It Started With A Fishing Trip...
The idea for www.ariverneversleeps.com started with a conversation on the drive to a fishing place. I can’t remember now where Nick and I were going fishing, or what we caught, and the specifics of that conversation faded away long ago. But it’s impossible to forget the topic.
Why don’t we, one of us suggested, combine our interest in fly fishing and writing and photography and create our own magazine? Yeah, replied the other, use the technology of the ‘Net, which would allow us to publish for next to nothing, and leap over the existing print magazines, which had become little more than vehicles for glossy ads.
We were both very successful freelancers - he in his professional field of photography, me as a writer. Between us our work had appeared in hundreds of magazines and newspapers. I’d written three books and had done articles for most of the big fly fishing magazines. Nick was in demand around North America for his expertise on digital photography and had been building web sites that looked brilliant.
I remember running over in my mind the editorial inventory I had from my years of research for the river trilogy I’d written. Nick did the same with the photo portfolio he’d built up, fishing in British Columbia over the past 15 years.
We figured, with a little help from our friends, we could get by for a year.
And who knew what might happen?
Maybe Orvis or Sage or Hardy would discover us and offer a sponsorship. Maybe the magazine could turn into something.
Little did we know....
We got thousands of hits on our first issue. It was crazy. It was like starting a magazine, putting it on your porch step, and waiting for readers to come by. Somehow they found us.
As we watched the hits grow, we decided our target for the end of the year would be 50,000. If we could get that many we’d celebrate with a bottle of champagne.
After three months, we cracked the bottle.
Soon we were getting 50,000 hits a month. Then 100,000. Last month we had more than 450,000.
At first I thought that each “hit” meant a reader. But Nick explained that what it really meant was someone had opened one of our pages. One dedicated reader could account for hundreds of hits.
He got new software and several months ago (yeah, we celebrated Year One and kept on going) we were able to get a better handle of the statistics. Now we know that each month more than 5,000 fly fishermen log on, in more than 40 countries, to read the magazine.
Orvis, Sage and Hardy still haven’t discovered us.
Our friends astounded us with the level of support they showed. And others stepped forward, offering great stories and pictures and art work.
The magazine is today, what it was at the start. A labor of love by a growing collective of fly fishing writers, photographers and artists.
We still get a kick out of doing it, and out of hearing from fly fishermen around the globe.
But as we celebrate our second anniversary, we are realizing that working on the web site each month is keeping us off the water a little too much. So on a recent fishing trip, we rethought www.ariverneversleeps.com and decided to shift our publishing schedule. Instead of coming out monthly, we will go to a seasonal format
You’re looking at the spring edition.
We’re already musing about the summer issue, wondering what exciting material will be offered up by the many wonderful contributors who make this magazine possible and who never cease to surprise us with their dispatches from around the world.
If you don’t want to miss the next issue, sign up on our mailing list (linked here) . We’ll let you know when it’s ready. Until then, enjoy Spring, and browse through our back issues......
What do you think? Visit our online discussion area and post your views. 
Letters can be sent via e-mail to: letters@ariverneversleeps.com
What a great homepage!
Hello fellow flyfishermen!!
I am a young energetic flyfisherman from Denmark, who by a happy coincidence visited your homepage this afternoon. I just wanted to congratulate you on the fine work you have done on this homepage. It is quite fabulous, and it is very interesting for me to see the type of rivers you have overthere. A total different type of scenery and rivers from what one can experience in Denmark. Naturally the fish also differ from what we are used to. Our primary river fishing concerns brown trout, grayling, sea trout, and fishing for the atlantic salmon.
I especially fancy the the article concerning the enviromental problems you have overthere. The different ways that a man can view the relationship between nature and man. Unfortunately we have the same kind of debate in Denmark, allthough it has changed dramatically over the past 30 years.
Preservation seem to be the general opnion these days. Also among the politicians. That is also why our fishing for the atlantic salmon has improved very much the last 10 years or so.
But, just wanted to congratulate you all on the fine homepage!!
Hope you all have a very good season.
Yours faithfully
Christoffer Clausen, Denmark.
christoffer.clausen@mail.tele.dk
A Lady To Be Trusted...
The Editors:
I have known of and followed Alexandra Morton for years. I have had the pleasure of meeting both Alexandra and her husband Robin before his tragic death. This lady is to be trusted in all things concerning our wild waters. Her dedication and knowledge is surpassed by none, perhaps in the world. After reading her recent writings here at ARNS about salmon farming, I have been forced to review my thoughts on the issue. How very uninformed we are, those of us removed from the actual process. How very frightenening it is that this continues.
I have also been forced to acknowledge that under the guise of "necessary change" in government, the Liberals are piling so much change on us all at once, that there is not even time to take a breath and organize even the slightest defence against the very things like Alexandra speaks of. We are all in very much trouble if it is allowed to continue unchecked.
Dan Webster
Sidney BC Canada
websturz@shaw.ca
What’s The Secret
Of The Black Spade?
