Renew "Fly Fisherman" magazine??

[philip43]

I received my 2nd notice about my subscription to Fly Fisherman magazine. My son told me that he let his subscription expire earlier this year! Lots of ads, but the stories aren't interesting. Any suggestions or tell me what magazines you all find worth the time and money. I live in the Albany area of NY. Thanks, Philip

[whatfly]

From once getting the all, I'm down to Flyfishing & Tying Journal and Fly Tyer. Might even drop Fly Tyer in the not too distant future because it seems that the editors have gotten quite lazy, and it is not nearly as good as it once was. I also like Fly Fishing & Fly Tying Magazine (UK), which is great for keeping up with what is going on across the pond, but I only buy it occasionally, because it is pretty pricey here.

[ScottP]

I let all my subscriptions - Fly Fisherman, Fly Tyer, American Angler, run out about 5 years ago. There's so much good stuff available on the interweb I don't miss them (and all the grip-and-grin, flyrod handle-in-the-mouth hero shots) at all.

Regards,
Scott

[Ed_D]

I'm not connected to any magazine other than via the newsstand, but let me speak a word for the editors. Editors can only work with the material which they receive. Yes, they can write articles, but any magazine which is consistently written by the same 4 guys is going to get stale. If you lament the quality of their articles, consider submitting better articles. I realize that writing isn't for everyone, but if a magazine doesn't get good submissions, it is darned hard to print good articles.

My hat is off to those who have done so much for FAOL over the years.


Regards,
Ed

[Longs for Cutts]

Besides people getting stuff for free online, thereby lowering pay and removing the incentive for authors to write (my pay for my last Fly Fishing & Tying Journal story was the same as a story I wrote for Missouri Game & Fish in 1999), the biggest problem IMO is that the mags all aim at the lowest common denominator. I heard somewhere that the average reader of fly fishing mags fishes less than 10 days a year. This means that magazine stories all focus on the WHERE and HOW rather than the WHY. I have made money on them, but even writing "10 BEST WHATEVER FLY" stories gets old, much less reading them. I'd much rather write essays and Me & Joe stories, but the only way to sell them and make anything is write and self-publish books, because no magazine but Gray's Sporting Journal will buy an essay/story from anyone but their staff "back page guy" except perhaps in a special issue and pay anything approaching a reasonable fee. I made a grand total of $40 off of the essays in River Characters before I self-published the book. I made about that in the past week off of e-book sales.

[philip43]

Thanks for the insightful replies. Adios Philip

[Ray]

For $20 every 2 years (less then $1 an issue) I keep mine current

[whatfly]

Have to disagree. The burden is on the EDITORS to find good material. That is their job. Not generate the articles themselves, or just passively sit by and hope someone submits a useful article, but to actively FIND innovative people to write or pair them up with writers. If they cannot, then their product will suffer and so will their readership. Fly Tyer as grown particularly poor lately in content and to all appearances, the editors have gotten lazy finding tiers to write. Granted the web is stealing a certain amount of their producers and consumers, but the written and printed word, managed by a savy editor, is still superior to anything the 'net has produced. Further by leveraging new media, a good magazine could add significant value and really distinguish itself from the field.

Sadly, the fly fishing magazines appear to just be dying the same slow death of so many other printed journals.

[fritz]

I received my 2nd notice about my subscription to Fly Fisherman magazine. My son told me that he let his subscription expire earlier this year! Lots of ads, but the stories aren't interesting. Any suggestions or tell me what magazines you all find worth the time and money. I live in the Albany area of NY. Thanks, Philip

I fully concur and am seriously considering not renewing my subscription after just receiving a 2nd notice about expiring subscription

[gmac209]

I gave up my subscriptions as well except for this one. Which is free by the way. Good articles plus embedded videos.

http://www.thenewflyfisherezine.com