Comunn ach — "the place of the confluence." Two Ayrshire rivers meet at the foot of the High Street, and we've run the fishing on both for forty years.
The River Nith and the Afton Water join within casting distance of New Cumnock itself — one of the reasons this stretch of East Ayrshire has drawn anglers for generations. We manage the double-bank beats above the town, stock and run our own hatchery, and hold the fishing rights to a loch, a reservoir, and every connecting water in between. Members and visitors both get the run of it.
Double-bank fishing along the upper stretches, from the good pools right down through the slow streams. Wild Brown Trout and quality Grayling are the mainstay, with Pike and Perch in the deeper water. Salmon and Sea Trout do run this beat — the Association simply won't allow anglers to target them until stocks recover.
Two miles north of town on the A76. Stocked regularly with hard-fighting Rainbow Trout from 1.5lb up to 8lb — heavier than most Ayrshire stillwaters will give up. Four club boats go out fly-only from April to September, and the bank fishing holds its own the rest of the year.
The upland water at the head of Glen Afton — the same glen Robert Burns wrote his way into in 1789. Wild and stocked Brown Trout, traditional fly only, wading permitted. A strict 3-fish limit applies before you're into catch-and-release for the rest of the day.
Membership and day tickets don't stop at the Nith. Access also covers the River Deuch, the River Ken, and the Afton Water itself — quieter water for anglers who'd rather find their own pool than share one.
New Cumnock takes its old name from the confluence itself — "the place of the meeting of waters." The Nith and the Afton join right at the town, which is as good an argument as any for setting up an angling club here in 1985.
475 metres, and it's been watching the water since long before there was a club to run it. Cumnock Castle once stood on this ground in the Middle Ages — now it's just the backdrop every angler on the lower beats fishes under.
"Flow gently, sweet Afton, among thy green braes."
Burns wrote his best-loved river poem after time spent up Glen Afton, where the Afton Water still runs down to meet the Nith. The Burns Cairn stands above it to this day.
This is coal country as much as fishing country. A stretch of the Nith itself was diverted for opencast mining at House of Water, with the Association sat at the table alongside SEPA and the fishery board throughout. The river still fishes well — it just took a different road to get here.
The Association runs its own trout hatchery at Garclaugh Burn, which has been stocking local waters for over 25 years — this isn't fishing on borrowed stock, it's fishing on what we've raised ourselves.
On the River Nith, that same conservation instinct means a voluntary club ban on targeting Salmon and Sea Trout until numbers recover, even though both species run the beat.
Fly, worm and spinning are all permitted across our waters. Day tickets cover Creoch Loch; a season ticket is the simplest way to fish everything else the Association holds. Get in touch with the committee for current pricing.
For boat bookings, membership enquiries, or catch reports, contact our committee representatives directly.