The Fly Fishing Magazine Industry is Dying...

The spring issue of Fly Rod & Reel, the only print magazine I read regularly and to which the shop subscribes besides the FFF and TU publications, was the last. Greg Thomas, the editor, talks about it here.

Today, I got an email from a magazine to which I contribute one or two articles a year noting dramatically reduced pay rates, that they were cutting page counts in the magazine, etc. etc. I have not been paid for a story that appeared in the Fall 2016 issue, and I'm now starting to doubt I will be. I bet they don't last another year.

I don't really have much else to say except that this is a sad state of affairs..

Not only is the print industry in trouble but the online industry [fly fishing magazine] are in trouble. First, no one reads anything. If they need specific information, say a fly pattern, they simply have to look it up on the Internet. If FAOL depended on subscriptions or advertisers I doubt that we would still be online.

It is trending down for certain. It is sad to see publishers drop.

The internet, while a wonderful vehicle for the distribution of information, is the devil when it comes to print media of any kind. There are still a few of us old f*rts who would rather hold a book in their hand than a kindle, but I hate to see what will happen when we're all gone.

Sadly, print magazines of most all genres have become not much more than advertising blurbs. The editor of a gun magazine I used to write for recently told me that he couldn't devote space to "human interest" pieces; the space was too valuable (read, "for advertising"). A few years ago I was interviewing for a position as the advertising manager for a start up sports-related magazine. I asked what their circulation was, and the owner said, "Magazines don't make money from subscriptions, they make it from advertising." When I asked who was going to pay to advertise in a magazine if nobody was reading it, I just got kind of a blank stare.

I hate the trend as much as anybody, but I don't see it changing.

People get there info the quickest and easiest way now, whichever suits them. I used to get every fly fishing publication there is, now I get none. Just about everything is a rehash of an old subject. I am sorry to see the demise, I have the first copy of Fly Fisherman, Rod and Reel before it was Fly Rod and Reel, probably others too. You see the same problems with today's news print, some of our oldest newspapers are struggling too.

Gene

I certainly miss the salt water mags. How many get thisisfly online?

I used to read gun magazines then they all became the same, either it was AR15 or 1911 or Tacticool crud. Never a bad review and often a review where the person was at some hunt paid for by the gun company whose product they were reviewing. Now if I want to know about a certain firearm, I go two a couple of boards I frequent or over to youtube and watch some reviews. Were I in the market for fly gear, I would ask here, Im sure I would get more information and better suggestions than I would from any paper magazine. and I don't have to pay $10 for the privilege of reading a bunch of advertisements disguised as articles. .

The reason I stopped subscribing and then even buying Fly Fishing magazines is that I got tired of reading articles about places I have no chance of ever fishing. 12 page articles of fishing in Mongolia for a fish that only marginally resembles a trout interest me not in the least. The only magazine I follow is an online one called Southern Trout. Besides the articles being about areas I may (and have) fish, even the ads are also relevant to me. They even have an Ozark edition and being that is where I go when I want "an adventure", the magazine is much more interesting, at least in my opinion.

Southern Trout

Seems they are following what happened to the Warmwater Flyfishing magazine.
It died because the editors said that the advertizers said that warmwater fly fishers did not buy any equipment or tying materials.
Seems that readers do not drive the publications anymore.

Rick

Evolution.
We are witnessing the process even if it does take hundreds of years to complete. Back in the Middle Ages, about the only way people knew what was going on were from what the travelling merchants and the story tellers of the travelling fairs had to report.


Then someone came up with a printing press and that progressed into newspapers, magazines and books. Once people actually learned to read they could find out what was happening in the world within a reasonable time of the occurrence.


Along came the telegraph and we had almost instantaneous transmission of data so people could print it in newspapers for the populace to read.


Hang onto your seats, along came the radio. Wow, virtually instant transmissions of world events, including the War of the Worlds. Heck many people believed that because it was on the radio.


Newspapers actually started their slow demise when radio came out and then the TV was invented and that also kept the demise of newspapers going, plus magazines started faltering, but books kept going.


The next catalyst of course was the computer and the creation of the internet and WiFi. Not only were the majority of people not reading the newspapers anymore but the printed word became greatly at risk. Magazines started getting dropped like crazy and now the even books are becoming a dying form of entertainment. Kindle and the others like it have just about caused that industry to cease.


This all makes me wonder, just what does the future hold for us? What fantastic inventions will they come up with?


However, none of these things have stopped the feeling of casting a fly line, laying down the fly upon the water and seeing a fish come for the take. Sure we have better equipment now than they did going back hundreds of years, or thousands, but that same feeling of the cast and the take still lives on.


Larry ---sagefisher---

Had subscriptions to Fly Fisherman, American Angler, and Fly Tyer for years; let my last one, to Fly Tyer, run out in 2009. Got tired of all the long-armed grip-and-grin shots and formulaic stories; with all the info available on the interweb, especially in the realm of tying where lots of talented folks share their work, the magazines became superfluous. I do treasure my stash of print, especially Nick Lyons' articles in Fly Fisherman and all the old patterns from the 80s-90s that the fish haven't seen in a while (and still work quite well), but have no need or desire to page thru the stuff on the news stands any more. Just my $.02

Regards,
Scott

Recently received a letter offering a 2 years subscription for $12.00 to a fly fishing magazine haven't subscribed to for years. With hundreds of past issues of fly fishing magazines on the bookshelves, most of which went out of publication somewhere in the middle of paid subscription started when the magazine first started in the last century & then sending or offering a substitute; will probably just go back to the piles of research materials instead of adding to it or fly fish on the internet for reading content.

