The River Taw

The River Taw is fortunate in having two main sources, the Taw itself which rises on Dartmoor and the Mole and Bray which rise on Exmoor. The river is often referred to as being in three main sections.

The Lower Taw below Junction Pool

The Upper Taw above Junction Pool

The Mole and Bray above Junction Pool

As a spate river the Taw responds quickly to rainfall producing rapid rises and falls in river levels.

Throughout its length the fishing is owned by riparian owners, clubs, syndicates and hotels. Some of the fishing is run on a commercial basis which means that rods are available on a season or day basis for local or visiting fishermen.

While the Taw’s salmon and sea trout fishing gives the river its reputation, there is also good brown trout fishing, especially on the upper reaches of the system. Like any major salmon and sea trout river in the United Kingdom catches do not compare to the halcyon days of the 1920s and 30s. However, given the right conditions, basically sufficient rainfall, the river continues to fish well through the season. When salmon stop taking it is possible to fish on into the night for sea trout for which the Taw is rightly famous with the complete spectrum from 1lb peal up to double figure fish.

River heights measured at the Environment Agency’s monitoring stations can be accessed on the EA Gauges page of this website or alternatively go to the EA’s site, www.environment-agency.gov.uk, and then follow the links to river levels.

Tide conditions, times and heights can be found at easytide.ukho.gov.uk

For Devon area weather forecasts go to www.metoffice.gov.uk or www.metcheck.com

Important contact numbers for reporting any serious environmental incident such as illegal fishing, pollution, poaching, or fish in distress is the Environmental Agency Incident Hotline 0800 807060 for the river and the IFCA Incident Hotline 07740 175479 for the estuary.