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Cat

I understand they have a lot of material available to use - sufficient for up to a year - possibly due to writers from CF and Carp & Coarse submitting material - so I suspect a lot of good material won't get used. They have a number of regular writers that are in every month and with the Peg One Nash advert, sorry feature, that doesn't leave a lot of room for "freelance" articles. It's a great shame as I'm sure most of us would rather read a couple of articles a year from lots of different writers than read how to use a bait dropper for barbel and perch ad nauseum. The recent article by Phil Smith on tench tactics was awful - it must have taken him longer to take the photos than write the words. Surely one of the articles that have been submitted had more appeal?!
 
I feel CAT needs to return to the old format but with some new additional writers, i.e. Keith, Chris Turnbull, Terry Lampard, Pete Reading, Trefor West, Terry Hearn, Jim Gibbinson etc. Can anybody say some of these anglers would not be prepared to write on a semi-regular basis? The old format was great, it just needed a few fresh ideas/articles.
 
Keith Speer said:
I had a couple of items ready prepared for them but they did not want to know!

I suppose people are not interested in stuff that does not sell bags of pellets or Boilies, so there is no interest in my way of fishing.

These days if you can’t sell a product on the back of an article no one is interested!

And there is no margin in 3 pints of maggots!!
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I'l look forward to reading them in Riffle then Keith:)
 
as an ex newsagent of 30years i have seen plenty magazines.i liked cat and see the points already put forward.they cannot survive without the pages of adverts and it must be hard for writers to put new ideas forward,hence the
repetition.we can always learn but it gets boring reading the same tips .us old stagers need new ideas.
albert
 
It was bad enough when the old contributors were churning out the same old articles at the same time of the year year on year but you know it's reached rock bottom when the new contributors are simply regurgitating the methods they learned from the old contributors.
I cancelled my subscription two years ago.
 
I sent an e-mail to CAT covering the gripes outlined in my original post, and I received a reply back stating they'd had only good feedback regarding the new format (?) They also said that the old format was no longer financially viable, and that they have been struggling with hikes in paper prices.

Still won't be renewing my subscription though, and I'll be surprised if it survives as for me the new format is confused and unoriginal.
 
I had a quick scan in the newsagents this morning, It looks to me as if they might be trying to fill the niche left by the demise of coarse fisherman. Still nothing there for me I'm afraid.
 
bought myself the new edition thats my last and the big breakfast made page 9 in bill rushmer article
 
Neil Blood said:
I sent an e-mail to CAT covering the gripes outlined in my original post, and I received a reply back stating they'd had only good feedback regarding the new format (?) They also said that the old format was no longer financially viable, and that they have been struggling with hikes in paper prices.

Still won't be renewing my subscription though, and I'll be surprised if it survives as for me the new format is confused and unoriginal.
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Neil, how about sending them a link to this thread. They may start to get the gist of how disappointed people really are.
 
Its nice to hear a few of you saying that you enjoyed my articles in CAT. Basically I stopped writing them because I did not want to get repetitive and also because, due to my work load, I was no longer fishing as regularly as I needed to in order to keep the articles fresh. Also, being paid £150 for an article of over 2000 words along with 20 photographs represented an awfully large amount of effort for a pittance! In truth I've not read a copy of the mag for a year or two but I had noticed that the quality of the printing had gone downhill.
 
Chris Turnbull said:
Its nice to hear a few of you saying that you enjoyed my articles in CAT. Basically I stopped writing them because I did not want to get repetitive and also because, due to my work load, I was no longer fishing as regularly as I needed to in order to keep the articles fresh. Also, being paid £150 for an article of over 2000 words along with 20 photographs represented an awfully large amount of effort for a pittance! In truth I've not read a copy of the mag for a year or two but I had noticed that the quality of the printing had gone downhill.
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They pay a lot less now!
 
Perhaps they paid so much to Chris because he strikes such a pose in a tank top?:)

Mark – They said they had seen the “Riffle†article and would have taken that at the time, but when we spoke it was the close season, they felt that such a piece would only be of interest at the right time of year.

To be fair I was not going to regurgitate the stuff in “Riffle†but rather something different, even so they were not interested, sometimes doing things a little differently does not do you any favours, my way of fishing is depends upon how the quarry re-acts given certain conditions, float fishing is but one way to take fish, it is not the only way, neither is fishing a “Donkey choker†pellet the only way to catch!
Surely it is all about applying your methods given those certain conditions, there is always more than one way to skin a cat (pardon the pun), it just requires a bit of alternative thinking.

I was not intending to have a go at “CAT†I have only ever picked up the “old†version, I cannot comment on the latest offering as I have yet to buy a copy, I will do so now, but I suspect I already have a good idea of the format as the producers of “CAT†probably accept what the statisticians tell them most anglers want.

Profiling a publication for the average rather than the exceptional is probably why sites such as BFW carry such a strong position within our sport; it might also be the reason why magazine publication figures are starting to fall back.

The weeklies have taken the “red top†route, splashing out on sensationalism in favour of solid content, that route certainly sells copy but not I suspect to those that take their angling a little more seriously, which is where sites such as BFW will carry those with a more thoughtful approach.



I can understand why Chris would not wish to seem repetitive and I applaud that view, it is a shame that some other well known writers do not follow the same ethos.

I feel that if you have something to say, choose a medium that will shout it loud, if you have nothing to say then it is better to say nothing.

Tight lines chaps.
 
That’s a shame Chris, all the issues so far this year have been pretty bad with very little in the way of quality writing in my opinion.
This month I got a free solar hair gauge which is useful if you are very new to the sport or blind!
It would seem the publishers are going further and further from their original concept, but if that’s what their target readership demands, then for the magazine and subsequently the company to profitably continue that’s how it will be.

Worst of all my guarantee of a 'decent' Christmas present from my mother in law in shape of a CAT subscription has gone out the window and I can’t ask her for anything with t**s in so I will have to make do with CAT! :D
 
I wonder where they get the idea that their customers "wanted " this new(tired) format? To me CAT was a specialsit/specimen angler publication, with the majority of the writers being just that. The appeal market now would seem to be casual anglers, if that's the right word. Tony Miles and Stef Horak still write pretty well all specialist articles but the whole presentation just seems so OTT and commercial. A great pity, it was possibly the best magazine ever produced in it's old format.
 
I do enjoy both Tony miles and Stef Horak’s articles, its just of late they have not done much for me, conversely I am sure there are people who have enjoyed them.

My main gripe is as you say Alex; I always perceived CAT as a Specialist/specimen publication and enjoyed the diversity (all be it slightly limited) that went with it.

I would hope they would take our opinions as readers on board, but in all honesty I feel we may be in the minority. It would also be interesting if supplied with an email outlining the above, they would infact publish it, as at one time I believe they would have done....
 
That is a very interesting point Tom. I actually think they would print it because despite much disappointment with the new style I feel that Kevin Clifford is a very decent person who would respect the opinions of his readers even if he didn't agree with them. He is obviously doing what he feels necessary to ensure the magazines survival which is, of course, his job. I guess there's only one way to find out..
 
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