irish angler subscribtion

not sure where to post this but decided on here.
I have subscribed to the mag after sum initial problems.soon this week will be the 28 day after subscribing but still have not recieved free gift.(mag says wait 28 days) last time i suscribed it came in a week or two. just wondering how long anyone else has waited if anybody subscribed or if you had any problems.
P.S. was told my sub would start with october issue available in shops in september but not too worried if i miss out on this issue as i only ordered a few days before it came out.
any info appreciated, thanks

not sure where to post this but decided on here.
I have subscribed to the mag after sum initial problems.soon this week will be the 28 day after subscribing but still have not received free gift.(mag says wait 28 days) last time i subscribed it came in a week or two. just wondering how long anyone else has waited if anybody subscribed or if you had any problems.
P.S. was told my sub would start with October issue available in shops in September but not too worried if i miss out on this issue as i only ordered a few days before it came out.
any info appreciated, thanks

The October issue was delivered to by house 3 weeks after it hit the shops.This is the 2nd time since March this has happened! Really pisses me off. The distributors are blaming Irish Post, but after it was 10 days late I complained to the publishers and they put one in the post from their office and I got it 7 days before the one I was to get from the distributor

anyone know when this months one will be out? have u got urs yet col?

Don't know if it's relevant but there was a thing on the radio earlier on - about A4 size mail taking literally weeks to be delivered in the Republic . Something to do with the particular handling process and staff shortages in that area .

Don't know if it's relevant but there was a thing on the radio earlier on - about A4 size mail taking literally weeks to be delivered in the Republic . Something to do with the particular handling process and staff shortages in that area .

But that doesn't explain my issue above. I complained to the publisher and the account manager put on in the post to me and I got it before my subscription. This was an A4 size also (obviously)....

nope i am still waiting for gift. subscribed on the 8th last month and havent got october issue, available in september, yet either (doubt i'll get it). :cry:
anyone gotten this months one yet?

Why bother at all, if the last few issues are any thing to go by it will be just another game mag in a few months.

got to agree to with you there the sea angling content is getting less each month.

Ahem.... why not try submitting a few words and a couple of pics to the editor and see if he's interested - say on your last trip or a review of one of the lesser known marks - or a tackle review or whatever? Or at least write to the letters page and say you'd like to see more of a focus on sea angling? Like anything else in life, you only get out what you put in.

Must admit I bought it cos Kieran has input and so I expected a more balance d magazine....but then I thought is it balanced towards the amount of game V sea anglers in Ireland or is it based on advertising - if he gets ads for sea tackle then sea articles surround the features. The only way forward with me buying it would be if there was a guaranteed format that included say tackle review, a fishing story or two, reports, tidal charts etc. For now I'll stick with SA & TSF much as I am ambivalent about them. I also get Trout & Salmon as my dad used to get it 30 years ago and I'm a bit of an old sentimentalist at heart :D
A good idea for us to submit articles nevertheless and make it "our" magazine though. Perhaps Keirans input would help on whether these are actually wanted, what format if they are wanted etc. Also is it OK to send in pictures that Gilbey hasn't taken :D :D or pontificated about.

Hi all

A while back i made contact with the editor via the web and he asked me to write a number of articles and to send them to him. He asked for three so i sent one on canal pike fishing one on big perch and one on wrasse. He acknowledged reciept of the articles on cd and reciept of all the original photos.

After three months or so there was no sign of any of them in press so i emailed him to ask if everything was ok with the articles. No reply.

Another three months and i sent two more e mails from both my e mail addresses. no reply.

Another three months and i mailed him yet again to tell him that i would appreciate him letting me know if he ever had any intention of using any of my material as i wished to send it to another mag. no reply.

Two more emails getting more and more pi**ed off. no reply. rang him and left two messages no reply.

So one day i emailed him again, and my friend also e mailed him from his account saying he had written an article on salmon fishing. Guess what? next day a reply to my friend and none to me.

At this point i was really fuming and due to this and the fact that the quality of the mag seems to keep going downhill (same old stuff every month from the same authors, on the same old subjects) last months copy of this mag is my last

Adam (aka cranky in kildare)

adam i'm in agreement with u. last month was my last. when it first was issued i was glad at the amount of content they were given to sea angling. a new shiny mag that was our answer to stop buying the terrible advertisment filled english mags. but alas a year on and no effoert has been made to keep the sea anglers interests burning in this mag.mention salmon and all that changes. pity had great potential.

There are several issues on this thread that I should, fairly, be allowed to answer.

First, subscriptions, free prizes, prizes, distribution. Yes there are still problems - one winner of the prize letter threatened legal action against me if he didn't receive his reel by return of post.

Second, content. It's all about fishing in Ireland. I like all water, fresh, salt, warm and cold. I also like any and all of the fish that live in them. But I make no bones about it, wild brown trout have got me at the moment. Isn't everyone allowed a favourite fish and method?

