Monday, January 5, 2009

Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed and Something Blue

Weddings signify the start of a new chapter in the lives of two people. The birth of a child is a new chapter in a family’s life. And adults’ efforts to share the outdoors with young ones open up new chapters in children’s lives.

There is such a challenge for our attention today, when it seems there is an overload of outlets racing to provide us with the next round of bad news. When faced with information overload, disconnecting from the troubles in life becomes increasingly difficult.

The best advice I ever received when faced with an overload of depressing news was to focus on my passions. For me, that has always been fishing. Here at FLW Outdoors Magazine, we’re refocusing our efforts to provide more for anglers.

We want more people to get out and enjoy the intrinsic values of fishing and competition. As a result, FLW Outdoors is going through multiple upgrades to its Web sites, to the magazine, to our tournaments with new circuits like National Guard FLW College Fishing, and to our company philosophy as a whole. To that end, we’re trying to get more content to anyone who loves fishing through many different outlets.

Speaking specifically about the magazine, readers will find more quick, concise content that’s easier to read in our new Front Deck sections, such as the Livewell. We added more tournament content based on strategies winning anglers used in our Back Deck sections, such as Tournament Tested, On Tour and Tournament Highlights. And our overall redesign gives the magazine a quality not found in many publications. We want our readers to have the very best-looking magazine in the industry for their hard-earned dollars.

On the Web, the editors are blogging and participating in the new flwoutdoors.com online community. We also hope to soon add on-the-water videos to further explain and demonstrate techniques and strategies discussed in the magazine.

We still have much of the same great content as before. From showcasing and rigidly testing the hot, new products in the market, to featuring the best destinations for fishing-related travel planning around the country and beyond, we’re keeping those same columns and features anglers have come to love. And, of course, the departments and features will still focus on finding golden nuggets of information from successful anglers that open up new opportunities for catching fish.

The magazine will still feature award-winning photography, and our well-read stable of award-winning writers will continue to write some of the best features in the business. Plus, we’ll borrow some of our magazine content to expand on topics at flwoutdoors.com that were once confined to paper.

As for something blue, well, it’s all about being on the blue waters of the top reservoirs, lakes and rivers with great anglers to bring their wealth of knowledge to the masses.

Our staff sometimes feels married to this magazine, but it’s because we have a true passion for this sport and for people who share our passion. It’s your magazine, and we want to bring as many of you the fishing information you want, however you want it.

Good Fishing,



Jason Sealock