The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

Sad sign of the times of a market flooded with others who tried to have a go too. You have to take your hat off to those who were brave enough to do it first. Carpworld (now sold to Carp Talk) and Carp-Talk were the first two publications aimed at the carp angler as monthly (Carpworld) and weekly (Carp-Talk) magazines. Many at the time said they just wouldn't last, but they lasted and indeed competed with so many others who saw the success and decided they would help themselves to a slice of it too. A lot of those have since been and gone.

With so much now available on line and self promoting blogs, social media, websites and everything else being so easy to produce from home, people sadly don't need to purchase the printed product.

Looks like I only just received my 'Contribution to Carp Angling' award this year, just in time. I was the 50th to be awarded it and when I look at the names that came before me, I must admit it made me proud, very proud indeed to be in the same list.

Rest in peace Carp Talk and please fight on all remaining magazines. I just hate sitting in front of a PC to read. I'm sat in front of a screen for my whole working day, without doing it at rest too.

Reported in the last hour...

Carp-Talk
1 hr ·
IMPORTANT NEWS REGARDING CARP-TALK
It is with deep regret we inform you that Carp-Talk magazine will soon cease to be published. We’ll announce exactly when the last issue will be soon. It’s been an extremely tough decision and not one we have taken lightly.
We’d like to take this opportunity to thank every single one of our readers past and present, as well as every single company that’s supported us in any way over the years. Finally we’d like to thank the three founders of the magazine, Tim Paisley, Chris Ball and Kevin Clifford, and all of our amazing staff past and present, we couldn’t have done it without you. We’d like to think we achieved something which many doubters at the time said wouldn’t last. Unfortunately this day has come, but 24 years isn’t a bad run. Unfortunately a lot has changed since 1994, and it’s no longer viable for us to produce the magazine going forwards.
If you are a subscriber we will be in touch with you soon.

Buddha said: "Nothing is permanent."

I was in shock when "Angling" magazine folded....

There are plenty of publications out there, but the question I have to ask is how do they compete with free resources like Youtube or the Forums or FaceBerk...? seems that technology and vast amounts of free information comes at a price... that said I stopped buying fishing magazines years ago as I found them too formulaic and repetitive.. the last magazine I bought was Carpology and that went the way of the rest... especially after their "Rotary Letter" descended into a slanging match... I still buy the Angler's Mail or Angling Times occasionally, but not on a regular basis when so much info is available online... another thing that tickled me was the claim of one magazine that printing took up 70% of their cash in paper ink and distribution, yet when they went to a digital version it only cost a quid less a month

I find it hard to justify spending a fiver a month on a mag when I know that all the articles were in last years copies by someone else and that some of the articles are blatant bunkum.... I watched a well known match angler "Dobbing/Mugging" at 12meters out for carp at Docklow one year and the following month there he was proudly displaying the stunning catch of carp from the Margins... (the mag is now defunct... I wonder why)

As a prolific reader of magazines over the years (of many subjects ... bikes, fishing, tropical fish, airguns etc) I have spent an absolute fortune on them, but all of them have now fallen to the wayside... Carpology is still going, as is Total Carp and IYCF, as well as Ride, Bike, Airgunner, but all of them are repeating stuff of years ago, I know it's difficult to fill a magazine with relevant copy and finding a balance between editorial and ads but a lot of articles and contributors have conflicting views which confuse the reader and make them seek information elsewhere...

This is one of the reasons that I use a forum/s as I know that it's contributors are not following an agenda of promised ad sales or freebies... Sorry to ramble on at length, but is it possible that magazines (at least in paper format ) have had their day...? I know that staunch readers will want something in their hands, pages to turn, as with a good book...... and long may that continue, but I'll not be subscribing to a magazine again... maybe the odd edition, but certainly not on a regular basis...



Addendum... I'm sorry if this post seems overly negative, but it's just my view of magazines over the years, albeit a rather hackneyed view

I bought a copy of the weekly paper 'Cage and Aviary birds' the other day and could not believe how thin it was and how samey it was to what I remembered, £1.99 the price! IYCF repeats itself every year and the copy of Sea Angler I purchased a little while back was nothing to write home about. I know the jobs will go if the mags disappear but their content is still written and spoke about on the WWW and we can all do it and interact with it and I love that. I will not miss the mags but keep the books going please, its a bit awkward using me lap top in the comfort station.

I would buy a fishing magazine if it was any good. I like books, I bought one last week, it's 111 years old. I've only kept one magazine, it's got an article about me in it. Online will never completely replace books and magazines.

For those of us old enough to remember the sixties, seventies and eighties, these were the really creative years. That is why so much high quality fishing literature was published then. Of course there has been some good stuff since, but its getting less and less because there is less new and innovative material to write about. It's not every day that someone invents a hair rig.

The world is changing fast, just look at what is happening to retail across the land. You can waste a lot of time and energy pining for a world that no longer exists. Jardine quoted Buddha and because nothing is permanent, it's best to make the best of what we have when it is there. When it's gone, just move on.

Nigel Rainton wrote: ↑Mon May 14, 2018 4:12 pm I would buy a fishing magazine if it was any good. I like books, I bought one last week, it's 111 years old. I've only kept one magazine, it's got an article about me in it. Online will never completely replace books and magazines.

The thing is online magazines just the same as MP3s and eBooks have no physical presence or intrinsic value. Maybe this is why people collect proper books and vinyl records. And it's nice to have something on a shelf to look at and touch. It's also a statement of who you are.

Coral Maestro wrote: ↑Mon Mar 02, 2020 11:13 am

Nigel Rainton wrote: ↑Mon May 14, 2018 4:12 pm I would buy a fishing magazine if it was any good. I like books, I bought one last week, it's 111 years old. I've only kept one magazine, it's got an article about me in it. Online will never completely replace books and magazines.

The thing is online magazines just the same as MP3s and eBooks have no physical presence or intrinsic value. Maybe this is why people collect proper books and vinyl records. And it's nice to have something on a shelf to look at and touch. It's also a statement of who you are.

And the smell as well,first thing I do when I get a new old book or mag is smell it,love it