I've noticed that this has not been discussed....

[fishweewee]

Interesting news John.

Until recently I had been subscribing to all four editions of the Fisherman (Mid-Atlantic, NJ, Long Island, and New England).

I have to say, the New England one was probably the best in terms of content out of the four editions (also more relevent for me since I live in Southern New England). I've always been a fan of Tim Coleman's work too.

A few thoughts on the weekly (for all four regions):

1) It's tired and old. Much of the non-ad content is short on substance, and you even see reprints of the same stories year after year. I mean, I love Freddie Golafaro...he is a sweet and tremendous guy with a boatload of fishing knowledge, but gosh how many times do I have to hear about the "I-livelined a bunker-and-almost-got a-30 lb.-bluefish but-it-got-away" story?

Anyhoo, more to the point compare The Fisherman to OTW...the latter is much more dynamic and substantive.

2) As I understand the situation, the owners (and not the senior editors mind you) of the Fisherman franchise (based in Long Island, NY) have been slow in even agreeing to set up an online interactive medium to complement the printed weekly. In the process, 1) The Fisherman has failed to address the market for younger, tech-savvy eyeballs, and 2) other print weeklies with web sites (notably Noreast) have had a huge head start.

My understanding is that they are now just starting to get it set up!

3) What's left? Advertising methinks. It's nice that I can pick up the magazine anytime and get an advertiser's phone number, but, come to think of it, I can now pull it off the web too.

I hope that publication is able to get some fresh blood into it, it certainly has one of the most loyal regional subscriber bases that I know of.

I remember reading The Fisherman before I even opened up the Wall Street Journal in the morning.

Times have sure changed!

-FWW