p.j. petiniot
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If I could spend a day fishing with one person and it could be with somebody that is no longer with us, I would choose my Aunt Patricia.
I have been fishing my entire life. I remember catching my first fish and age 3 1/2. I know that sounds impossible, but I remember the day and I asked my dad about it once and he told me that there was no way I remembered that day because “you were not even 4 yet” This topic is for another thread.
My aunt Trish was an accomplished angler in her own right. This woman was a fly fisher during a time when men were far less accepting of women on the stream. She had a very nice, very old Orvis rod that she would take to Northern Michigan and fish the Ausable, most times, by herself. This was back in the 70’s and very early 80’s.
Although I was a pretty good angler at the time, I had not yet been fully bitten by the fly fishing bug. Trish had tried to show me the finer point of fly fishing once, but I really had no interest. I found it less productive than my spinning gear.
Unfortunately, I lived 6 hours away from my Aunt and not too long after she tried to show me the light on of all the places, the banks of the Maumee river, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. We never did fish together after that day on the Maumee and I sure would like to have that day back.
I was young and really didn’t have my priorities in order in 1985, early 20’s have a tendency to do that to a man. I really thought my aunt was invincible, I thought she would be with me forever and I didn’t realize I was squandering an opportunity to share something special with someone special.
My aunt lost her battle with cancer and i have always felt that I blew it when it came to doing the right thing by her. She wasn’t married at the time and she never had kids, but she loved them. I wish I would have been wise enough to realize what one more day on your favorite river with somebody you love would have meant to Trish. She never asked to go, but if I would asked, she would have went even if she had to drag an I.V. pole with her. That I am sure of.
A day on the river with my Aunt casting a rod that I built with flies I tied for her using the skills I have acquired spending thousands of hours on the water would be the fitting end for a person who truly loved her family and the outdoors.
My aunt was an adventurous soul. She was a great angler, photographer, athlete and aunt. I believe I have inherited her adventurous spirit as both of us would go places and do things that no other family members would ever consider. Nobody else in my family would ever grab a longbow or flyrod and a pack and take off into the wilderness to see what the day has in store for me, other than Trish.
My Aunt Patricia is who I would like to spend a day on the river with, I owe her one.
Happy birthday Zach!
Your B-day is one day after my wildman 4 year old.
I’ll go out this weekend and catch you a steelhead for your birthday.
Zach,
I started using my given name on all message boards about two or three years ago.
I use to frequent a couple of “Traditional Archery
Phil,
It is bothering me that I can’t find any fly fishing magazines locally. I am now on a mission.
Phil,
I just got back from my FF magazine recon mission. I went to Barnes and Noble thinking this was the best place for me to get all of the magazines in question.
Barnes and Noble had virtually every Fly mag other than American Angler. They even had some pretty obscure titles. I found this pretty strange because I am pretty sure in my small town (about 30 miles away from my office) there use to be several places for me to pick up a copy of AA.
I did pick up 3 other Fly Fishing mags. I then went to 5 other places that I thought I could find American Angler. Not only could I not find any place that sold A.A., I couldn’t find another place in town that sold any Fly Fishing nagazines. I went to a total of 6 stores and only one sold F.F. magazines. Only 2 of these stores sold any fishing magazines. At first one might think it was a tree hugger conspiracy but there was no shortage of gun and hunting magazines.
I found this to be really strange in a central Indiana town. There is no shortage of anglers or fishing spots.
I have to go shopping for a new copy of American Angler when I get back home. I should be able to find it in my home town.
It is a sad day when I go to a store to buy a fishing magazine and there are more Tatoo magazines than fishing magazines.
Zach,
I agree with your premis to some degree. I do believe that we all think we have outgrown certain magazines for various reasons. When in fact, we most likely are looking at them with clouded glasses.
So now, in order to show I am not blowing smoke and complaining for the sake of complaining, I am going to put my money where my mouth is.
I am about to eat lunch. I will run down to Barnes and Noble and buy the lates edition of American Angler. I will also buy a copy of the magazines I really didn’t like. I never said I didn’t like AA, I merely stated that it wasn’t doing it for me anymore.
Now, I am sure I will most likely find I prefer American Angler because I always prefered it over their competition. If I find any of the types of articles I mentioned, I will e-mail the examples to Phil.
Phil can do with them as he sees fit. If he wants to discuss it here, that’s O.K. with me, if not, that’s fine too. If he wants to tell me to kiss off, that’s fine too. 😉Damn, now my big mouth is going to cost me 15 bucks :'(
Good advice Zach.
