25 Thousand and Rising!

Another Milestone for FishingMagic!

It doesn’t seem five minutes since I began a new career as editor of FM in 1999, part time at first and then full time in 2000. I’m told that could be something of a record in itself; a website editor for six years.

At first FishingMagic grew very quickly, which was not too surprising considering we had stands at the Go Fishing show and other shows where we handed out leaflets and demonstrated the site to the visitors.

We didn’t really know what to expect, but this growth has continued steadily since then and in fact has recently begun to accelerate quite rapidly once more. This has coincided with a ‘clean-up’ of the forum, which of course could be just that, coincidental, but somehow I don’t think so. People want to read about fishing on a fishing website and leave all the other dross where it belongs. After all, to get away from the dark side of life is why most of us go fishing, so why should it be any different in the virtual fishing world? Particularly pleasing is that many of the recent new members are young people.

Membership topped 25 thousand over the weekend and at the rate we’re adding members right now it won’t take us six years to double that.

What is it you like about FM?

That’s difficult to answer but what follows is a little of what I’ve written for the next issue of Coarse Fisherman magazine:

If someone was to ask me what the best thing was on FM I would be hard put to give a definitive answer; in fact it would be impossible, for the site is different things to different people. Many use FM to keep up with the latest news, not just catch reports and fishery reports, but the important political stuff that affects all of us. Others see the forum as the main attraction, and indeed it is if you love to debate and discuss both serious and light-hearted topics with other anglers – or, as many members do, just sit back and watch while others toss the subjects around. Our forum posters come from a full range of anglers, from beginners to angling newspaper editors and other experts who are only too pleased to offer their opinions and advice on a variety of topics.

One section of the Magicalia offices

Our features, which are second to none on the internet, are the main attraction for many of our visitors, with plenty of well illustrated articles about all aspects of angling, written by both well known names and others who are simply damn good anglers. The Rig’s Library is at the top of the tree in popularity. It seems that almost everyone likes to read about a good rig that could help us to catch more fish. And right now Harrison Advanced Rods are giving away £ 100.00’s worth of Owner hooks each month to the best rigs we receive.

Which brings us to competitions, and we have plenty of those with some good prizes, some are simple enough while others, like the popular Caption Competition, raise more than a titter.

A serious discussion about editorial policy on FM

And let’s not forget the fish-ins, some of them just days out for members to get to know each other and fish together, and others where trophies are fished for, like the FishingMagic Keith Culley Memorial Match that 40 of us are fishing this Saturday on Clattercote Reservoir in Oxfordshire. All are thoroughly enjoyed and if you’ve never been to one then you should make the effort as otherwise you will never know what you’re missing.

It was more than pleasing when we received recognition from EPS (Electronic Publishing Services Ltd), with offices in London and New York. EPS are the leading consultative company for electronic publishers like FM’s parent company Magicalia Digital Publishing. EPS clients include giants like British Telecom, IBM, the Financial Times and many other huge companies. In a newsletter sent out to all EPS clients, they said:

“FishingMagic.com has exceptional editorial, galleries to display photo items of great catches, and very active forum and e-commerce development.”

There are loads of other things that make the site the most valuable fishing resource in the UK, but you need to spend quite some time on the site and browse through everything there is to really appreciate just what a wealth of information and entertainment lies behind that home page.

So it’s a big thank you to you, the members, and to all the contributors who make FM just what it is – the best fishing website in the UK. At least.

Roll on the next 25,000!