About Us

As a Club, we are run wholly by volunteers who give their time and energy to keep the Club running in a forward-looking and sustainable way. This maintains the traditions established early in the last century and maintained by a succession of anglers from the local area. It is a condition of the Club’s Constitution that full members must reside within a 20 mile radius of Newton Abbot. Many of our waters are disused clay workings which are long established as natural habitats and are unique in many ways leading to some very special fishing. Most ponds, particularly those at Rackerhayes, hold stocks of beautiful tench with 5lb being an average fish.

Most seasons see double figure fish landed and many in the 7lb+ bracket are quite commonplace. Bream are also popular fish and once again many 7lb+ fish are taken each year. Carp are well established and are a popular quarry with plenty of 20lb+ fish available to most anglers who are crafty enough to winkle them out.

The Committee endeavor to cater for all branches of coarse fishing and manage and maintain the fisheries in their own time. There is a thriving match and junior section. You can find fixture lists on the Match pages on this site. The junior section is popular and the Club was the first angling club to achieve Clubmark status in Devon and Cornwall. This accredits the tuition and courses offered as meeting the highest national standards. The Club has had excellent backing from the Environment Agency and Angling Trust in developing platforms and walkways on Wheel pond where most junior activities take place.

Please note Newton Abbot is now an eel friendly club so for news on what this means click on the button on this page. Our waters contain some real monsters and we are keen to preserve them and their offspring for the future and fish to 5lb+ commonly fall to angler’s baits each summer

Thinking of joining? See our Membership page for more details. Or just come along to one of our fun family events.

Formal records of Newton Abbot Fishing Association date back to the early part of the 20th Century. The Devon and Exeter Gazzette recorded the inaugural meeting of Newton Abbot Fishing Association on the 16th July 1926.  WJV Watts of Watts Blake and Bearne Clay Company was elected president. NAFA acquired the rights to fish the Zitherixon complex now known as Rackerhayes and Preston Ponds. All of the ponds were old clay pits leased to the club by the land owners Watts Blake and Bearne. The people of Kingsteignton and Newton Abbot have been enjoying the local fishing for nearly 100 years. This is thanks to the numerous volunteers over the years and the excellent relationships with the original landlords WBB and the more recent landlords Sibelco.

The ponds became synonymous with tench and are considered to be some of the premier tench waters in the South West. Carp were introduced from approximately the 1940s but as was the norm then considered to be uncatchable. There were many stories of anglers being “smashed up” by the mythical carp. By the 1970s the carp fishing was excellent and Rackerhayes began to develop a reputation as the best carp water in the South West.

Over the years the association acquired the rights to another former clay pit at Bovey Tracey called Bradley Pond and also Wapperwell Pond on the Clifford’s estate at Ugbrooke.

The Association continues to thrive with approximately 900 members