This month we have spoken to Paul Sharman from Fish and Fly who tells us a little about the activities of the online heavyweight and, of course, we talked fishing too.
How long have you been involved with Fish and Fly?
I have just gone past the five year anniversary actually. I joined as the first full time employee of what is now MacNab Media back in May of 2007 when it was still just Fish and Fly Ltd with a single news website and fly forums.
How did you join F & F?
It was one of those things that happened out of the blue. I had arrived back in the UK after living for eight years in ‘America’s Finest City’ – San Diego in Southern California around February of 2007 and was looking for a job. My background is business administration and project management but I had started a freelance outdoor writing and photography sideline while in the USA and fancied giving that a go as a full-time career. I was introduced to the owner Richard Hewitt via Chichester Harbour bass guide Justin Anwyl who I had approached looking for work and who is now a good friend. I called and Richard invited me up to see him that same afternoon and we shook on a deal there and then and I think I started the next day!
Have you always been involved in cyberspace?
As a child of the personal computer generation, I was at school when the first Spectrums, Commodores and other early computers appeared and was an early enthusiast. My father also had a long career in computers and data management so I had grown up around big disc, tape and punch card machines and he got me my first job entering a database on what was termed a ‘micro-computer’ back in the 80s but was as big as the whole desk I am sitting at right now. It was almost a foregone conclusion then, I guess, that my whole professional career has seen me championing the cause of personal computers and software products in various companies. The rise of the internet has just been a more recent chapter in this history but I think I have an aptitude for it and enjoy learning, adapting and utilising the best of what modern technology has to offer.
Can you tell us a little of the history of F & F?
The original developer and owner of Fish and Fly and the Fly Forums was a gentlemen called Simon Lewin who decided when looking for fishing information online back in 1998 that he could do a much better job of compiling a website for this himself. Richard Hewitt who was Chairman of Farlows at the time met Simon who was doing some web work for them and took the opportunity to get involved in the fledgling company, eventually taking it over not long after I joined in 2007. Writer and broadcaster John Bailey was the first editor who I then eventually took over from.The last five years have seen us grow both in number of employees but also acquire titles like FishingMagic - our coarse fishing website, and Fish&Fly magazine from US publisher Turnstile, as well as start several other content and commercial brands of our own from scratch that make up our portfolio today that you can see at www.macnabmedia.com.
How would you best describe what F & F does and what it offers to fly anglers?
Our fly fishing and indeed all our other content websites seek out the best and most topical news items, instruction, features and videos for example and share them online, often weeks before the print magazines can get them out on the shelves. We both curate the best and most interesting stories and articles from many other sources and provide them in one central location for our readers, as well as generate our own new content both via our dedicated and experienced editorial team and also from our members and associates. Being based totally online and making best use of apps and social media, our aim is to offer the fishing public the easiest and quickest way to stay informed about their favourite sport or hobby, no matter where they are. Whether at home on their computer or out on the road with their smart phone or tablet, a few quick clicks and the latest news from the fishing world is at their fingertips.Taking this a step further, our fly fishing forums are one of the busiest dedicated fly fishing website communities in the world where everyone is welcome to join in or start discussions on topics of interest. If you have a question about fly fishing, fly tying, casting, antique tackle, etc., the forums are the place to ask. You are practically guaranteed an answer. Whether it’s the right one? – well you just have to use your judgement, but there’s usually no shortage of fellow anglers willing to help or add their own thoughts.
Is F & F just UK centric or can anglers from other countries enjoy what is on offer?
Currently we have three dedicated fly fishing websites under the MacNab Media banner that will be of interest. FlyFishing.co.uk and its associated FlyForums.co.uk are UK & European centric in that we try to publish news and articles that are mainly pertinent to that region and its anglers but it is by no means a hard and fast rule. Our statistics show a large contingent of North American readers as well as many from all over the world. However, we also have a dedicated North American site and forums at theflyfishingforum.com where again we tend to focus the content on local news and articles of interest but without being totally exclusive. This is another site we acquired about three years ago which already had a good following and we have enjoyed helping build it further and the growth curve is continuing still. Finally we then have FishandFly.com which is currently in the process of being rebranded as our international salmon and adventure fishing website and forums. This site is truly international and features news and information of interest to all anglers who love to travel the world in search of anadromous, freshwater and saltwater species.
Your forum must be one of the biggest out there. Do you think it is one of the major strengths of F & F or just a small part?
The FlyForums.co.uk is as far as we can tell the largest and busiest dedicated fly fishing community on the internet in Europe and quite possibly the world.Without doubt it has been the backbone of our business as we have grown and is still our largest site. Just to put that in perspective, right now at this very second as I am writing this there are over 1,000 individuals viewing the fly forums and over the previous 24 hour period there have been nearly 11,000 individuals who have been reading and getting involved with the community. That’s huge! Imagine that many people in a room (or fly shop for that matter) at the same time!