David,
Once you become a better caster and get the hang of things, you will find out that you can completely change a rod for the better and for the worse by changing lines. Many flyshops have several different lines of the same weight spooled up, laying around so you can see what works and what doesn’t
I have cast higher weight rods, I just lost my mind. Information overload and Tarpon fever. No other excuses.
Phil,
Read what I said about American Angler. I said “most of the reasons mentioned above” not all of the reasons mentioned above. To the best of my knowledge, I haven’t read what I would consider overly political editorials. They have succumbed to some of, if not most of the other items mentioned. American Angler was the first FF magazine I ever subsribed to. I read it cover to cover for years. I realized that slowly, they were losing me as a reader. I would thumb through the magazine the day I received it and then it was put down, never to be read again.
Flyfisherman and Fly Rod and Reel lost me because I didn’t like much of the editorial content.
Phil, I don’t know if you have a stake in American Angler or if you are just a loyal reader. AA and other outdoor magazines should take a look inside everynow and then. A little constructive critisism never hurt any magazine. If there is a pattern of disgruntled (I am not disgruntled as far as AA goes, just wasn’t getting what I needed) readers they should see if there is a pattern. If it is just me, oh well, they can’t please everybody.
I believe there can be a place for politics in the FF magazine industry if it is based in facts, not opinion. Everybody has their own opinion, there are only one set of facts. Isn’t that right Zach!
An example of this is: The dam situation out west. This has been turned into an evil Republican issue, when in fact, there are just as many Democrats that could be considered “Pro Dam” in the dam affected areas. I don’t think this issue is as political in nature as it has been turned into. It is a cultural and ecconomic debate. This debate has been turned into an us vrs them when in actuality, it is an us vrs us battle.
I don’t want to go off topic on a discussion about politics and dams, but this is an example of how inaccuracies and even deceit has been used to blame one political party for a problem that both major parties share enough blame to go around. I got tired of reading about it, much of it wasn’t factual.
Phil,
I am talking about 2 years ago now. I don’t believe I have purchased a copy of A.A. in at least 2 years. As far as gear stories and informational pieces on gear and such. That should be a large portion of any gear oriented sport. I just can’t stand it when a trout on the dry fly article turns into a cheap and dirty way for some guys to keep their pro-staff deals.
Zach,
You got it buddy. Two sides to every story for sure. All and all, most of my guide stories have been good.
I couldn’t be a full time guide, i’d toss somebody off the boat for sure.
I know there is a Tarpon guide that will use me as an example of what not to do for years, lol. I turned into a complete bafoon while trying to catch a tarpon. I still don’t understand it. I looked like i had never cast a fly in my life.
My first example is from a guy that showed up 3 hours late and screwed up the only fish I caught that day. It all started when the shop put the screws to us by pulling the old switcheroo on us.
I have friends that are guides and I usually spend many hours having them recount all the stupid things their clients have done in their presence. It’s a hoot for sure.
Phil,
The two examples I will use are the two that I use to read most often and actually subscribed to.
American Angler-I use to really like this magazine. It slowly became a something that did not appeal to me for at least most of the reasons I mentioned above.
Flyfisherman-I use to think this magazine was O.K., then I styarted reading editorial stuff that was more at home in “Tree Hugger’s monthly” Lot’s of B.S. articles full of name dropping, which gets old after a while.
I do like the Drake. I like it because of the great Photography and many of the stories are flat out FUNNY. I like reading stuff where the author actually seems human and a normal, decent guy. I can’t stand the stuffy, prententiousness that some authours seem to exude from their pores. The Drake has a little of this, but not much. Grey’s has a lot of this, which is why it’s not tops on my list.
For some reason, many magazines fail to realize that most anglers don’t jet around the country or the world at the drop of a hat.
Anybody that is worth spending a day or a weekend on the river with is undoubtedly an interesting soul. They are most likely funny, larger than life type of personality, quietly humble and decent while being a fishing machine, a great person that makes the world a better place ect.. An article that actually tells a story that is interesting will always suck me in. All of our fishing buddies have unique qualities that we are drawn to, that’s why we fish with them. Anglers seem to forget why they are fishing when the write a story.
