Fly Fishing in Salt Waters Folded
- This topic has 12 replies, 9 voices, and was last updated Oct 26, 2013 at 8:04 pm by
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Not really surprising. Those kinds of market-segment magazines have been dropping away over the last ten years in favor of broader-appeal photo-literary “journals” like The Drake or Fly Fish Journal or (online) This is Fly and Catch.
There just are not enough ad dollars in fly fishing right now to support even as many magazines as we have. Everyone I know has been expecting one of the major publications or another to fold for some time now. Doesn’t look like it will happen at this point but if it did no one would be surprised.
I do get a kick out of “Fly Life Magazine”‘s assertion that they and Midcurrent are the only outfits covering the salt now. I, um, had not heard of Fly Life Magazine prior to clicking that link…
Zach
Zach, FlyLife has been published in Australia since spring 1995 and is still going strong. As opposed to Fly Life Magazine which is a different entity in the US.
FlyLife has since 1995 covered some salt in every issue, maybe 30% of the content.Best Regards,
Beechy
Hey Chris –
Right – I knew I knew that name, but not in that context. FlyLife (one word) is a really solid publication. I know Morsie has written for them a bunch, and I am sure a lot of our other Down Under members as well.
Zach
That’s interesting. That was really the only saltwater only fly fishing mag out there. Guess I shouldn’t expect a refund on my subscription, huh?
They just completely redid the look of that magazine.
Man that blows. That was one of my favorites. In the last 3 issues they overhauled their whole style and I kind of figured it was the last gasp. Shame.
I actually loved their recent beach Jeep cover. One of the best fly fishing covers I’ve ever seen.
But yeah, not surprising.
Dang, my subscription goes thru 2016 or something.
I renewed this past winter for 3 years plus 1 year for a friend for $20 or something like that. Must have really been too good to be true. I’d have to get my last issue or additional renewal add out to check for sure.
Bugger! Having spent ages over the years tracking copies down in the UK I finally subscribed 3 issues ago.
Great mag and I really liked the revamped look. Agree with you Zach that the Jeep cover was great!
I’m not convinced by the online mags like Hatch which I subscribe to. I much rather have tangible print in my hand.
Sad news nevertheless.
RegardsGerard
Gerard –
I’ve been writing for magazines now for about 7 years. In that time I’ve written for just about every national fly fishing publication in the United States and one or two overseas. I’ve covered all the niches, including the salt (I actually did not write for Fly Fishing in Salt Waters, but it may have been the only one I missed on).
I’ve also written for a handful of online magazines. Generally speaking, the more “traditional” the magazine, the more likely I am to get paid.
Big outfits like Fly Fisherman and American Angler always pay, and pay fairly well. Not in any way enough to make a career of but (I feel) an amount proportional to the effort one puts in. After all, this is a hobby.
Small outfits like The Drake or Fly Fish Journal also pay, although much less and possibly up to 18 months after you turn in a piece.
Online magazines? Who knows. I’ve had what I would have considered to be solid commitments to run a piece (from a print magazine) just disappear when the publisher loses interest or the website goes away. And while the online guys talk a big game about how much they pay (I was offered $1k for a 2000 word piece one time), I have yet to actually see that money land on my desk. Only Midcurrent, which is not a magazine but an aggregator, has ever actually paid its bills on time in my experience, and that’s because its owner Marshall is a professional.
As a result of so many failed transactions, I don’t even bother to approach online magazines any more. I am sure this is true for everyone writing in the industry. I have no aversion to online work; no particular feeling that print is “better.” I just know that the professionalism standards of print are far superior based on what I have experienced. Since no one wants to sink a bunch of time into a piece that probably won’t pay (or won’t pay well), it’s rare to see any of the bigger names in writing do more than the occasional piece in an online magazine.
And while I strongly believe every fly fishing writer or potential writer has at least one or two good stories in him, to do this over and over really does take craftwork and a professional outlook. You can only write about your home water so many times, after all.
Bottom line is that every time we lose a print magazine, that’s a sad thing for the future of our little cultural niche. There’s a loss there that cannot be replaced by simply opening up yet another website.
Zach
Too bad as I really enjoy this publication.
They have been running a series of editorials on the merits of spearfishing Tarpon that offered a lot of insight into the ethics and politics of said sport.
In agreement with you on the Jeep cover shot Zach, it was a good attention grabber.Zach
Very interesting what you say. I’ve passed it on to my wife who is an editor and writer. Particularly as many of the publications she works on/edits want online mags/presence.Bizarrely my Nov/Dec FFSW copy turned up today which has pleased me no end. I really will miss it.
Regards
GerardI have always bee willing to pay for print but other than “Catch Magazine”, which is pretty inexpensive, I have never been willing to pay for an online “magazine”. Hate to see them go, I’ve been buying them off the newsstand for years.
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