I balance the mag with a simple spreadsheet that mirrors the distribution of main interest groups (game 55, sea 35, coarse 10).
If you want to read a dedicated sea angling magazine, totally irrelevant to Ireland, try Total Sea Fishing or Florida Sportsman, two of my favourites.

Third, communication. It's bad with me, but a certain way to get through is to send me some good pictures. Don't be timid about your writing - that can be fixed but the pictures can't. If you're desperate to get your snaps and words into print, there's a magazine that will print your stuff quickly, as is.

I will be handing over to a new editor in the new year, who will be another all-rounder. I've enjoyed the magazine and hope it will carry on for many years to come. Even if you don't like it anymore.

I have to agree with Roger on his points here. I have be buying Sea Angler, Improve your Sea Fishing, Total Sea fishing etc etc for many years and have kept every one in date order. To get a magazine that is totally dedicated to Irish Sea angling then I would not buy any of them, reason being is that when articles are composed by non-resident writers, i.e Alan Yates, Mel Russ etc you would find very little specific information on tactics, exact area, tides etc. Sea Angler is more vague and noneducational than anything else. If you want to know what the pints tasted like and how nice the people are and how much accommodation costs I would advise buying a UK magazine. Lets face it when these guys come over here there is very little information handed out, just how well they did. Irish Angler on the other hand has home based writers who from my year of reading it are very specific and very helpful. I have learned a few things from picking it up. A lot might argue Sea Angler and other Sea specific magazines help too, maybe so, but if you were to take Sea Angler over the course of say 5 years I could not count the amount of times the same topic or same advice or same story almost came up. As far as Tackle reviews are concerned I certainly would not take the opinion of 3 or 4 anglers from Sea Angler, if I wanted a good review of a product no better place to find it than the web.

I think its very Irish of us to shoot down this magazine after such a short space of time based on the renowned bad Irish postal services and sometimes not enough Sea content. If the magazine is to survive and become a long term success I think a thread with suggestions not criticism would be more useful. Personally I think its excellent to have a magazine with home grown writers that is in the same running as some of the top UK magazines. Give it a chance.

Tight Lines,

Rob.

hi all,
i started this thread and i simply asked if anyone has also had to wait over a month to get the gift and their first issue of the magazine just so i know where i stand. I subscribed because i like the mag and the free reel also definately backed my decision to subscribe. I dont mind too much waiting a week or two over the 28 days for the gift but i just want to make sure i get what i am entitled to. I emailed the subs maneger at I.A asking about this but got no reply.
good luck,
col

Lads, personally I originally loved IA. Primarily beacause it adressed the problems I had with British mags (see above). I subscribed at their stand at the Show in Swords a few months back. I have consistently been very disappointed with the delivery (still havent got this months for example). How much of this is down to An Post I don't know because I get other mags and blurb very promptly. I also figured the scope of the articles would broadfen as the mag found its feet, got accepted, and broadened its contributing staff. I still prefer the m,ag to the alternatives but have cooled on it.

I understand Irish anglers bias towards game angling as said before by rodger from their servey they found most of the readers were game anglers. Why I've stopped buying the magazine in recent months has been I don't find the shore fishing articles of any benefit. If I buy a magzine and have not learnt at least one thing new I view it as wasted money.

I usually find Sea angler gives me this. It has some top class writers in John Holden and Alan Yates who have been decent enough to reply to my questions by email. I can't stand the articles that involve recounting jokey banter and no fishing info. THough I do like reading the adds and the adds disguised as reviews.

An example of how to make the mag better would be to give the rig making section which is done by sea angler anyway to something that only an irish angling magazine can do which is have a different experienced Irish angler each month fishing there local patch showing their rigs bait preferences and funny theories. When this is done well it grabs every ones attention.

Donagh

agree a lot with what u have said Donagh. an angler on there home patch or a mark they really like often makes for the best read! this is often where u'll find invaluable and often unconventional ways to catch fish!!

Now that we've all had a good whinge, which we love, and Roger has explained his corner, it seems to me that if we want to see more of a focus on sea angling, or more sea angling stuff (note Roger didn't say the mag couldn't grow if he got more sea angling material, particularly with decent pics - one sector doen't need to shrink to accomodate the others) then we ought to get fishing, photographing and writing.

The same way this forum works - we get out what we put in - could just as equally work for Irish angler. Ball in our court, I think.

Ball....court....methinks Sandman should subscribe to tennis forums instead :D

As I said before this could be our (Irish Sea Angler) magazine as most of us fish freshwater too.

At the end of the day he has to make his profit and as I suspected before there are more Game guys in Ireland than Sea Anglers so all he is doing is meeting his market needs.

What perhaps could be done is more of an infiltration of the magazine by stealth....even though R reads this forum....

I'll start the ball off by sending in asking for tidal information to be published monthly! - Thats a page :D

Sandman can do a conservation bit - thats another page....

K2 can do a report from the pier......perhaps a different pier each month
:D With photos of the peir and K2's pie collection we could fill the mag!
:lol:

Anyway as Sandman said - the ball is in our court