Total Flyfisher magazine vs. Todays Flyfisher magazine

[creakingcane]

I recently had some correspondence with the editor of Total Flyfisher magazine, Tim Smith and reproduce that heremy original e mail is at the bottom with Tims last reply at the top)

Hi Mike,

Pike and sea fishing may be fast growing... but you're still only talking
about a handful of people. We tried regular articles on them with Today's
Flyfisher, yet in our surveys they were the least popular parts of the mag!
I will keep an eye out on the forums then!


Cheers

Tim


on 10/8/07 10:57 am, Collins Mike wrote:

That's a shame..do you do back issues of today's flyfisher, maybe I could switch my subscription commitment to purchasing those I don't have?

..I thought that Trout Fisherman and Trout & Salmon covered the still water trout scene, I also subscribe to them and to Flyfishing and Flytying, which does have some occasional coverage of coarse and sea flyfishing and a
regular pike fly fishing column. It also has proper articles and a promise of longevity which I value and admire.

I also thought that pike fly fishing and sea fly fishing was one of the fastest growing sections of the sport and my point was not to convert the whole magazine to my areas of interest but to maintain a level of coverage which is not adequately catered for elsewhere. is it not better to be a
leader than a follower??

Re the subscription increases since re launch maybe it does have something to do with the style..more pictures etc. but it doesn't make it a good thing though

..I also suspect that the offer of a free rod, which as I say is very useful, has had something to do with boosting circulation.

maybe we will have to agree to differ but I would be very keen to get others perspectives on this and will find a web forum to get the discussion going.

Can you let me know who to contact about back issues of today's flyfisher please?

good luck with the deadline

Regards

Mike

-----Original Message-----
From: Tim Smith
Sent: 10 August 2007 10:34
To: Collins Mike
Subject: Re: Today's Flyfisher vs. Total Flyfisher


Hi Mike,

Thanks for your e-mail, and forgive my short answer - it's deadline time!
We'd been asking for a re-branding of the magazine for sometime as the design and layout had remained the same for four years - we finally got the go ahead. The magazine was renamed Total to bring it into line with DHP's other titles, and to give it a much more eye-catching logo.

With regards to the content, we studied many reader surveys that we conducted and have tailored the content to suit. 90% of our readership consists of stillwater trout anglers ONLY. That's why the articles for other fish (although we do have a salmon and a carp feature in the issue we're currently trying to finish) will not be featuring much in Total Flyfisher.

While it is interesting (for you and me and a few others) to read such quirky features, we have to accept that most of the readership simply want to learn how to catch more trout at their local lake. Until UK saltwater > fishing/ pike fly fishing / carp / chub etc etc grow more than a handful of dedicated followers, we'd be commercially daft to produce a magazine for them. The fact is that stillwater trout fishing is BY FAR the biggest sector in UK fly fishing. It seems to be working as Total is now selling a fair
number more copies than Today's.

Design wise, having less words and more pictures doesn't make a magazine cheaper to produce, but hopefully makes it more modern looking and easier to read; in essence we've cut out a lot of waffle and got straight to the
point.

Regarding the number of pages, it varies throughout the year. Many issues of Today's Flyfisher had 100 pages, and we've not changed the page allocations per month.

I hope I've explained myself reasonably well!

Kind regards

Tim

Tim Smith

Editor
Total FlyFisher

on 10/8/07 10:20 am, Collins Mike wrote:

Hello Tim

I would like to note my slight concern over the apparent thinning down of the content now that Today's Flyfisher has become Total Flyfisher.

I only came fairly late to the Today's Flyfisher magazine but was so impressed that I subscribed at the Newark fly fair..since then I have renewed my subscription twice and am now committed up to march 2009...the freebies are great ..very impressed with the rod by the way, although is this approach of offering great subscription incentives at the cost of quality?

I have noted that the last issue only amounts to 99 pages including covers and the articles seem to have become less "cutting edge" and more dumbed down..the format is also much more magazine style with lots more pictures
and fewer words, which makes it more content free and quicker and cheaper to produce??...

I have reviewed some of my old Today's Flyfisher copies and still find plenty to entertain and inform me ..I suspect that the current issue of Total Flyfisher will not offer the same longevity.

What was behind the move to become Total Flyfisher?..

I also take Total Coarse Fishing on a fairly regular basis the current issue of which amounts to 148+ pages not including covers for only 5p more and occasionally Total Sea Fishing which is of a similar size and find that these magazines are currently offering far more detailed and varied articles than your own....David Hall has done this before..remember David Halls Coarse Fishing..this vanished when the readership realised that the content was getting thinner and thinner..eventually the title folded, or probably
got swallowed up into something else.

So is this a temporary "blip" or do I have to get used to a HEAT magazine approach to a flyfishing title that I was enthusiastic about because it offered variety in flyfishing for other species than Trout, Coarse Fish, Bass, Sea fish generally..Skateboard Dave and his coarse fly fishing is really inspirational..he explained some of the flies he tied and uses for this fishing to me at the last Newark fly fair and this would make a really interesting article...as would more of his exploits in fishing for other fish than Trout.

Sorry to go on but I am very very keen to see the content of Total Flyfisher get back on course (no pun intended) and become insightful and "different"again.

Your thoughts would be welcome

Please feel free to publish this as a letter....if you dare??...it might be interesting to see what others think about the change?

Regards

Mike

I would be very keen to understand whether I am alone in looking for something different from a flyfishing magazine or if catching identical stew fed rainbows is really the only thing of interest to 90% of the flyfishing world??

Regards

Mike