Fellow Fishermen

Having completed my first season as Secretary, I would like to thank the faithful 'die hard' that have continue to support both the Association and myself. A special vote of thanks goes to Mne 'Mac' McFarlane, who as my right hand man and in my absence, has kept the association running in the right direction and has driven the team transport more miles than an Edy Stobbart driver! Although last season began with a small nucleus of the regular faces from RMB Stonehouse, it was pleasing to see the membership improve to a more respectable number by the end of the season. What is more satisfying is that many of the new members are young and have already shown a lot of promise for the future.

Annual Report

Spring Bank. Tavistock Trout Fishery, 23 Mar. A good start to the season and equally impressive turn out. 16 rods, many of which were newcomers, benefited from some unreasonably fine weather and even better fishing. Utilising this event as a coaching and training session proved successful, as most rods bagged up and all the newcomers came away with fish.

RM pairs. Chew 13 Apr. With quite a small turn out, most found this a hard day with few fish caught. The eventual winners were a composite team from Command Support Group and RMB Stonehouse. Seasoned campaigner Mne 'Mac' McFarlane had been giving instructions to his novice boat partner, Mne 'Tug' Wilson, when the comer caught a nice 5lb 8oz rainbow from the boils on an orange booby. Mac puts it down to good instruction, I think it was beginners luck. Either way, they won the day.

RM Open. Chew, 8 Jun. 12 anglers attended and had another difficult day on Chew. Windless and pight conditions again made the fishing hard work with the rod average just below 2. Winner of the RM Open was aother newcomer to the association, Mne 'J' Lawson from 6 ASRM. Well done J and congratulations on a successful initial season and your selection for the RN Inter Services team.

Inter Commands. Eyebrook, 6 Jul. Again 3 Cdo Bde's busy schedule and the long journey to Eyebrook made it difficult to field a team. Despite most of the team not having fished the venue before, they produced a sterling performance and were ultimately pipped into second place by Plymouth Command. As holders, having narrowly won the event the previous season with a scratch team, it was frustrating to loose especially as the margin of defeat was only an ounce. On a positive note the team had good bags including top bag (mine!) and 2 bag limits when many of the others struggled. The successful method on the day and for much of last season was a team of Diawl Bachs and a red holographic cormorant on the point, using a slow retrieve on a sink tip or 'Kelly Green' line.

Inter Services. Rutland, 11-13 Sep. Feeling honoured to have been asked to Captain the RN team, it was even more pleasing to have so many Royal Marines in contention for places in the squad. Over the last few seasons the number of 'Boot Necks' selected for the team had dwindled but during the very successful training days, all the Marines made my job easier by fishing well. Despite strong competition from many other good rods, all the Marines made the team and vindicated their selection by performing well on the day. Alas, despite a good effort, the Navy team were beaten into third place again. Hardly surprising with the quality of competition we now face from the Army and RAF and their semi-professional status. On a positive note, the margin of defeat was much narrower than the previous year and the team had a lot of younger members, which bodes well for the future.

Christmas Bank. Innis, 7 Dec. The annual end of season trip to Innis fishery lived up to its usual high expectations. It was a good turn out and especially pleasing to see a number of the associates attending (possibly due to the excellent Christmas dinner and heavy subsidy!) The fishing was excellent and the fish were in prime condition. Nearly everybody caught and several of the fish were over 5lb, the better ones falling to stalking methods with small orange fritz lures. Every one seemed to enjoy the day and agreed it should be repeated this coming season. They also took great pleasure in ridiculing me on my meagre catch. Thanks chaps!

Fixture List 2006

This season's fixture list is enclosed. I intend to continue to use the RNRMAA fixture list as a framework to build the RM fixtures around. Once you have completed the availability list please forward it to the address at the bottom of the form. I will coordinate RM fixtures but by completing the entire form it will enable me to liase with the RN Sec for squad selection. Attendance at as many of the RN fixtures as possible is important as visibility is required to be in contention for representative places and also to learn from the wider RN fly fishing community. Membership of the RNRMAA is mandatory if you wish to fish in their fixtures; however, annual subscriptions costs are quickly recouped by the subsidies offered on each outing. Early notification of availability is essential to enable the correct amounts of boats to be booked, equally, if for any reason you are unable to fish a fixture that you have signed up for it is essential, and common courtesy that you inform the fixture sponsor at the earliest opportunity to allow for reallocation or cancellation of boats. With the majority of the Bde recovering from Norway and beginning preparations for Operational deployments later in the year we are entering a busy period, which will only become more frenetic. With this in mind it is especially important to plan ahead and forward your availability returns to the Game Sec at the earliest opportunity.

Royal Marines Angling Association Game Section Membership

The dwindling number of association members and demands of Service commitments makes running an effective programme of events very difficult. We must all actively promote our sport, recruit new members and encourage any closet 'fluff chuckers' to reap the obvious benefits that come from membership of the association. A majority of the association's current members signed up for life membership several years ago. At present coordinating the association is financially cost neutral and so until further notice there will be no annual subscription charge. However, to benefit from any RN subsidies, you must be a paid up member of the RNRMAA. Ours is a small and friendly association yet continually needs new the support of new members. I urge you to publicise fixtures and welcome newcomers. By building on the success of last season, we should be able to field stronger teams in the Inter Commands and Inter Services, but the over riding aim is to improve our fishing and most importantly enjoy it!

Tight Lines.

Al Mundy