Another One Bites the Dust

[rrt]

I just got word that "Flyfishing and Tying Journal," the Amato fly-fishing magazine, is not going to publish a summer issue and is going to cease publishing the magazine. I think, next to "Fly Fisherman," it was the oldest fly-fishing magazine. I am sad to see it go. Over the years, it published a lot of good articles, especially ones dealing with the West. It had more print than most of the magazines. I saw that over the years its circulation numbers had shrunk dramatically.

About all that's left now is what is left of FFM. "The Drake" sometimes has a good piece or two, too. TU's magazine, "Trout," often contains some good fly-fishing articles. I have seen a few slick magazines on the rack, too, but they don't seem to have much in them for the price.

There don't seem to be (m)any good fly-fishing books being printed now either. So sad. The fishing in print, as Arnold Gingrich once termed it, was/is one of the joys of fly-fishing.

Anyhow, as a dinosaur who prefers to read something printed on paper, I am going to miss FTJ, which was a quarterly magazine.

 

[raftman]

That's a bummer to hear. I had a few poems in there and thought they did a really great job including more than just the "how-to" or "destination" pieces that are often cluttered in Fly Fisherman.

The Drake is still out there, for sure. But you forgot, in my opinion, the best publication - The Fly Fish Journal. Every issue is really well laid out with incredible photography and storytelling. Fly Culture is based out of England but has writers from all over and is pretty solid.

There is also Strung and Gray's Sporting Journal. They both cover more than just fly fishing. Gray's is classic and Strung seems to be the younger/hipper version. Both worth checking out.

As a reader and writer of fly fishing / nature / outdoor content, I do wish publishers would publish more books about the sport from new / different authors. It seems like we get the same old "how-to" books or essays by John Geirach. No offense to these writers, but there are so many great outdoor writers out there with distinct voices that should be heard, but few publishers and even fewer that will go outside their comfort zone.

And if anyone knows of a publisher looking for a collection of fly fishing essays.. send them my way

 

[redietz]

There's also Fly Tyer and American Fly Fishing.

I subscribe to a very good English magazine called Fly Fishing and Fly Tying. It's a bit pricey to subscribe, but it's sometimes available here at new stands. Not only do you see articles about flies and techniques that aren't well known here, but it has product reviews that are actually reviews and not advertising copy from manufacturers. If they think something is a POS they say so.

 

[wildtrout2]

There don't seem to be (m)any good fly-fishing books being printed now either. So sad. The fishing in print, as Arnold Gingrich once termed it, was/is one of the joys of fly-fishing.

Anyhow, as a dinosaur who prefers to read something printed on paper, I am going to miss FTJ, which was a quarterly magazine.

That's why I cherish such books as The Vanishing Trout (Charles Lose), which I reread before each trout season. Takes one back to a better time, if only in imagination.

 

[Oregon_OwlII]

I really missed Fly Rod and Reel when it vanished. I thought that mag pushed some envelopes. Ted Williams' conservation pieces often took no prisoners. Sadly the print media in fly-fishing is a dying business.

 

[Oregon_OwlII]

That's a bummer to hear. I had a few poems in there and thought they did a really great job including more than just the "how-to" or "destination" pieces that are often cluttered in Fly Fisherman.

The Drake is still out there, for sure. But you forgot, in my opinion, the best publication - The Fly Fish Journal. Every issue is really well laid out with incredible photography and storytelling. Fly Culture is based out of England but has writers from all over and is pretty solid.

There is also Strung and Gray's Sporting Journal. They both cover more than just fly fishing. Gray's is classic and Strung seems to be the younger/hipper version. Both worth checking out.

As a reader and writer of fly fishing / nature / outdoor content, I do wish publishers would publish more books about the sport from new / different authors. It seems like we get the same old "how-to" books or essays by John Geirach. No offense to these writers, but there are so many great outdoor writers out there with distinct voices that should be heard, but few publishers and even fewer that will go outside their comfort zone.

And if anyone knows of a publisher looking for a collection of fly fishing essays.. send them my way

I've taken to self-publishing for the very reasons you state- the publishers seem to want how-to and where-to and to me the soul and mystique of fly-fishing are in the essays and personal stories from the journeys to the river.

 

[mtelesha]

I think the new Fly Fishing books have been great and I would state that over the last 10 years we are in a golden age of books.