Newton Farm Trout Fishery is a small stillwater, just to the south of the village or Wormit on the southside of the Tay Estuary. It has gin clear water and an average depth of around 6 metres.
Getting to Newton Farm Trout Fishery
Probably the biggest challenge you will have with this small stillwater, is actually finding the place. If you go to Newton Farm with Sat Nav by Post code you will likely find yourself in the centre of Wormit outside the local Spar grocery store. (seriously!)
Likewise, search for it on Google Maps OR via the Fishery Facebook page, and link on to directions, you will also find yourself in Wormit. It isn’t in the village, in fact it’s about a mile and a half outside to the South of the village. If you take my advice you should not even need to come near Wormit unless you live there!. Access is easiest from the main A92.
If coming from St Andrews or Dundee watch for a sign on the right That says Moffat and Williamson and take the road turning here, to lead right to the fishery. If coming from Edinburgh, Glasgow or Stirling the same applies but if you miss the sign and hit the big roundabout (Five Roads Roundabout) you have gone too far, just go right round and follow the instructions above.
Note: I asked Google to edit the location of the fishery in the maps application today, and it was accepted however this evening it still shows as being in the wrong place. Not sure how long edits take to work through. STOP PRESS: Google Maps now shows it in the right place. Yaay!
Access
Once you know where it is it isn’t hard to find. Why they have not had the location of the fishery updated on Google Maps before now I can only guess. I wonder how many people have had my experience ( I was in and out of Wormit twice and had to stop a local to eventually learn where it is- I wasted 25 minutes trying to find it). And there isn’t a sign anywhere! How bizarre. Would it be that hard? I did mention this to the guy at the lodge today and he said there was some cost issue with the council wanting a few hundred pounds for a sign. Seems reasonable enough to me, I can’t imagine that’s going to break the bank? Once you do find the road in ( easy when you know how) it’s a bit rough so take your time if in a low slung car as there are a few potholes, on the track to the car park but it’s OK really.
Public Transport
I am giving it a four because while it doesn’t appear to be “directly” on a bus route, it’s only about a mile from a bus stop so you could walk to the fishery from the bus stop just to the north on Kilmany Road , B946. You could also get here from the train station at Leuchars by calling a local taxi probably, though maybe some of the buses that stop here come to Wormit.
Details
Contact: 07801 884811
Species: Rainbow Trout, Blue Trout and Brown Trout
Newton Farm Trout Fishery Lodge bank 
Newton Farm Trout Fishery South West end 
Newton Farm Trout Fishery North East end
Newton Farm Trout Fishery is I understand about 5 Acres and sits in a pleasant setting amid cultivated grass, trees and big borders of rushes and reeds. In terms of the setting it isn’t terribly different to Swanswater or Orchill as a natural-looking small stillwater. It has some very clear water, I imagine it is spring fed and seems to be fairly shallow throughout.
On my visit, there was quite a lot of marginal weed and some areas seemed totally blanketed in the stuff, probably not surprising given the time of year and the clarity and depth of water. I could see that work had been done to remove some weed as it was lying in piles on the North East bank. However, I reckon about 20% of the surface area was too weedy to fish, though I am unsure what depth this water would be in more clear times like winter. So it might be they aren’t normally fishable anyway, I am not sure.
The fishery does not allow boobies or egg patterns or any of the more dubious forms of “fly fishing”, such as fly spoons etc.
The fish are supplied by the top quality supplier at Westmill.
The pond is an irregular oval shape and has some sort of island structure in the middle that separates the two main halves. I was looking at an old satellite view overhead image and I think maybe the island was maybe more prominent than it now is, in the past. It has a bridge out to it but I think it was blocked off to stop people venturing out. It looks like maybe it has eroded away or the structure has maybe sunk a little and become waterlogged. The water though is a good depth almost right into the bank in most places so you will see fish very close in….they will also see you unless you adopt a stealthy approach! There is plenty of casting space in most areas despite there being trees and bushes around the water. The balance is about right between what’s practical for fishing and what looks natural.
