Zach Matthews
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This trip turned out to be a bit slow for me; as always the opportunity to catch a bajillion smaller fish was there, but I wanted to target the big dogs. There was a touch more water running than is typical for this time of year, and I ended up expanding my horizons by running around in my boat and checking out a bunch of new water.
I did see a few bigger fish but they were super spooky. Probably indicative of a lot of fishing pressure in the areas they were in.
Zach
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
I’ve been putting my softboxes to good use (and also my table). I joke with my editor friend Katie that I have assembled a Garden & Gun Starter Kit…
Chris how do the flats boats actually get out to Australia? Do they have to ship them over by container ship?
Chris –
I am not sure how the hell I failed to open this thread until just now. Great stuff, man!! Really enjoyed it. What kind of permit are we talking about here? Is there an Indo-Pacific permit like there is an Indo-Pacific bonefish, or do they have a worldwide distribution?
A while back when I interviewed Morsie, he had noted that Australia really didn’t have the flats boat culture of the Keys or the Bahamas. But it looks like you’re on one there – is that unusual?
What is an “Aussie Special?” I know Scott makes a bunch of specialty rods for its overseas accounts (most intriguingly, a G2-dressed two-hander 8 weight for the Japanese which you can only get by re-importing).
Zach
Phil, he’s the guy for the piece I posted? Honestly that’s the coolest-looking trout sculpture I have ever seen.
Hmm. Maybe we need to invite him on the podcast…
Zach
Oh, so I did get my 9′ 5 weight Radian this week. I’m going to fish it in Arkansas – beautiful rod!
Zach
I actually loved their recent beach Jeep cover. One of the best fly fishing covers I’ve ever seen.
But yeah, not surprising.
JT –
Scott’s basically got the following product categories, historically:
Freshwater medium action trout: G, G2
Freshwater fast action: SES, E2, S3, S4, Radian
Saltwater fast action: STS, X2s, S3s, S4s
*Saltwater “lifting”: Heliply
Fiberglass: F, F2
Spey: T2h, T3h
Then they have their “downmarket” models like the Alpha series (SAS, A2, A3, A4) and the budget-oriented Spey rods (LS, LS2, L2h). Their ultra-premium M series is built on selected blanks from other rod models, while their Scott Concepts are typically re-releases of older blanks with modern resins and graphite, and one-offs like the (shockingly) popular FiberHammer. I have a Concepts Heliply 8’8″ 8 weight which is a great moderate action rod.
I may have a couple of those mixed up in terms of category and I’ll ask Ian to look them over.
Obviously right now, only the “lifting” category is unrepresented. For my part I have been hoping they would build a “Heliply 2” for several years now. The S4s is a fantastic delivery system for striper flies but it’s a mite delicate when it comes to beating around a moving canoe, bridges, logs, structure, etc. I could definitely benefit from a burlier stick even if I had to sacrifice some casting grace, which I can’t muster much of in that environment anyway.
The impetus for getting away from the “S5″ moniker was that it looked like the German SS logo. I imagine the same consideration will be in play for the S5s. S4s has also been much more popular than its predecessors, meaning Scott is unlikely to bag it just for the sake of doing something.
In the last couple cycles, the Alpha series has rebooted, as has the S3/4/Radian, as has the T2h/T3h, and the LS2 is new. I stress that I do not have any insider info on this question, but my money would be on a G3. The G2 was released in 2005 and while it has had necessary incremental updates just because supplies of resin and carbon fiber change over the years, it hasn’t been re-booted in almost a decade. The G series has a lot longer shelf life than most rods (the G2 8’8″ 5 weight has been my primary trout rod for 7 years now), but it may be time.
So my HOPE is that they’re working on an H2. My suspicion is that it’s a G3. The possibility is that they aren’t working on any new series and may indeed just be filling in the existing lines with more models (such as an 8’8” series in the Radian, possibly). The “weird” Scott lengths of 8’8″ and 8’4″ commonly went in their flagship internal-ferrule models like the G2 and Heli-ply, so that last bit may be incorrect as well.
I wanted them to release a distance stick called the District Manager with a spey brother called the Regional Manager in the Concepts series a couple years ago, but my proposal reportedly got laughed down by the reps. 🙂 I still think it’s a great idea. Hahahaha.
Zach
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
Thanks guys, this has been helpful. I am suddenly slammed with writing, which is always a good thing, but I’m running around with my hair on fire a little bit.
Which is an awesome trick without hair.
Thanks guys, this has been helpful. I am suddenly slammed with writing, which is always a good thing, but I’m running around with my hair on fire a little bit.
Which is an awesome trick without hair.
Very cool Steve! Gorgeous boat – kinda reminds me of an Au Sable boat crossed with my Gheenoe.
If you want to go for pure period accuracy I would get it, but that thing would look pretty bad ass with a removable wood poling platform on the back and a drop-in wood front casting deck. You could make them removable for the period look and just engineer some slots to hold them. The front deck would just need a front support and could rest on the seat in the rear (put a thin sheet of closed cell foam between them to protect the finish). You could even make the front deck with two front feet to communicate the load down to the hull itself.
For the rear deck I would think in terms of the Hog Island Skiff’s removable platform – you would just need a couple “flagpole-holder” slots on either side of the transom and then a place to bed down the front of the platform on the rear seat. Those could be removable with cotter pins.
Zach
Edit: like this –>
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My only experience with it was with a prototype, which was fantastic. Really, just a very responsive, firecracker of a rod. Basically just a fast action rod with everything right in the sweet spot if that makes sense.
I have a 9′ 5 weight coming this week which I hope to fish in Arkansas in a couple weekends. I’ll report back then.
Hey I should also mention our boy Jay Malyon was the one who took that photo! It was his first publication, so big congrats.
Zach
Hey Justin –
Mind sharing (via private email if necessary) where you’re launching and fishing the Gheenoe from? One of my concerns about heading to Hopedale (which is closer to me) versus Grand Isle (which I am familiar with) is that I don’t know where the Gheenoe-appropriate water is.
Thanks man,
Zach
