Limestone · Peak District / Derbyshire

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.

Marginal · Brown Trout
Greenwell's Glory · 16-18
Marginallive now
Slow going — pick your moments
River temperature is the limiting factor today, not the flow. Fish dawn or dusk if you go at all, and handle everything with extra care.
80% confidence
What moved it
  • Level0.28 mDropping in the last 6h
  • Water temp20.0°C
  • ClarityClear
Today's fly
Greenwell's Glory
Greenwell's Glory16-18
Upstream dry, on top
Conditions on the water
Live gauge
Level
Steady
0.28 m
Dropping in the last 6h
Water temp20.0°C
ClarityClear
Weather22°C
WindNW 13 km/h
Pressure1027 hPa
Rain · recent0.0 mm
Rain · ahead0.1 mm

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

Water temperature for Brown Trout
Warm — slow
20°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 20°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 5pm

Hatch predictions

Today's headline hatch shown — see all 5 active hatches hour by hour with Pro.

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Sub-surface · on the nymphunder the surface

Hatch predictions

See the full sub-surface read with Pro.

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Beyond the hatch · worth watchingambient prey

Hatch predictions

Top prey shown — see all 3 with Pro.

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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
Grayling seasonSeason
2
2
1
1
2
2
2
2
2
2
Daddy Long LegsHatch
2
3
2
GrannomHatch
2
2
Evening SedgeHatch
2
3
3
3
2
Large Dark OliveHatch
1
2
2
1

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

Ranked for today
Brown Trout fly box
Gammarus Scud (Olive)
Gammarus Scud (Olive)
12-16 · Gammarus Scud
Dead-drift, sub-surface
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
Water here around 20°C. Nothing cooler within range — carry a thermometer.
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
The full read · show the working · for Brown Trout · confidence 80%
How the 28 is built — score × weight = contribution
Temperature25 × 28%7.0
Flow80 × 22%17.6
Clarity95 × 18%17.1
Feeding Time55 × 13%7.2
Pressure80 × 7%5.6
Insect activity65 × 12%7.8
Conditions total= 62
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.
The dawn and dusk windows score higher than the midday lull.
Directions
Apple MapsGoogle Maps
Seasons & zones
  • Trout22 March → 30 September
  • Grayling16 June → 14 March

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

Related guides
Grayling Playbookgrayling tacticsTrout Near Londonaccess guideEuro Nymphingsubsurface methods
Booking & contacts