Ireland Gathering

[Oak]

To all the spearfishermen in Ireland.

Following some PM suggestions and also some of the general gists of conversation around the Ireland 2008 thread, I wanted to propose the first annual gathering of the community.

This would in my view be a trip somewhere where we all could stay for a couple of days (weekend), do some joint spearing and discuss common issues. First thoughts i have is that this could be organized on a yearly, rotational basis around the island, but suggestions are welcome.

Might give us the opportunity to discuss experiences, get a round of beers (or three, I am not counting after that), and in general see if we can live off our spears - a good time and some extra way to discuss our much loved sport.

Any response to this? If you find the idea interesting and doable, i would volunteer to organize the first one - if no candidates appear for other sites in IRL (I am thinking Kerry or Wexford)

have a go - what do you think?

Best

Oak

[donnachad]

Sounds good. count me in. It would have to be in the south though. Thats where all fishies are

[bass hunter]

Thats a good idea oak!
Count me in too.I go to the west/south a lot during the summer for the surf,usually over there every second week so I'll definetly be up for that.
By the way I'm gonna head out with the gun tomorrow for the first time this year unless vis is bad.If your around give me a shout.

[AegeanSeaHunter]

Hey lads

Thats a great idea.I will be in too. I will be around for the whole summer,no hols planned yet so i will be available

Kerry suits me fine since i live here but open to any suggestion.

regards

Nik

[sunfish]

I'd go for this too, especially if we could camp somewhere. Kerry or Wexford sound fine or maybe Waterford. Tramore area's rumoured to be good for bass though I don't know much else about it.

[stone_shot]

Count me in too. The estuary at Saleens near Tramore is a very fishy looking spot.

[abusingelves]

i'm in canada all summer, so won't be spearing i think.
otherwise i'd be up for this.

[Cavan AL]

Count me in too, Im a bit addicted to surfing at the mo, but theres no swell this weekend, so I'll be out for the first time this year!

About time we all got togeather, get to know eachother, I'm sure we could learn a lot and discuss any important issues.
One who blanks buys the first round!!!!!

[Oak]

Guys,

Thanks for the response and sorry for the long delay in posting. The good thing is that at least I have been able this past weekend to go and check the waters in Wexford with Togo. Milky stuff, unfortunately, but we at least got to talk a bit about spearfishing in general, and also the gathering thing.

There seems to be a concensus that this venue should be held in the South, and by this including Wexford, Waterford and Kerry. From what I have seen with Togo, Wexford seems a very fishy place for bass, with nooks and crannys, rocky shore and bays and inlets with sufficient good looks to hold all manner of fishy denizens. We will also check out Waterford in the next few weeks (Bass is off limits from the 15th May, so we have to seek deeper water nearshore to go for pollack and others).

More on the gathering:

Lodging:
There are two possibilities regarding lodging: either we look for a camping field somewhere, or we seek lodging in B&B's. We could possibily negotiate a group price if we seek B&B's, but I am not really sure given the time of year. See below on partners and siblings.

Name:
We should give a name of sorts to this venue, so that over the years, it becomes a classic. Stone shot and Sunfish seem the older guys (so to speak) here, so I would suggest that they compound their seniority in the forum to put up the first choices and eventually set up a poll on this thread on the name. In the meantime, please keep the suggestions coming, so that we can narrow them down to five or so and then launch the poll - if anything else comes to mind on this, just howl.

Dates:
IMHO, we should seek a long weekend of sorts in August-September, when the water is warmer, so the fishyness increases-it would also give us some sort of pre-winter break, that will come in very handy when all of us crawl back into our caves and hammer away for a living all accross the wintery nights. This ties in with another aspect: partners and siblings, what to do with them?

Partners and Siblings:
There might be people that do not have them, and thats fine. However, apart from the fact that some of them here are already bitten by the blue bug, I feel that one of the positive strategies here would be to include all of them, somehow. Straight up, this would make our lives easier, and tone down the eventually marring of this venue as "a weekend out with the boys". I am all for that, really, but I do not want the aggravation afterwards. Plus, I think its time to start introducing non-believers (ie, partners that think we are crazy) into the deep blue. Your thoughts on this will be appreciated.

What do you think?

Keep those ideas boiling, guys. I will pour over some maps in the meantime with Togo and anyone else that is available nearby, and we will start documenting possible places.

Lets start off a good season here - have a good sea, all of you

Oak