The winning angling team from the first Irish Barracuda Tour selections are in France this week competing in the final stages of the spectacular three-day no-kill bass fishing competition, representing the green-isle as BJ Marine Team Ireland.
After a very challenging day of fishing from Greystones in early April, the winning team of Joe McPeake, Joe Gough and Tommy Squires were selected as the team to travel to France and compete on the BJ Marine Barracuda 7 specially commissioned for the event.
Joe McPeake has only been fishing competitively for the last number of years, however as anyone who knows Joe will know, he does nothing by halves and has already won the European Federation of Sea anglers in Ireland's boat league in 2017 and has competed in the European Championships on the Ireland team in Iceland in 2018. Joes has served as Howth Yacht Club’s Commodore and is an incredibly experienced sailor. Joe is the team captain for the competition in France.
The Barracuda fleet in France, all set for the competition
Tommy Squires has represented Ireland on a number of Irish teams including the home nations team and World Championships. Tommy has a number of medals from these competitions.
Joe Gough has represented Ireland on a number of home nation teams and has various medals to his name. Both are life long fishermen and together with Joe McPeake makes a team of serious contenders with big ambitions for taking on the 60 other French and International teams competing in the final stages.
Accompanying the team in France are David Hoctor of BJ Marine, Beneteau dealer, who organised the first Irish selections for the Barracuda tour, and Martin Kennedy of Shamrock Tackle, who sponsored the qualifiers in Greystones.
“The Barracuda range has very quickly risen in popularity to become one of the best selling boats in Ireland and Wales, more and more serious sea anglers are realising all the benefits of these boats and the range is constantly evolving. It’s really fantastic to sell this product that people are so passionate about and to have an exciting event such as the Barracuda tour. We’re very lucky to have such a great team for our first competing, the guys have been preparing at home for the last several weeks and we have come down to France of the event to get a few training sessions in local waters, the team is out on the water now with a local guide!” – David Hoctor, BJ Marine.
Organised by Beneteau, the Barracuda Tour has become the European standard in no-kill fishing competitions and now has an international following. The contenders compete against each other on an equal standing, on boats equipped with similar gear, provided by the event’s partners.
Plans are currently in underway for the next Irish qualifiers which will be held later this year to select the winning team for the 2020 Barracuda tour finals in France. Contact David Hoctor at BJ Marine for more info.
