What would you like of an angling weekly?

[awaaar]

I'm with Chesters1 - free beer, I would also like to see naked women fishing...

 

not much to ask for.....

[Casey]

Vagabond

quote:

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I do occasionally look at one though, say at a friends house, or in the local clubhouse.

Can't see any reason to start buying them again.

---

Neither can I, we'll all go round to your friend's house.

[Jim Gibbinson]

Last autumn I visited Elphick's Fishery (Kent) - not to fish, just to look. It was a weekend. There are about six lakes in a line - Astroturf paths, Astroturf swims. Brollies as far as the eye could see - there were hundreds fishing.

 

I then visited the nearby River Teise. A pretty stretch of club water - not a soul there. A visit to the River Beult - another club water - two anglers fishing near the car park.

 

That's why AT and AM cater for anglers who fish commercial fisheries - because that's where the buying punters go.

 

In an ideal world, I'd like to see weeklies that are less brash and hyped, and more closely reflected my sort of fishing. But such publications wouldn't sell. AT and AM offer little that appeals to me, so I don't buy them. If I visit my brother or son, and I see a copy lying around, I scan through it - occasionally, in truth, I see something of interest, but not enough to persuade me to buy them.

 

I acknowledge, though, that Editors have little choice - they have to produce publications that will sell as many as possible. Given that criterion, I think they pruduce the best publications they can.

[awaaar]

hmmm how about naked women, drinking beer, whilst fishing?.....

 

is that too much to ask for?...I understand the logistics of free beer may be tricky...

[waterman1013]

Anything that does not treat every story as the Sun would!

 

Anything that reported the news.

 

Anything that covered all aspects of angling, coarse, game and sea.

 

Anything that helped anglers further than reviewing the latest tackle and educated about structure, water habitats, etc.

 

Anything like I remember AT used to be in the fifties, when writers could write, when journalists hunted out the story and did not expect a press release to tell them all, when Tom Williams enthralled me with his Tales of a River, when Walker and Taylor could transport me to the river bank with their writing. Blimey, I must be getting old!!

 

When commentators did not just shoot from the hip but actually asked questions before writing c**p.

 

Oh, yes, and I would like a FACT page and the people, with time available, to brief fully the media to tell them and the angling world just how much work goes on in the background. We may yet get there, in spite of the adverse comments I have been reading on AnglersNet.

 

Mike

[A Worm OOE]

I have to agree with Jim G on this one. The Weekly papers (and for that matter the Monthly mags) are produced to survive. To do that they concentrate on the type of fishing that the majority indulge in. The content is presented it in a way that the majority are used to seeing ie tabloid style and they follow the celebrity just like most of our current media other sports and passtime.

My one critisism is that no one has come up with a niche magazine for the rest of us, a magazine with some litterary content and informed in depth analysis. The only publication that seems to come neer this is Trout and Salmon.

 

With regard the tackle review issue I again have some sympathy as I cant remember the last time I bought a piece of kit that was genuinely not fit for the job. In my expierience the only time I am disapointed in a piece of tackle is with regard value for money. It is often possible to buy cheep kit that knocks the socks of of more expensive kit.

[waterman1013]

When I first came back to angling, after the children had grown up, I picked up Carp World, not because I was a carp angler but because Jim G was writing in it then, as he is occasionally now, and was flashed on the cover.

 

The quality of the writing was good then but now it can be patchy. I still find something of interest in it, even though I would still not call myself a carp angler, although I do fish for them sometimes, when I can't get to the river.

 

Any publication is only as good as the writers they use. Jim, it is a shame you stopped for so long.

[wyeknot]

Seems like this is turning into your Appreciation Society Jim, but I too agree with you on this one. Once upon a time mags like "Carpworld" had articles that made you think. The letters pages had many letters arguing for and against issues raised by the writers. Nowadays it seems that many articles are simply "went there, saw it, bish-bosh in me net" and the letters pages just contain "Thanks for the prize rod/reel - caught a pb on it first time".

 

Is there really no place for a mag that has some form of serious article? Praise the Lord for AN.

 

Steve C.

[Vagabond]

MrMatthew:

.

1.   Someone who....uses the same rod for 5 yrs

 

2. AnglersNet is ...... a fishing mag for the tight fisted, it comes out daily (sometimes hourly) and you get to contribute!

 

3. When was the last time Angling Times arranged a cut price fish-in!

1. Well, you speak for yourself matey . I use rods I bought in the 50s/60s, and some were second-hand then....

 

They getted rewhipped and revarnished every twenty years, whether they need it or not.

 

2. Spot on !

 

3. Have enjoyed fishing with AN sea members - hope to extend that to FW this year.

 

[ 30. March 2005, 05:01 PM: Message edited by: Vagabond ]