Seasoned photography duo Barry and Cathy Beck recently ran a poll asking fans and friends to reveal their favorite flyfishing magazine—online or paper. According to Cathy’s Facebook page: “I was in on a discussion about flyfishing magazines. A company I know did a survey of 250 flyshop employees asking what was their favorite American fly fishing magazine and the answer blew me away. I can’t believe it’s true. So, I want to do my own survey.” Of the 145 results tallied, The Drake and Fly Fishing in Salt Waters took first and second respectively. Cathy adds, “Overwhelmingly we still prefer print over digital. We’re surprised at The Drake because we don’t see it on newsstands in the east.”
Tom Bie is the founder, editor, and publisher of The Drake. He started the magazine in 1998 as an annual newsprint publication based in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He then moved it to Steamboat, Colorado (1999), Boulder, Colorado (2001), and San Clemente, California (2004), as he took jobs as managing editor at Paddler, Senior Editor at Skiing, and Editor-in-Chief at Powder, respectively. Tom and The Drake are now both based in Denver, Colorado, where The Drake is finally all grows up(Swingers, 1996) to a quarterly magazine.