After yesterdays post about spot burning I started to think how the sources of fishing information have changed with technology. Do you remember when your favorite magazine was "the source" of information and entertainment? How long ago was that? How about the Fly Fisherman Magazine, Fly Fishing in Saltwater Magazine, and Field and Stream. You could get them delivered or pick them up at your local store or remember, book stores?
Like newspapaers and other well-known magazines fishing magazines, particluarly fly fishing magazines, have morphed into a primary digital market, if they have even survived at all. The ones that have survived, or started when the market changed, are table top display works of art. The images are fantastic, and I am sure is the content. I have seen these range from, give or take, $8-$15 an issue.
But when you want content that is mostly local where do you go. I remember my days chasing the stocking trucks around New Jersey. The Fishmerman Magazine was one of the local sources of solid , and entertaining information. I also bought and through the sections of the newspapers like The Star Ledger, The Asbury Park Press, and The Press of Atlantic City who had writers who were in the know of various New Jersey fisheries.
These days when I go into WaWa, my preferred coffee stop, and I look over to the barren newspaper shelf, I often see On the Water and The Fisherman Magazine. Both I have contributed to, and been paid by, over the years. I've never been a consistent provider of content, but have both written articles and provided images. One of the best uses of one of my images was the cover of OTW in Sepetember 2018. That was a pic from an outing in Montauk I had with Andrew Hamilton and a few of his buds. OTW really does a nice job with the cover art, and their color match of the copy and images is some of the best I've seen. The Fisherman over the years has stepped up their quality as well, going from a paper cover to one that has a lustre finish.
One of my complaints of these magazines is this. They both run regional editions. When I buy a "New Jersey" edition I want stories about our local fishery. What you may find, after you get sucked in by the cover, are stories about bass in the Cape Cod Canal, wintering over bass in the Connecticut Rivers, and trout fishing in Long Island. It's all good, but I really don't care. One issue of OTW had ex-Jersey girl and awesome fly fisherwoman Morgan Mattioli feathured on the New Jersey edition, but the image was taken from her up in Massachusetts, and I called fake news.
With my fly tying area now located out of the basement I have started to organize it into a place to hang out. The other day I picked up the latest issue of TFM becasue I saw an article by Captain Jim Freda about winter bass fishing and the, maybe, herring bite. I have followed Jim, not in stalking way, at the shows and in print. He is both a solid Captain and writer. Throughout the magazines
you'll run through pages of ads from usually spinning and boat manufacturers. I know they have to pay the bills so no complaints here. As I flipped though I thoroiughly enjoyed reading the latest reports section. That's what brought me back to 40 years ago. Then, places like The Flat Brook and Musconetcong where far, and more like a destination trip then just a local watering hole. As the years and my fishing quest, at that time mostly for trout, developed I put my time into the Upper Delaware fisheries, so my need for TFM disapated.
This year I returned to Essex County College and started my career, yet another, now in academia. Wow, how things have changed. When I went there in the early 1990's you signed up for a class, had a Professor, read from a textbook, and took a test generated from the teacher's brain. These days the sources of information is a lot, overwhelming, and not always better than the single-stream like it used to be. There's the teacher, the book, which you may or may not seen really used, online content, videos, powerpoint, and exams taken from test banks where you are sworn to secrecy to access. It's all sad to me, I have realized I am a dinosaur now as I get older. Technology has changed or killed so many things, and I'll circle back to the journals that feed our passion for fishing.
When the kids were asking me for ideas for something under the tree I sent out this. It's only fair that I throw my hat and money into the ring. I enjoy watching Jim Hutchinson's weekly fishing report videos and picking up an issue from time to time. But maybe the best thing would be to travel back into time, from time to time, anticiapting when the mail carrier, would roll up nd stuff that magazine into the box along with all the other junk mail we used to get. I hope the magzine is all rolled up and torn, just liked in used to be.