"Pennsylvania Angler and Boater"

[wgmiller]

I'm not sure how many of you subscribe to this magazine, but I just wanted to give "props" to it for being a quality publication. It's not a fly fishing magazine, but they always have a few good fly fishing articles as well as a pattern in it. For someone like me who kayak fishes, fishes for warmwater species as well as trout, it is well worth the annual subscription ($12). It's only published bi-monthly, but I anxiously await each edition. I used to subscribe to some of the other fly fishing magazines, but found it hard pressed to justify the cost/benefit. This is one magazine I feel I get my money's worth.

 

[TimMurphy]

Dear wg,

I agree with your assessment of the "PA Angler" magazine.

It's top notch, there is something of value in every issue be it a fly tying pictorial or a review of a State Park or an article on catfishing. It's been my most valuable resource on Pennsylvania fishing ever since I was a kid, and that's a pretty long time.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

 

[dryflyguy]

I subscribed to the angler for many years, and always looked forward to it's monthly arrival.
However, when they combined it with the boating magazine, and cut it down to a bi-monthly, I let my subscription lapse
It just didn't seem to have many flyfishng articles anymore, and I really didn't have much interest in what was in it.

Last I knew, charlie meck was writing a fly tying piece for it. Is he still doing that?

 

[wgmiller]

Charles Meck and Carl Haensel usually do the pattern article. This month's magazine has a bunch of other fly fishing-related articles in it. Over the past few years, I can only recall ever seeing one or two article on watercraft topics (powerboat). I don't know what it used to be like years ago, so can't comment on whether it has declined as far as fly fishing articles go. I'd be curious to see what the subscription breakdown by angler type looks like (bait, fly, etc.). I wouldn't think that many people who are strictly boaters would subscribe to it.

 

[JeffP]

I remember reading it in our school's library. Doubt any schools have it any more. I remember a great article on Penns called something like "Penns, Wild, Clean, and Free". Also, one on the upper Tully. Would love to spend a day reading though old ones!

 

[dryflyguy]

"Back in the day", there would typically be several fly fishing pieces in every monthy issue. Posters on this site rrt and rleep wrote some good stuff for it. Hard to believe, but rrt actually ratted on a few streams then. Before he saw the light I guess

 

[JeffP]

Also remember something about a millipede "hatch" on a Lancaster County stream during a trout. May have been Fishing Creek but I can't remember.

 

[Fishidiot]

Definitely a good magazine. I liked it as a kid and still do.

 

[salmonoid]

Back issues from 1998 to present are available.

And the treasure trove (IMHO) is every issue since 1930, available here. Also, each issue is searchable, so they must have done some rudimentary OCR on the documents; they're not just plain scans, which makes them even more useful.

Reading through some back issues, an angler creel survey on one stream I fish tallied almost 3000 wild trout harvested!!! And I think I'm doing well at catching 50 trout a day out of the stream!

 

[wgmiller]

Imagine being the intern that drew the short straw and had to scan all that stuff in! Good find.

 

[rrt]

Still a good general fishing magazine, IMO, though almost all articles come from the same group of about 10-12 writers. (I pm'ed DFG about what he said about me.)

 

[salmonoid]

rrt wrote:
Still a good general fishing magazine, IMO, though almost all articles come from the same group of about 10-12 writers. (I pm'ed DFG about what he said about me.)

rrt,

My brother (and I, to a lesser degree) talked about submitting an article. However, he had heard what you described; that there was an inside group of a few writers who actually got published. Do you have any insight into the inner workings of publication there or has it changed since the days when you wrote articles for it?

 

[wgmiller]

I would think it would behoove them to open things up a bit with regards to authors. Certainly does any publication good to get varied perspectives. Do they pay for articles or is it a "donation"?

 

[JeffP]

Thank Salmonoid!! There goes my weekend!

 

[dryflyguy]

Back in the '80's I think, the angler ran a "county features" series of articles. It featured a few counties in each issue, and talked about the best fishing opportunities in each one. And must have ran for several years I believe.
These pieces were written by local WCCs and writers who were quite familiar with the waters in that area.
rrt explained to me that he was asked to do the piece for blair county, and agreed to do so rather reluctantly. And it was the only time he did such a thing.
So I apologize to him for my possibly misleading post about what he wrote then. It was quite a while ago for sure.

