Five Reasons Why I Love Fishing and Hunting News

2) Because no newspaper or magazine does a better job of destroying the image of flyfishing as an elitist sport. F&H News clearly does not give a shit how you get your fish: "Mepps, Panther Martins, or stripping Woolly Buggers are all working well in the lower river." And they do it without even trying.

3) When you just want to know where the damn fish are, there's a map, directions, and a quote by Al from Al's tackle shop (1-ALS-BIG-FISH), "Well, Larry's out on the Lake right now, and if he ever comes back in...") And for some reason, all the how-to, where-to fishing stuff they have doesn't make my ass itch like it does when I see it everywhere else. Maybe because it's delivered in such a folksy, low-brow way. But whatever, it just seems to fit.

4) I'd be willing to bet that no other publication is responsible for more anglers crossing over from bait or spin fishing to flyfishing than F&H News. The ads make it crystal clear who the publishers feel their readers are—Cabela's-shopping, treble-hook-toting, jet-boat-owning, handgun-packing, Nitro-bait-using, trolling-motor meatheads. Yet if you actually read the thing, almost every fishing article is a flyfishing, not a baitfishing story. But there is not one single flyfishing advertiser in most F&H News. (Gamakatsu is in there, but the ad is for jig hooks and 2X trebles.)

5) And the best thing? Because no matter where you are fishing out West, chances are good that you can roll late-night into some backwater 24-hour gas station, pick up that last nasty corn dog that's been sitting under a heat lamp for the past six hours, and find F&H News in the mag rack with an up-to-date (at least within the past couple weeks), rundown of what's working on a nearby, below-the-radar river. Plus it doubles as a campfire starter.