Digital vs Print

The world is being taken over by a technological wave. The digital revolution has changed everything, and fishing has had to follow suit. There are a few in the fishing industry who would like to remain old fashioned, but most have to keep up with times to avoid death.

In some ways it’s a shame; smaller businesses who, for one reason or another have failed to adapt, have found the market too difficult to compete in, and have therefore perished. Small local tackle shops are particularly vulnerable in the latest on-line trend, with major mail order companies becoming hugely successful over the past few years.

Tackle manufacturers and various angling media companies have taken advantage too. Video broadcasting on the web is becoming very popular, and I envisage this to play a major role in the entertainment, education and advertising of all things angling over the next few years. It’s cheap, and is becoming ever more accessible. Let’s be honest, we all love to watch moving clips of our favourite sport, and I’m sure you all look forward to more fishing clips on places like here at WSF as much as I do. Manufacturers are starting to use this medium to showcase and promote new products. Perhaps in time, on-line clips will even overtake the written word in angling tales and blogs?

Forums are booming, and allow everyone to have an opinion on different subjects. There are several positives and negatives, but the popularity is undoubtedly owed the fact that people can publish their own views on different subjects to a very large audience. This can be dangerous, especially with some of the miss-informed rubbish that can, and often does, emerge from forums.

Our beloved fishing magazines are often getting a bashing on forums. Sometimes it’s fully justified, and other times its tripe. I would like to make reference to newspapers, and perhaps this is where I am still old fashioned; it has always been, and always will be nice to have something in your hand, hard-copy to read, and I think there should always be a similar role for angling media.

To those who say they now refuse to waste their money on a magazine when they have everything right in front of them on the computer, I would say... tight gits! Whilst I agree that paper magazines really cannot relay information at the same pace of the web, and that news, hot fishing locations and reports will never be in touch with the instant nature of web publishing, I believe fishing magazines should, and will always have a place to entertain and educate anglers with good stories and photography. Perhaps there won’t always be room for all that are currently in the market, but there should always be a place for magazines none-the-less.