The Editors:
What is the tie for the "black Spade" fly pattern refered to in "Meet me tonight at Devlin's Run Bruce's Legacy: The Fly that will not Die.???
Larry Nelson
Bayfield, WI. 54814---USA
nelsol@dnr.state.wi.us
In Reply:
As I have never tied a fly in my life, I'm afraid I have no answer for Mr. Nelson. The pattern is also called Wintle's Winter Wizard or something like that and can be found in a few books that feature fly patterns. Sorry to not be of more help but I'm sure that the pattern can be easily discovered.
Warmest regards,
Dave Hadden
No Pay, Just Glory...
To: letters@ariverneversleeps.com
Just curious to know if you purchase first rights or reprint rights articles for your ezine? I have been published Canada-wide in numerous magazines over the past 15 years. If you are interested please drop me a line. I will give you more detail as to my background and we can chat some more about writers guidelines, etc.
Thanks for your time.
Bill Luscombe - Lord of the Flies
Luscombe Outdoors
Duncan, BC, Canada
flyflinger@shaw.ca
Hi Bill:
A River Never Sleeps is a cooperative effort by a group of fly fishing writers, artists and photographers. We all work on the site without pay. Some of the material is recycled from books and magazine articles; much of it is original. Some of it will no doubt find its way into paying publications....if we ever figure out a way how to make money of the Internet, we will share the profits. For now, it's a labour of love. If you're interested under those conditions, let me know! If not, good luck with your continued freelance career....been there, know how tough it is!
-Cheers,
Mark Hume
I Like What I See, But It’s Hard to See It!
The Editors:
Your site is excellent, but for one thing -- the print is small and difficult to read as white-on-black. If you could enlarge the print slightly, more of us couild read it!
I share your concerns -- I grew up on the coast (at Stuart Island, in the mouth of Bute Inlet) and still like to travel the coast by kayak. But it is becoming more and more heart-breaking to see the changes wrought by fish-farms and other destructively extractive uses.
Keep up the good work!
-- Sara Golling
Rossland, BC, Canada
sgolling@direct.ca
Hi Sarah
Thanks for visiting our site! About the print being small, it is a function of your Internet Browser, your computer and its monitor which can easily be changed to suit your needs. With your browser running look under the Edit Menu and go down to Preferences. In the dialog box that appears choose language and Fonts. Here you will see a pull down menu called "Fonts". Change this to a larger number and your browser will display a larger font size for you! We use the Internet Standard font size for our text and there have been studies showing that reading for long periods of time on a white or colored background causes eye strain. We have been using the black background for a number of reasons the most important of which it gave us a distinctive look when we started this venture over two years ago.
Thanks for writing.
Regards
Nick
webmaster@ariverneversleeps.com
Article On Atlantics Horrendous
The Editors:
Once again I would like to take an opportunity to congratulate the people behind this website. "Currents”, in the March issue, describes the horrendous state that we have let our coastal environments evolve to. We must now take a stand against the corporate cartels that are placing one of our most treasured birthrights in jeopardy. If you are reading this, then I know you care about the life that is around you.
"Our first objective is the preservation of Pacific Salmon" - Roderick Haig-Brown (as member of the International Pacific Salmon Commission)
-Greg Rebar
Nanaimo/ Echo Bay/ Whistler, BC Canada
grebar@eplanet.ca
Great Site - Needs Tying Archive!
Hello,
First let me start out by saying that this a great site! I think that it could be improved with an archive of fly-tying articles, though. I am a fly tier, and would like to be able to find patterns and descriptions easier. You have some great flies here, just surfing through the back issues trying to figure out which issue I saw a fly in, is sometimes a pain.
Thanks for all the work you do.
Nick Laeder
Houghton Michigan, USA
nllaeder@mtu.edu
Hi Nick:
Thanks for the note. You make a good point, and one we’ve been thinking about ourselves. Just a little trouble finding the time to organize it. We will work on that in the future.
-Cheers,
Mark Hume
Anybody Died Yet From Farm Fish?
If You Do, Let Me Know!
The Editors:
Read this page, and it reminded me of all the other foods we eat every day and all the chemicals used to grow these foods, whether plant or animal, if you think those fish are the big problem then [you] have missed a much bigger problem.I also notice that every major river and water way is totaly poluted with sewage that is laden with every poison and pesticide ect. that man produces, you eat all this food raised with this. Now what are you doing in regard to this problem that makes fish farms and their problems seem damn small. Ask the fraser valley people about their drinking water or try the druged water most towns and cities ask you to use. Do we have problems, you bet we do, lets see what you are going to do about these problems that are going to and do kill people every year. Anybody died yet from farm fish you know of yet? or wild fish from around these farms also, If you do, let me know will you!
ken collins
campbell river
k&ccollins@telus.net
{E-mail letters may be edited for clarity, taste and brevity. It is understood they express the opinions of the writers, not the editors.}
