When John and Shirley Hagan first opened Portland’s Northwest Flyfishing in May of 1993, Czechoslovakia was dissolving, Rodney King was testifying, and the Second Coming of the Spey rod was still a decade away. But 17 years later, the Hagens still offer the quality products and service that East Side Portlanders have come to expect.

“I think a writer owes the readers a new way of telling a story.”
—Ken Kesey

As the 15th Drake makes its way across the country this fall, I find myself intrigued by all the recent chatter on the downfall of magazines, most of it coming from new-media pundits shouting their favorite proclamation: “Print is dead!”

With the announcement this week by the American Fly Fishing Trade Association (AFFTA) that it would “sponsor and/or endorse and/or ignore and/or relocate an Independent Fly Fishing show in 2010,” it came as welcome news to the industry this morning that the trade group has settled on the lobby of the Rock Springs, Wyoming, EconoLodge as the location.