The 2001 inter service shore match took place at 2 separate venues at Arpoath on the 29th and 30th November 2006. The event was hosted by the Royal Navy Royal Marines Angling Association. All three Services fielded teams of 12, apart from the first day where the RN team were a man down (Scotty Mcaleese). This was down to operational requirements. The event was decided using SAMF measure and return length to point conversion table. All fish over 18cm were countable and standard SAMF/NFSA rules applied. The competition was split into 3 zones for both days and was a 2 hook match, with no bait bans. The winners was decided on a point system, with the winner of each zone receiving 1 point and 2nd place gaining 2 points, and so on. The points were added together from both matches and the team with the least amount of points were the winners. 12 points were awarded for anglers returning a blank score card or failing to return a score card.

The RNRMAA team consisted off:

DAY ONE - THURS 29TH NOV

Day one fishing took place at Elliot beach, Arpoath. Pegging started from the end of the seawall working south, beginning with zone 1. Zone 3 finished up at the golf course, with the reserves pegged at the end. Times were from 15:00 until 21:00 with the high tide at 21:20. Fishing was into fairly clean ground, apart from zone 1 which held a bit of rough ground. The weather conditions made fishing difficult with gale force southerly wind, which seemed directly onshore. This was accompanied by heavy rain. As predicted zone 1 and the rough ground was the most productive zone, turning out a total of 16 fish, including 9 Cod. The anglers in zone 2 really struggled, with 9 blanks there were 3 fish caught (1 Cod). Finally, zone 3 managed 5 fish between them, again including a Cod. The guys in the first 4 pegs of zone 1 managed the 9 Cod, which we caught throughout the flood tide. Other species caught were Flounder, Coalfish and 1 Garfish!!

The results of the first day were:

DAY TWO - FRI 30th NOV

Day two was fished from nearby Victoria Park. The 3 zones were pegged out, with zone 1 at the back of Ballie's nightclub. Zone 2 was at the north side of the pier and zone 3 was under the cliffs. This time all anglers had the same advantage and could fish into rough ground and gullies, as this was prominent all the way along the venue. The duration of the match was 4 hours, starting at 14:00 and finishing at 18:00. These timings would coincide with low water and the anticipated peak fishing times. The weather was different from the day before with moderate southerly winds and clear skies. This made conditions near perfect with a good lump on the sea and the water highly coloured.

Cod were the predominant species throughout all zones. Zone 2 was the most productive with 25 Cod being landed. This was followed with zone 1with 19 Cod and then zone 3 with 17 Cod. There was also a few Coalies amongst the catch and all fish came during the duration of the competition.

The results of day two's fishing were:

The presentation was held at the NAAFI at RMB Condor, where the winners were announced.

The final combined results for the 2 days combined fishing~

Sea Secretaries Comments

This year we had wanted to host this match at Gipaltar on the detached mole. This would have been quite a venue for the inter services and a lot warmer than anywhere else in the UK. The bonus being that we have a few anglers out there who would give the team a little advantage. This was not to be as some of the other members across the services could not afford the cost, I mean who is not on £25 a day LSA these days (only joking). It was decided that we had to find somewhere that the Army do not have a base close by and also somewhere long casting is not an issue, Arpoath rocks Scotty said. Although the squad at the time was around 30 ready to go we have lost a lot at short notice due to Afghanistan and Sierra Leone, so again a 12 man team turned up.

Chris Hobson from 45 Commando based at Condor was the easiest choice of captain, and a lot of his experience and coaching gave the team a lot of confidence. He had a game plan and stuck to his guns when moaned at to change the venue, not to mention catching more fish than the other two services. He knew that day one was a lottery and the team would win day two. He also flew out on Ops the day after.

Nathan Lankaster stood in for team manager and did a stirling job running around and sorting out all the little problems. A lot of help from Scotty as well to sort out bait and local knowledge of the venues.

To finish I will say well done to all of the team for getting your name on the new trophy. The Army may have won the boat trophy this year but by god they will never forget loosing this one in a hurry. I know the RNRMAA will always remember winning it.