Why do you think it is so popular?
Fishermen (and women) like to talk! I think we all know that’s true. Whether it’s trying to find out the latest news from a fishery we plan to visit, sharing fly patterns or tying tips or which store has the best price on a certain must-have item, we are all constantly seeking information. The Fly Forums are the greatest meeting place you could wish for no matter which particular branch of the sport you are most interested in. When something like this reaches a critical mass which we did years ago, it’s almost like a gravitational pull is created. Word of mouth and emailed links have, and continue to, spread the word that the Fly Forums is the place to join if you enjoy fly fishing and even though you wouldn’t think there could be many more fly fishers out there, we are still typically signing up hundreds of news members each month. The more of them that then join in or start their own conversations cause this to be an ongoing process and self-fulfilling in fact.
Do you read the forum as a fisherman or as part of your job?
Both! Although I have excellent colleagues who take care of the moderation and management of the forums which is a thankless task sometimes believe me, I also by association as editor of the FlyFishing.co.uk site which feeds articles into the news and other forums, am seen as editor of the forums too and as such receive emails on certain topics from time to time.However I much prefer reading them as a fisherman of course and find some excellent topics of interest to me personally. I’d love to have more time to spend going through them each day but they are huge as you can imagine and with three other websites to edit I rarely have time to get as involved as I would like.
The online community is ever growing are you always looking for ways to keep ahead of trends?
We are very mindful of the fact that we are in a rare position in the industry having started as a purely online business and therefore had consolidated our position and size before the print magazines decided they needed to join in the party or get left behind. Many of them are still playing catch-up and we definitely plan for that to remain the case.Trends are an interesting business scenario as by their very definition they could be long-term or short-lived and so we take care to look at each one on their own merits to decide what our position will be and how much resource, if any, we need to be allocating to them.
If so, how do you do it?
One thing I have learned from the fishing industry over the last few years is that it is not typically a great early adopter of technology and therefore we tend to look for those trends that are gaining some traction in the market and that we think will continue to develop, rather than try to stay ahead of them. Saying that, for those we do adopt we very much plan to stay ahead of our competition as often as possible!
So to fishing, how would you describe the fishing you like to do?
I really am a generalist at heart and am just as happy tiddler-bashing with a micro-light spinning outfit as hooking into a mako shark or a tuna, although recent years have tended to be more fly-heavy of course. Given a choice I always prefer to be stalking and sight-fishing whether shore or boat based and that applies for all species. I love the thrill of the hunt and also thanks to being a lifelong natural history fan, relish the various locations in which we are lucky enough to find ourselves. More and more I am enjoying the chance to fish overseas and that excites me greatly as there are just so many places to see and species to catch!
Is there a memorable day that always makes you smile?
Like many of us, my dad got my two brothers and I into fishing when we were young which was some 35 years ago or more. We have had some great days over the years but recent happy memories have been the chance to show him my world with trips to Alaska, Mexico and Cuba together. His first bonefish was a particularly happy moment as a died-in-the-wool UK trout and salmon fisherman.The other ones that make me smile are the photos that come up on my computers screensaver now and then of my daughter and I fishing over the years as she has grown up. She has driven boats, slept in boats, been sick in boats, pumped bait, kissed bait and put up with it all as often times (especially when we lived in San Diego) the only way to spend a bit of time with her old man. She’s 20 this year and those days are behind us now but I still hope we’ll have one or two more days in the future sometime when I can persuade her there is really nothing else she could be doing.
Wet fly or dry fly?
As a southerner born and bred (albeit Sussex) it has to be dry doesn’t it!? Evening rises on the reservoirs or hatches on the chalkstreams make it no contest. If I was born up north though I could see the appeal of fishing spiders on the rivers or drifting a team of wets on the highland lochs around Poolewe that I love so much.
The latest rod or one you’ve always fished with?
Actually for the longest time as a youngster it was the only rod I had which was a 7/8 weight Shakespeare that did everything.With my job now I am of course lucky to get the chance to try many of the latest rods but only for one or two trips usually before they go back. I am in a strange situation on the trout fishing side currently of not really having my own go-to rod, typically using whatever we have in the office at the time which is actually far from ideal. On the saltwater side though I did invest a few years back in some G Loomis Crosscurrents in an 8 and 10 weight which I truly love. They are great rods and definitely for now the ones I always go to when travelling overseas although at three pieces they are getting less than ideal.
Our usual question: one day of fishing, where would it be?
For as long as I can remember I have felt pulled towards those tiny specks of land that dot the tropical oceans. The atoll type islands such as those found in the southern Seychelles archipelago or in the South Pacific like the Cook Islands. I’ve been lucky enough to have fished one of those and might get a chance at the other this year so with that in mind I thought about species instead and fishing for my first indo-pacific permit along the beautiful beaches of Northern Australia would have to be the choice.