Missing Angling magazines....

I don't know if I am being paranoid after the recent hunt sabatoeur attack on fishermen but I just noticed something which is bugging me a bit.

Stopped at the RoadChef on the M62 toll road and thought I might as well get a fishing magazine to read for the rest of the ride home, as she who must be obeyed was taking over.

Copious magazines on display inside.

Almost every subject under the sun....

BUT - you guessed it, not a single fishing magazine of any type or sort. Not coarse, not fly, not posh nor common. No IYCF, No TCF, no T&S etc etc etc.

I wondered about this odd abberration all the way home. Only to be even more concerned when looking at the ranks of magazines in my local Sainsburys to note the same phenomenon: not a fishing mag in sight.

Do the chaps on here in the fishing journalism trade know what is going on ?

Is this some deliberate policy to exclude angling magazines from the shelves ? And if so why ? Because of the deep moral anti-bloodsports convictions of the Directors of Roadchef and Sainsburys ? Yeah, right....

Or because they are running scared of the risk of Sabs having a go at their stores if they have fishing magazines on display ? If so then we ought to know what is going on and make some sort of protest in response.

It's all very well saying you can buy them elsewhere but in some small rural villages when a giant like Sainsburys plonks down a store on the high street that's it for more than half of the other ordinary small retailers, including newsagents. Once they close then Sainsbuggers becomes the only game in town.... and I'm not just picking on Sainsbuggers in particular, all of the big supermarket chains are as bad - the Walmart guys apparently like to boast about how many competitors stores they have managed to cause to close down, as some sort of "bragging rights" thing. But Sains is the only one I have so far checked out for fishing mags and found them wanting.

If there is effectively censorship and a challenge to freedom of lawful expression of enjoyment of a (presently) perfectly lawful pastime for fear of Sabs then I really do think we should be told, plainly and clearly.

And then get our arses in gear to organise a genuinely effective lobbying organisation like the RSPBA or RSPCA to protect Anglers interests. Love or loathe both of those organisations it has to be admitted that they are politically 99 million percent more effective in their interests than us anglers.

You have made a very good point Evan.

I have recently noticed that my local Tesco does not stock Angling Star or Angling Times.

As regards Sainsbuckets, well quite honestly I stopped shopping at that awful place because the prices are high and the produce is crap.

To me, Morrisons offers the best produce of the lot. And Asda are not far behind. But I must admit my favourite is Waitrose.

I think the problem is due to the publishers having to pay for shelf space for their magazines.

Maybe Sir Richard of the Lea can answer.

Sometimes Richard I do have difficulty getting my AT.

Dont notice any trends here in the east midlands, magazines are to be found in most stores around Derby, my village of around a thousand inhabitants has a papershop which stocks the usual monthlies, including angling star and the midland star, so either it was at the end of a month or just a local thing, nobody wanting to buy particular magazines. I do find the dating of magazines wierd, because you get most mags a month early ie buying Septembers mags in Aug.

M62 toll road?

I have just been away for the weekend...non fishing weekend......for something to do i parted with my hard earned dosh and purchased, AT...AM....MA and AS.

The angling weeklies are imho at their lowest eb in my angling reading life time.........i'll not bother again untill i hear of some improvement!

Perhaps thats why they don't stock them?

You are right about the Mags Paul, they are all crap and descending rapidly into catologues. I read MA and AS myself as I know most of the contibuters myself, I find it cheaper and get a lot more satisfaction by buying an angling book now and then.

A good point with the magazines is that you can look back over the years and see some of the old methods that are very usefull today.

I haven't noticed a drop in outlets either Tom. I can't say Iv'e ever seen angling mags in any of the service stations though. I remember looking years ago when going on holiday. Maybe they have never stocked them.

I have had the same problem when on long motorway journeys lads.
May I suggest that as an alternative, you purchase one of those ?artistic pamphlets? from the top shelf which now come with a free plastic bag, often strategically placed so you cant see the birds knockers! (bit of a swizz if you ask me!).
They were at one time called ?ham shank mags??but are now known as ?Bloke mags? I believe.
Hope this helps!

Are they the ones where proud hubbies send in pictures of there dearly beloved?

They are indeed Sgt Bash!
On the subject of ?naughty things?, I was going out with a feminist bird, well fit, so I of course lied through my teeth that I hated naughty pictures, and that all men were indeed bastards, well anything to get my wicked way really.
Anyway, she was standing behind me at the computer when one of my ?mates? sent a very naughty picture?VERY naughty picture Bash!?the cow set about me and called me a pervert and all sorts of things?can you imagine!
Women just don?t understand we men do they Bash!!

Well there's alays Viz where you can read the latest exploits of Sid the Sexist, Johnny Fartpants, The Fat Slags, Spoilt B******d, Roger Mellie etc.

Date on the mag is the date it is removed from the shelf.

My local Asda sells the AT, AM, IYCF and Sea Angler

Maybe they are Irish Sabs. They BUY all the fishing magazines to get them off the supermarket shelves!

We had a Londis shop next door to my local tackle shop and they used to sell a shed load of angling mags each week due to the tackle shop being next door. Tesco brought the shop and turned it into one of those Tesco Express stores. When I asked them why they dont sell any angling mags any more they said that they can only stock what Tesco say they can stock and Tesco wont alow any angling mags to be sold in there stores.

How stupid is that?
If they sold fishing mags they would keep the locals happy, bring more people into their shop and make loads of money at the same time yet they wont do it.

Tesco sell angling mags/papaers in the tesco extra near me but the sainsburys does'nt, like john huntly i think its more of a space issue, how many mags for each one on display,

Isn't it funny that on this site a few weeks ago people were reporting that Tesco and other supermarkets were now selling basic fishing gear. But apparently they dont like selling angling magazines! Hypocrites.

I think most supermarkets stick to a basic package of general interest mags, I dont think they are in the mag selling business, just another item to get the flock grazing before they hit them with the stuff they really want to offload onto the consumer.

The Sainsburys here in Thetford does indeed stock fishing mags and weeklies, including AS which is not based in this area.

I'm just up the road nr Attleborough Emmo, no problem round here either. Where do you fish locally?