This complementary meet to the main Fall meet was organized after Patrick Lacchia came up with the idea that it would be a nice thing to have a spring meet to start the season and meet new people to get the connections going before things heat up in summer. The idea being backed by all members of the list, we organized this meet on June 5th, at King's Beach, Newport, Rhode Island. Luckily, the King's Beach spell that kept us from diving there during the 2001 and 2003 Fall meets did not work this time and we had more than perfect conditions: sun, calm seas, lots of fish and good visibility! Jose Fernandez who did a a shore dive got his striper, plus a large scup and tautogs. Catfish, with a broken rib (you gotta ask him why :) ), managed to get his togs, diving off his kayak. Patrick Lacchia, got togs a nice fluke. Rene Potvin, who swam to the Seal Rock from Brenton Point with Bob Cabral, got 2 35+ lbs bass 50 meters from where Tom Campbell and I were diving. Tom and I both had our limits of tautogs, which were mating and were in an extremely agressive mood with no fear whatsoever. I spent a lot of time on the offshore side of Seal Rock, diving with approximately 50 or so mating tautogs. I am used to be covered by baitfish, but being in the middle of a huge tautog school was something else. This triggered my photography instinct and the speargun went on the kayak, replaced by my underwater camera, until I saw Rene with those big bass on his belt. After taking a couple of pictures of him, I got my speargun again and started doing some 10 or so meter dives off Seal Rock, and although I saw some nice bass, I waited for a monster which never showed up! We closed the day at Aidan's as usual, with Guiness and Irish food.

Conditions:

Sunny and warm! Excellent seas with small swells, accompanied by up to 7-8 meters of visibility underwater.

Participants (in alphabetical order):

Ata Bilgili
Bob Cabral
Thomas Campbell
Ralph Cohn
Jose Fernandez
Patrick Lacchia
Olivier Paugeois
Virgil Popescu
Rene Potvin
Matt "Catfish" Richards
Soner Tunay
Atakan Yalcin

Fish Taken:

Striper, tautogs, fluke and scup.

Raffle Winners:

- Raffle is only held during the Fall meet.

Other Stories from the Meet:

- None

The following are some photographs from the meet taken by Ata Bilgili, Matt "Catfish" Richards and Patrick Lacchia.

From left to right, Olivier Paugeois and Ata Bilgili.
 

From left to right, Catfish, Bob Cabral, Jose Fernandez, Rene Potvin and Tom Campbell.
 

From left to right, Tom Campbell, Rene Potvin, Ralph Cohn, Ata Bilgili, Olivier Paugeois, Jose Fernandez, Virgil Popescu, Catfish and Bob Cabral.
 

From left to right, Tom Campbell, Patrick Lacchia, Rene Potvin, Ralph Cohn, Olivier Paugeois, Jose Fernandez, Virgil Popescu, Catfish and Bob Cabral.
 

Patrick's tautogs and fluke.
 

Jose and a tasty friend of his.
 

Jose and a larger than life scup! (nice scup nevertheless!)
 

Catfish's togs.
 

Los Tiburons (Tom Campbell, Jose Fernandez and Ata Bilgili) at Fort Getty Campground in Jamestown, RI..
 

Tom and Ata returning from the Seal Rock.
 

Catfish with a broken rib face.
 

Patrick Lacchia (left) and Olivier Paugeois (right).
 

Patrick Lacchia (left) and Ralph Cohn (right).
 

Tom Campbell.
 

Rene "The Wood Merchant" Potvin showing a finger after noone bothered to buy his cheap neoprene socks!
 

Virgil Popescu and family.
 

Catfish departing.
 

Catfish and Jose (on the right).
 

Rene Potvin with two large striped bass off Seal Rock.
 

Rene with stripers (mask off for ID proofing).
 

Soner Tunay, Ata Bilgili and Atakan Yalcin at Ft. Getty.
 

Tom Campbell, Soner Tunay and Atakan Yalcin smoked at Ft. Getty.
 

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