Local classics: Grey Wulff·Pheasant Tail Nymph·Red Tag
Beats · 7 · 4 reaches

The Derbyshire Wye is historic, controlled dry-fly water, not an open river. Access splits into a few clear routes: the flagship Haddon Estate Wye (unstocked wild browns, wild rainbows and grayling) reached through The Peacock at Rowsley or club membership; three guided private beats (Hall, Dovecote and Duke's on the Lathkill); and the Cressbrook & Litton club water, whose Monsal Dale day ticket is the clearest public route in. Almost all of it is dry-fly, barbless, no-wading and catch-and-release — choose your beat by how you want to book and fish, then check that beat's rules.

Haddon Estate WyeGuide / lodge
The flagship Derbyshire Wye experience — over seven miles of unstocked, wild-fish limestone water (wild browns, wild rainbows and grayling) generally accessed through The Peacock at Rowsley as a hotel-resident or guided day ticket, or via Peacock Fly Fishing Club membership.
Haddon private guided beats (Wye & Lathkill) · 3 beatsDay rods
Haddon Hall Beat, Dovecote Beat, Duke's Beat (River Lathkill)
The 3 beats
Haddon Hall BeatGuide / lodge
Peacock Fly Fishing Club / Haddon Estate
A guided private beat running roughly 1.5 km downstream of Haddon Hall bridge to the end of the Medieval Park — wild rainbows, wild browns and grayling, covered with the dry fly from the bank. No wading.
Dry-fly-only, bank fishing only, no wading. Guided/private-beat pricing per rod.
Dovecote BeatGuide / lodge
Peacock Fly Fishing Club / Haddon Estate
A guided private beat of roughly 1 km upstream of Haddon Hall bridge towards Bakewell — wild rainbows, wild browns and grayling to the dry fly from the bank. No wading.
Dry-fly-only, bank fishing only, no wading. Guided/private-beat pricing per rod.
Duke's Beat (River Lathkill)Guide / lodge
Peacock Fly Fishing Club / Haddon Estate
A guided private beat of about 1.5 km on the River Lathkill, a Wye limestone tributary — lightly fished, crystal-clear, difficult stalking water for wild brown trout. A technical connoisseur's beat.
Dry-fly priority; crystal-clear stalking water. Guided/private-beat pricing per rod.
Cressbrook & Litton / Monsal Dale · 2 beatsMixed
Monsal Dale Day-Ticket Fishery, Cressbrook & Litton Flyfishers' Club
The 2 beats
Monsal Dale Day-Ticket FisheryDay tickets
Cressbrook & Litton Flyfishers' Club
The clearest non-resident, non-guided public route onto the Derbyshire Wye — about three-quarters of a mile of double-bank day-ticket water from Upperdale Bridge to Cressbrook Mill, in scenic Monsal Dale. Wild browns, wild rainbows and grayling on classic limestone water.
Day-ticket water separate from members' water. Check current club day-ticket method rules before fishing.
Cressbrook & Litton Flyfishers' ClubMembers
Cressbrook & Litton Flyfishers' Club
Custodian of around eleven miles of premium Derbyshire Wye fly fishing from Blackwell (just below Buxton) down to Ashford in the Water. Members' water holds wild brown and rainbow trout, with a thriving grayling population on the lower beats; visitors access the club's water via the separate Monsal Dale day-ticket fishery.
Members' water by club membership; visitor access is via the Monsal Dale day ticket. Wild fishery with full-time riverkeeping.
Haddon Estate Derwent (linked access)Guide / lodge
Context, not Wye water: the Peacock/Haddon access product sells the Wye and the neighbouring River Derwent together, with about three and a half miles of Derwent available to hotel residents and guided guests.
What's coming
Plan ahead
5-day outlook
Cooler water nearby · 3
Water here at 19.1°C — the fishing's alive, but these are cooler if you'd rather rest the warm water.
River Dove
16 km
~13°C
Brown trout · Grayling
River Derwent (Derbyshire)
6.0 km
~13°C
Brown trout · Grayling
Carsington Water
15 km
~15°C
Rainbow trout · Brown trout
Gallery · 2
  1. A stone weir crossing the River Wye in wooded Monsal Dale, Derbyshire, with a footpath along the near bank
    A weir on the River Wye in Monsal Dale, Derbyshire
  2. Terrain map of the venue
    Terrain map
About this water

One of England's most iconic wild trout rivers — clear, alkaline limestone water through Bakewell, Rowsley and the Haddon Estate. Its standout claim is biological: the Derbyshire Wye holds the only confirmed self-sustaining population of spring-spawning wild rainbow trout in the UK, fishing alongside wild brown trout and a strong head of grayling. This is historic dry-fly limestone fishing in the Halford/Skues tradition — but it is not open river. The famous Haddon/Peacock water runs on a long-standing conservation regime, and access is controlled rather than casual.

  • Limestone
Water quality (WFD)
  • Ecology: Moderate
Water quality details
  • Dissolved oxygen: High
  • Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD): High
  • Ammonia (Phys-Chem): High
  • pH: High
  • Phosphate: High
  • Temperature: High

EA (England) · GB104028057820

The full read · show the working · for Rainbow Trout · confidence 80%
How the 33 is built — score × weight = contribution
Temperature54 × 28%15.1
Flow30 × 22%6.6
Clarity45 × 18%8.1
Feeding Time70 × 13%9.1
Pressure75 × 7%5.3
Insect activity48 × 12%5.8
Conditions total= 50
Can you trust it?
Water temperaturelive gauge readinggauge
Level / flowon-river gaugeobserved
Prey activitysurvey-backed invertebrate datasurvey
What would change the calculation
Cooler water — back toward the 10–18 °C ideal band — would lift the score and ease welfare.
A drop and clear would lift the flow and clarity scores.
Directions
Apple MapsGoogle Maps
Seasons & zones
  • Trout 22 March → 30 September
  • Grayling 16 June → 14 March

    Strong grayling head on clear limestone gravel. Most water is estate/club-controlled — method and access rules vary by beat.

    Prime sport 1 October → 31 December

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Booking & contacts
Clubs & associations