I have read hunting and fishing articles that were written about trips that I was a part of and people that I have spent time afield with. Some times there were small details that would have sucked the reader in quickly if they were revealed within the contents of the story. I have come to realize this after sitting around the fire with guys, telling stories and afterwards having people say “when I read that story in X magazine, so and so never mentioned that part of the story. That was really funny or really interesting or really entertaining”
Many of the articles in question are due to the editing process. Sometimes, the real meat of the story is lost on the cutting room floor. This is why i believe that the internet will be a far superior medium, word count shouldn’t be a problem in the electronic world.
Phil,
I’ll look through many of my old magazines that are laying around. I will give you examples of the types of articles I am talking about. The, after I out an author in public, he can come on here and tell me what a jerk I am. He’ll say “why didn’t you use general terms, why did you have to single me out”
I’ll then tell him “Phil told me to” lol. 😉
LOL Nu2, that’s what I was thinking.
“you’ll never catch a fish here with that fly”
“Well, I never thought you could catch a fish here with that fly” lol
How about this one?
“I am a big, fat, lazy slug. I am un-professional and completely incompetent. I really can’t believe you hired me. I would more likely be able to guess the color of your wife’s underwear than figure out where even one fish of any size is holding anywhere on this particular river. I wish I would just drop over dead”
Well, this isn’t what the guide said to me. This is what I was thinking about the guide. Just replace the I and I am with “You” and “You are”
I let all of my FF magazine subscriptions lapse. There are a few reasons I did this.
The main reason I quit buying and subscribing is that I got real tired of the in your face political hit pieces that I was constantly being exposed to. These stories were always put forth under the guise of “environmental impact” ect…
I don’t have a problem with any outdoor magazine sounding the warning bell for relevant environmental issues. I do have a problem with having to read what a no good blankety blank G.W. Bush or W.J. Clinton did to ruin our hunting, fishing and hiking. I am really sick of politics being placed where it has no place. One of the few places I can agree with the people I generally don’t agree with politically is on the river or stream.
I have also grown weary of the in your face product placement articles that read more like infomercials for various fly fishing products.
You know the stories I am talking about; I took my super dooper rod X with matching reel Y with my new snakeskin line up stream and i was glad for the oportunity to use my new Shams waders. I would have never seen the huge, chrome hammer head if it weren’t for my Lactation Optics copper infused polar ice cap glasses.
When I read stories such as these, I keep expecting to see Billy Mays picture somewhere within the text.
When I read an article I expect to be either educated, entertained or drawn to a new place or new method of fishing. Many of the articles I read now days leave me cold. I didn’t learn anything. I wasn’t entertained and I have no desire to go to the part of the world where the trip took place.
Some of this lack of enthusiasm on my part is attributed to the fact that I have played this game for a long time. I can browse through a story and quickly determine if I want to read it. I seem to be able to separate the B.S. and the facts in short order. I have a limited amount of spare time and I don’t want to waste any of it reading sub standard fishing tales. BUT, I believe many of the anglers on sites such as “The Itinerant Angler” are more than capable of penning a quality article or two that other anglers could learn from or at least be intertained by. I am just as guilty as the rest of you, we should all take the time to submit at least one quality article per year to a magazine we feel is lacking.
I do agree with Zach as to why magazines put so much un-interesting content. It is really on un-interesting to people like me and you. There are plenty of people that enjoy the content. New anglers or the casual angler are most likely the bread and butter of the monthly magazines. Experienced, hard core anglers tend to be set in their ways and less open minded when it comes to angling. Therefore, less likely to respond favorably to the average Fly Fishing article.
I also agree with Zach on the future of the printed magazine. I think that within the next 10 years, most magazines will be a thing of the past.
Zach, Start a monthly internet magazine and I will gladly submit articles on a regular basis.
Once again, we are all part of the problem to some degree. We should do two things right away that would lead to better content in F.F. magazines. Express our dissappointment to the various editors and write some stories.
Tim,
Can’t make it over to NY for a couple of weeks. I am trying to put together a list of places to stay and eat in the regions I haven’t been to before.
I am tying up some flies and thinking about building another rod before November.
I’ll let you all know how it turns out.
Man guys,
This sounds like fun. I have been working like a dog lately and could use a few days of fishing in new places.
I don’t think I could possibly get away with this short of a notice. I’ve not been on this site, or any other lately, so I haven’t seen any posts about it until yesterday.
Dragging my camper down could be an option. If this trips turns out to be a good place, maybe we can do it again next year.
Have fun, post pictures. I’ll have to go deer hunting at home instead. 😉
Later, P.J.