One of my old standbys for years and years was Field & Stream. Would read it cover to cover, even cut some articles out and stick 'em in a folder for future reference. But that publication has suffered all the ills of what has already been posted here.

Some time back, after I had quit renewing the subscription, on some talk show - and I can't remember which one it was, there was some guy being interviewed, who was once a sports magazine article writer. And he said he never hunted or was into fishing, but he would research a subject and write articles .... and the magazines would buy the articles! Talk about a crushing blow to your outdoor know-how ego! As my older brother always use to caution me saying, "we live in a world of B.S." (And he didn't mean brown sugar).

Right on Larry.....sagefisher!
The tug IS the drug......the rest is just fluff.
....lee s.

The only one I look forward to is Flyfishing & Tying Journal by Amato Pub. I enjoy the articles by Dave Hughes and Al Ritt, and there is usually a couple other interesting articles and writers (Dave Whitlock, Harry Murray, some guy named Walter Weise :)). Recently there was an in depth article on different types of thread and their characteristics, complete with a chart comparing each brand as to whether it was twisted, waxed, would flatten on the hook, was splitable, etc. I found that pretty cool. I learned of the mag, like so many other things, on this site (they are a sponsor here). It's not as cheap as some, but it hangs around and gets re-read, while the others seemed to end up in the recycling bin after a quick 5 minute read.

I think part of the fault in this situation has to fall upon the retail outlets themselves. I live in the once conservative south. Yes it is drastically changing as we drown in transplanted northerners. They have changed the entire atmosphere of my community. The local Books a Million used to have a fishing section that filled a 10 foot section of the mag wall. That section has been pushed into a 4 foot corner by periodicals covering 'how to select pretend football teams', the joys of cannibis, tattoo's and the celebration of a minority group now becoming the majority by right. What little is left to the fishing periodocals is purposely altered by Books a Million itself and/or its store management. We are 20 minutes from Boca Grande, the one time Tarpon capitol. Instead of magazines on saltwater or bass fishing, they insist on stocking magazines on Pike and Pacific Salmon fishing and fly fishing magazines apparently written by skateboarders more interested in turning the fly into graffitti. When I ask them why and could they please get me a particular periodical, the answer from management is a simple, no. Corporate won't even return an email they are so uninterested in my demographic.

I believe I saw a post on Face Book By Bob White ( he illustrates John Gierach's column) that the magazine was done at the end of this year. I t is a shame that the FF print industry started to down size the actual magazines about 12 or 13 years ago. I have older copies of FR&R and flyfisherman magazines from 80's, 90's and up to about 2010 after about 2006 the magazine was about 15-18 pages less and there seemed to be far more destination pieces than anything else. the other issue I saw was rehashing the same old subjects just by different authors. it's too bad there used to be some good info in them. You also knew who the story authors were , now you read blogs on line and I often wonder if these guys actually fish or are they just keyboard jockies - kind of had my suspicion confrimed last year when we had a "famous" local blogger come into the shop for some tying stuff we just happened to be doing a tying class int he back we invited him to sit in and give some ideas at we were tying up Euro nymphs his supposed specialty- long story short don't think the guy had actually ever tied many flies as he struggled with just basic stuff - not saying they all are like this but I take most of what I have read with the proverbial grain of salt
steve

I agree with most of what is said in the posts above...

Funny though. My son who lives in Santiago, Chile is starved for fly fishing magazines as none are available around him.
He picked up about 6-8 different current issues of various magazines at the shops while in West Yellowstone to take home.

Even one on Northwest Fly Fishing!

We need a remake of "A River Runs Through It" to reignite the interest!!!!!

After that movie, the rivers got more crowded than ever

Judging from the constant parade of unskilled fishermen wading past my house this year we don't need to do anything to increase participation in our sport:-) It's alive and, I guess, well.

I quit purchasing subscriptions to Fly Fisherman magazine and other mags off the shelf a number of years ago. The offerings changed focus and there were (are) so many more timely and focused on-line materials.

Lots of us are nostalgic about our past comfort food type of materials. But, if the demand were there, these magazines would be alive and well.

Times change and the market responds to the consumers' demands.

Most of us are quite nostalgic about the 57 Chevy's. My parents had one. It didn't ride smoothly. No seat belts or air bags. Got bad mileage. Don't think it had air conditioning. Only had an AM radio. Lucky if you approached anywhere near 100K miles. Would be hard to sell to the masses today, I believe.

Strange but the other day I stopped in a large book store that has a huge magazine rack. What I found was many new fly fishing magazines with to me strange names. F. F. In Kayaks, F.F. in Canoes, F.F. in Ponds, a couple of these are fictitious but you get the idea. I think the industry is so watered down people do not know where to turn. So much redundancy and most are not worth the effort. One thing about all of them though they sure know how to attract your attention with there covers, make it seem like there is so much info in them, when in fact the mag leaves you short.

Gene

Bob White and John Gierach have been picked up by Trout magazine (from Trout Unlimited), which is a growing publication, in both readership and ad pages. TU's Trout Media VP Kirk Deeter (formerly at Field and Stream) says he hopes to pick up other writers as well. TU's Rocky Mountain Communications Director is Brett Prettyman, who for over 20 years wrote the outdoor column for the Salt Lake Tribune.