the fisherman mag drops the ball

[Karl F]

Originally Posted by Flaptail

"Elvis Flaptail" I will have you know John that I am going for a new look this year. Kinda Johnny Damon meets Johnny Rotten meets Marilyn Manson meets James Bond. Kinda a grand slam, spit in yer face, shock value but shaken not stirred thing, you know.

Flappunktail
Had a kid in the store almost as tall as you last night, except went maybe 150 pounds soakin wet, tight black jeans, leather jacket with more studs in it then ya can count, pointed toe leather boots, and sporting a tall mohawk with the hair dyed bleach blonde and the tips done up in black, brown roots ta boot, gelled and blow dryed to look like a bunch of feathers blowing around... theres a look for ya Flap

oh and by the way OTW hands down, read the new england fishermen at the barber shop, but get my OTW in the mail... earlier than most, Thank You for that!... and OTW is by far the better ink.

[ZuluHotel]

Zach Harvey, here:
Just wanted to weigh in quickly on a few things that seem to be going on.
The first, obviously, is the callout on the cover of this week's issue. Due to miscommunication, the actual name of the show somehow got listed as "Sport & Fishing Expo." Our publisher, in the eleventh hour, added "Kingston," feeling--rightly so--that the addition of the location would help attendence. The intentions were good, but the finished product suffered. I was as surprised as any of you were. I'm scrambling to put together some basketballs and tennis rackets, but time is short.
Which brings up a second point: Due to our production process, it's not always possible to catch errors until it's too late. Putting out 50 issues a year, our entire staff is under intense and constant deadline pressure. Mistakes happen, and some--like this one--are worse than others. Last fall, we listed the Norwalk Show as running through the 36th of September, and I'm hoping no one went there on the 34th.
No magazine goes to press without tremendous effort, but monthlies do have the advantage of time. Issues can be proofed multiple times, and errors can be fixed. With weeklies, time is always short, with the next deadline always coming up in 4 days.
Rehash also seems to be a concern for a few of you. Consider: in an average year, we run somewhere in the vicinity of 300 feature articles a year. I personally read over 500 articles a year, and try to select the best line-up, weighing the diversity of fishing opportunities our fishiest of New England waters. What's a year's fishing without trolling the Block Island ledges, flounder fishing in Boston Harbor, or cod fishing at Jeffreys Ledge? There are very specific local areas with unique fishing situations, but I'd be neglecting my post if I omitted major fisheries and locations just because they were discussed in previous years. I hate to say it, but there are no new fisheries and no new spots, just new ways of approaching the old ones.
On the balance, we're giving you somewhere between five and twelve current, local (barring a handful of winter travel pieces) articles PER WEEK, and that's nearly three times more than you'll get anywhere else. In the course of a year. In the coming season, we've got a terrific line-up, and here's hoping you'll agree.
If anyone has ideas or comments that he'd like to bring to light, shoot me an e-mail at fishpaper@aol.com.

Zach Harvey

[pete santini]

Zach nicely said You got your hands full over there and its not easy to Put a weekly magazine together every week,Ive been advertising with you people for the last 13 years when tim was editor I have nothing but good to say about you and the job your doing As far as what people say about rehashing the same stories This is new england not florida or the galapagos or whatever Lets face it we don't have the variety of species of other parts of the country But what we do have is the best striped bass fishing in the world And the magazine covers every way to catch them in an informative easy to read style every week thanks And people do make mistakes nobody is perfect

[MakoMike]

Zach,
Just curious, are you still paying $100 for a feature article or has the rate gone up?

[ZuluHotel]

Rates have gone up. I'd prefer to pursue that discussion through a different venue (see above, or call the office)

Z

[spinncognito]

Good to see folks come to the defense of their respective mags. I do enjoy both magazines. My feeling is if the frequency and the enormity of erros is increasing in any production, then it is time to step back and take a look at the processes. When quantity is more important than quality, no one wins. Just my opinion of course but why not go bi-weekly? Articles would be fresher and accuracy would improve. I am not in the business so this may not be a practical solution.

spinn

[ZuluHotel]

Originally Posted by spinncognito

Good to see folks come to the defense of their respective mags. I do enjoy both magazines. My feeling is if the frequency and the enormity of erros is increasing in any production, then it is time to step back and take a look at the processes. When quantity is more important than quality, no one wins. Just my opinion of course but why not go bi-weekly? Articles would be fresher and accuracy would improve. I am not in the business so this may not be a practical solution.

spinn

Barring the MSBA callout debacle, I don't think anyone could faitly say the "frequency and enormity" is on the increase. Nor do I think you could say that The Fisherman is about quantity above quality. I think you get both--some stuff just may not apply as directly to the fishing you do.

[MartinD18]

I for one would love to see more eros in both magazines!

[bart]

who really cares if they make minor mistakes once in a while? it's not like it's gonna throw your whole life out of whack.

i love reading both your mags. gets me through the winter. keep up the good work

[Ed B]

I have been a subscriber to the Fisherman since 86 or 87 and OTW since a couple of issues of it's inception in 96 and I like both of them.

I believe that the Fisherman's ability to put out a weekly publication gives it a unique niche that no other magazine has ever filled. With the flip of a few pages in the report section you can get a feel for everything that's going on from Lake Ontario to Quabbin, Wachusett, Cod Reports, Surf Reports, Tuna Reports etc.. and lots of times mentioning people you know. Do I really care if the reports are a week old. Nope not in the least. I prefer to see that some dude I haven't seen in five years weighed in two six pound smallmouths last week at Wachusett, or what DZ or Tim Coleman did in the surf. It's all part of what makes fishing in New England great.

And the Fisherman gives you weekly articles by the likes of Coleman, Sampson, Lyons, Daignault, White, Teehan, Soares and other good writers who have been around for a long time. Zach I give you two thumbs up for a great job.

Ed

[TheSpecialist]

Zach I don't think anyone is bashing the job you guys are doing. I think the magazine hos gotten 150 % better since you have taken it over. I think part of the problem of rehashing might stem from reading the article in your publication early in the year, and then seeing it in another publication three months later. I am not sure if there is a cure for that or not.

One of my favorite reads now is the one by Charlie Soares talking about the large fish and where they were caught. I read that and think to myself there is still hope of getting that 50. Maybe a change of pace might be a weekly on some of the shops in the report section. Something along the lines of who owns the shop, their hours, address,phone number, what lines of reels, rods, and lures they carry.