 

[rrt]

I don't know much about the PAA these days. I know it has a new editor, Spring Gearhate, I think. I imagine it would be difficult to break into getting something published by the Angler, since it has its stable of writers who are probably scheduled way ahead of time. But, you could query the editor at the address listed inside the magazine's cover and ask if she would be interested. Give a brief out line of your piece, how long it might be (probably about 1000 words), and what kind of photographic support you have. (When I did articles for the Angler, they often bought my articles despite my lousy photographic abilities.)
If your piece is fly-fishing related, you might try Mid-Atlantic Fly Fishing Guide, if it is still in existence. I was once told that MAFFG did not pay for articles, so if you're writing for love of writing, you'd be okay. If you hope to get a little money for a piece, you might want to try elsewhere.
Good luck.

 

[rrt]

Oh, and if you mail a query to the Angler, included a stamped, self-addressed envelope for a reply.
An email query would be easier if Ms. Gearhart has an email address listed.

 

[RLeeP]

Thanks for the archive link, Salmonoid. Moving around a few times since I remarried in 1997, I lost some of the contributor copies that I used to keep in my clip file. Now, I'll be able to print them off and replace them, at least up through the end of 1994. Once the period from 1995-1999 is put up in full (which I hope they will be), I'll be able to get the rest of the ones I am missing.

I really enjoyed working with Art Michaels when he was Editor. I was shy and pretty unsure of myself and he was always encouraging despite the fact that my photography was about on a par with with Rich says his was (which isn't the way I remember Rich's photos at all, I thought they were pretty good.. In our correspondence over the years, if I told Art once, I told him a dozen times that it had been a boyhood dream of mine to write for the Angler. And it was.. When I was a little guy, I had a big cardboard box full of back issues and I would grab a couple every night and read them until I was too sleepy to continue. Jim Hayes, Tom Eggler, Chauncey Lively, C. Boyd Pfeiffer and on and on. Often my Dad would come into my room to see why the light was still on at 11PM on a school night and he'd find me reading. I'd tell him that someday, I was going to write for the Angler and he'd nod and smile and say, "Just be sure to feed the dogs tomorrow, OK?"

Art wanted us to write a lot of formulaic stuff like "25 Opening Day Tips For Trout Anglers" or "Smallmouth Bass Hotspots Within an Hour of Harrisburg/Erie/Pittsburgh/Plymouth Meeting, whatever... But he also gave us (me anyway..) quite a bit of free rein in topic selections. For a while in the mid-90's, Dave Wolf (who always did the "On The Water" essay in each issue) kinda went off the reservation or took a break or something, I'm not sure. Art started tapping other folks to do the essay. Charlie Waterman, Mike Simmons (outdoor guy for the Erie-Times in those days) and others I do not recall. I wrote Art and told him I really, really wanted to take a crack at that slot. And he let me and it was mine for about a year. That was my favorite part of my PA Angler contributor experience. And then Dave came back and reclaimed the slot, which was fine. He's good and I'd had a chance to stretch a little as a writer.

I'll always remember those times fondly and I'll always be grateful to Art for the opportunity and for making the dream of a 10 year old kid come true.

Oh, and when we list folks from the boards here who have been Angler contributors, we must not forget our own Old Lefty. Dave did quite a few fine pieces for Art.

 

[TimMurphy]

Dear RLeeP, rrt, Old Lefty and others,

Though I've never met any of you I can't help but feel like I know you a bit having read your articles in the PA Angler.

And to you Bob, thanks for mentioning some of the names of the "old timers." Before I had ever even held a fly rod in my hands I read the fly tying articles written by Chauncey Lively and thought about what it must be like to be able to tie flies and fish for real trout in a real creek, and not just the Neshaminy. Chauncey's name escaped me until I read it today in your post, but he surely was a boyhood hero.

Just think you guys, 40 years from now someone might read this thread archived somewhere and think, " I remember reading those articles written by those guys Tim mentioned and they gave me something to think about and helped make me what I am today."

Thank you all for your work.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

 

[outsider]

My mentor gave me a bunch of old PA Angler magazines, I think from the 30's and 40's. Haven't looked at them for a long time, thanks for the reminder.