Facilities
There is a wooden cabin on site that serves as a lodge for purchasing tickets, fishery info etc. I think you can get tea and coffee here though no one mentioned it. I think there is a small selection of tackle available and I did notice they sell a small range of fly tying materials. Signage generally on the way to the fishery and once there, is pretty poor. The only exception being the car parking area. I wasn’t entirely sure where to purchase a ticket on arrival and had to go on a recce to work it out! There are about 2 dozen fishing pegs and I observed they don’t have bins available.
Value for Money:
Prices seem to be pretty standard, though like I said above in facilities, I didn’t see any explicit signage. I think the prices were written up on a whiteboard in the lodge but I didn’t take in the full range. I paid £17 for 6 hours C&R and I think a 8 hour take ticket was about £25. The fish stocked do seem pretty good quality and there are some lumps cruising the margin so you have a good chance of catching a big fish.
Website
None: Like signage, it seems the fishery is “their little secret”. I was recommended to try the place by some of the guys that frequent my Facebook page and trying to find information was a struggle. There is a Newton Farm Trout Fishery facebook page but it is mostly other folks’ reviews and posts of catches. Not any real solid information of the offering.
When you can have a website and domain for literally a few pounds a year, I am bewildered why in the 21st century any business forgoes one even if just a single page of useful info, prices, directions, hours of opening for example.
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Newtonfarmtroutfishery/
Personal Opinion
I am kind of torn with this review. On one hand, I want to give the place top marks, the waters are gin clear ( not common in Scotland) it is clearly well-stocked, and there are some lumps swimming around, all high-quality fish that will put a smile on your face. The grounds around the ponds are well manicured and while there was a lot of weed around, at the time of my visit in shallow clear waters, that’s not really a surprise and it was clear they do tackle it by the piles of removed weed on one bank that I could see. Weed isn’t all bad as it provides both shelter for fish and habitat for aquatic life so you do want some. The fishery is clearly very popular as when I arrived on a less than perfect day ( at times it was very unpleasant weather-wise) the fishery was pretty full.
In a digital age
However, on the flip side, it seems it is almost a closely guarded secret trying to find out about the place. No website and the details on their facebook page is sparse. Finally, on the “digital” front, the location in google maps was incorrect. I just checked it again this morning and finally, it shows in the right place after my edit request to Google ( you can thank me later). Why though, they have not addressed this before now I cannot say, it isn’t like Google maps is new!
A few gremlins
On the fishery grounds themselves, while mostly clean and tidy I did notice a few dead fish around. ( on the bank) I would speculate these are the result of predation ( maybe Otters?) and thought it odd they weren’t cleaned up as they will only attract vermin and scavengers.
Also the lack of bins I think is one of my pet peeves. I have mentioned it before. In an ideal world, responsible adults would pick up their own waste and take it either to the lodge to dispose of ( I assume it does have a bin) or take it home. However, some folk can’t be grown-ups and leave their rubbish behind them or drop their offcuts of tangled leader material where they encountered the issue. There were signs of this at Newton and I personally would like to see a few bins in places that leave anglers with no excuse as to what to do with waste. Arguably some kind of small shelter would be handy at the backside of the pond for times when the rain gets too much to withstand ( especially if you have no waterproof clothing). There were a few rather wet looking anglers when I was there not having full waterproofs on. You could on this occasion find shelter under the trees if you needed to.
Other than that
Other than these small points though I had an enjoyable day in conditions that were at times rather grim, and if I found myself in the area again with a spare few hours and a fishing rod to hand would revisit, especially to catch one of those big lumps swimming around in gin clear water.
There was a guy going around who I suspect might have been the owner and while he never spoke to me, he was out to a couple of guys who I think were beginners, a few times, trying to help them out and offer advice. That’s a good thing, I think when folk are starting out they usually appreciate a wee bit guidance as it isn’t the easiest sport to get into.
