The Fly Fishing Magazine Industry is Dying...

[jcampbell]

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.

[Byron haugh]

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.

[Gene]

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

[mickmcco]

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.