Midland Angler
The first is a regional monthly from DHP Publications, The MidlandAngler, which is a hybrid of newspaper and magazine. It comes innewspaper format but with a news-led magazine feel.
It’s actually uses the name of the old Birmingham AnglersAssociation magazine that was first published in 1946 and then foldedin 1964, but will be very different than that.
The journal is edited by Gareth Purnell, lately editor of thedefunct Angling Times.com, previously editor of Improve Your CoarseFishing magazine and a reporter with Angling Times.
Gareth Purnell says:
“Midland Angler will cover parts of Wales, out as far as Newtown inPowys, in the west, to Lincolnshire and The Wash in the east. Itstretches as far north as the southern edge of the Peak District inDerbyshire and then as far south as the M4, taking in Swindon andReading.
“It is a real hybrid between a magazine and a newspaper in tabloidformat. What people will certainly notice is that the paper qualitywill be much better than they are used to in other tabloid – or A3 -publications.
“I want people to get involved with the publication – whether asreaders, contributors, sponsors or advertisers, as part of TheMidlands Angler Club.”
Midland Angler will bring you news and features from the midlandsarea that has a potential readership of some 200,000. It has enlistedthe contributions of such stalwarts as Jan Porter, Billy Makin, MarkDownes and Grant Albutt.
There will be competitions and reviews, it is professionally laidout with good photographs and a nice ‘feel’ to it. Like the AnglingStar has a northern flavour the Midland Angler should be especiallyuseful for midlanders, but all anglers will find plenty of interestin its pages.
The cover price is £ 1.50.
Coarse Angling Today
This is a new, traditional monthly magazine from PredatorPublications, edited by James Holgate and co-edited by KevinClifford.
James Holgate says:
“There are a lot of anglers out there who are looking for somethingthat bit more advanced in their reading matter. They want articleswhich attempt to take ideas that little bit further. They want freeand frank discussions on their sport. Above all, I believe they wantto read articles from a much wider variety of writers.”
There are 10 articles in this first issue, covering tench, chub,barbel, mahseer, rudd and a variety of other topics.
The majority of the photography is of the mug shot type andlacking variety. The layout is plain and straightforward. Most of thearticles are interesting, however, and if that is all that matters toyou then there is no reason why you shouldn’t enjoy the magazine.
Cover price is £ 2.50.
So what’s the verdict?
A first issue is not really the right issue by which to judge apublication. Coarse Angling Today, and Midland Angler, need time todevelop character, and then we’ll know much better what they are allabout.
Buy a copy of each though, and judge for yourself.
