Are there trade publications available to the general public

[TyroneFly]

Are there trade publications I can buy specifically related to fly fishing? I am curious as to what is the best selling fly line, rod weight, rod length, fly, and vise for example.

[J Castwell]

Even in them it is subjective.

[TyroneFly]

Interesting.

I am still interested. Do you have contact info you can pass along?

[Joe Valencic]

TyroneFly,

As JC said, what you are looking for is subjective, and more than likely will appear in a subscription magazine rather than a trade publication. I would find it hard to believe that the manufacturers would share their numbers that would appear in a trade publication. You would do better doing a phone survey of 100 fly shops, and probably get more accurate figures. Just my opinion based on absolutely no evidence whatsoever. I'm not even certain why I replied to this thread except that I'm happy to finally be back in the A/C after working outside all day. Time for cool one!

Good Luck.

Joe

[J Castwell]

Right Joe, What he is asking for is not in the trades. And they are for, 'the trades'.

[SilverMallard]

If you're looking for best SELLING, do you mean wholesale or retail sales? HUGE difference depending on when and where you decide to take data samples. The mfg's do have data on wholesale sales figures, but might not disclose. But they have no data on retail sales. Probably the very best source of data for such retail sales questions would be the credit card companies...adjusted for a margin of error due to cash and check purchases. And that sort of info costs $$$. But it DOES exist.

Actually, polling 100 fly shops isn't a bad idea if you poll the RIGHT 100 fly shops.

[kjackson]

I write for a trade magazine, and they are available to someone not in the biz for a hefty subscription fee. Having said that, what you're after is not available and doesn't really fit our (Fishing Tackle Retailer) mission. The closest we come is a "what's hot where" column that covers conventional gear. It doesn't do comparisons nor offer retail sales figures.

Currently, there are two flyfishing trade journals, and both are published somewhat sporadically with one publication just before the fly show next month and maybe one or two issues later in the year.

Keith

[TyroneFly]

I was hoping to find a source where I could find out the best selling (in terms of actual retail sales) rods, reels, line and other goodies. It is for my own self knowledge. Lots of company claim to be the best selling, I wanted to see the numbers to support that claim. I'll pass on the phone calls.

[PCRusty]

There's a give away magazine I see in a lot of fly shops. I think it's called "Fly Fish America" or something like that that has a lot of industry information in it.


Rusty <><

[Orthoman]

Fish and Fly magazine has some information in their annual Tackle and Travel Issue. This year they did kind of an independent review and rated about 34 fly rods from 14 different manufacturers. Several different editors for the magazine tried out all the rods and rated them and provided their subjective comments. Not all rod companies were represented. However, I thought is was a pretty good review and a place to start.

In the end, you are going to buy what you like and probably what is available in your local fly shop that you can try out.

Hope this partially helps.