Show notes
In this episode of the TCO Flycast, Bill sits down with Ross Purnell, editor and publisher of Fly Fisherman magazine, the sport's most authoritative publication. Recorded at TCO Boiling Springs, Ross's home shop, on the exact day he hit 30 years with the magazine. You may not know Ross by name, but if you fly fish, you know his work.Ross walks through the road that got him here: teaching himself to cast with a cheap foam-grip fly rod, learning the sport page by page from Fly Fisherman, buying a Bow River guide business in his early twenties (funded by selling off his comic book collection), and helping build one of the first fishing websites on the planet before the internet went mainstream. That side project eventually landed him inside the magazine he grew up reading.From there we get into the good stuff. Ross tells the story behind Descent, the film where he rappelled into the plunge pools of Yosemite Falls to fish rainbows almost no one has ever cast to. He breaks down how he chooses his far-flung trips, including a 30-hour boat ride to St. Brandon Atoll for giant trevally, permit, and the biggest average bonefish he has ever seen. We talk about how to actually get published in the magazine, why he made personality profiles a priority, and where print goes from here.We close on conservation. Ross explains why AI data centers are now one of the biggest threats to our rivers, the fight over the Roadless Rule, the magazine's long history on issues like Pebble Mine, and the simple things every angler can do locally.The best way to support this podcast is to choose TCO Fly Shop for all your fly fishing gear needs. Find our online store here:https://www.tcoflyfishing.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=flycast_ep10_ross_purnellSubscribe to Fly Fisherman Magazine ($15/year):https://www.flyfisherman.com/Ross Purnell's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rossflyfisher/Fly Fisherman Magazine on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flyfishermanmagazine/Chapters:00:00 Intro: Meet Ross Purnell of Fly Fisherman Magazine01:35 Rappelling to Fish Wild Rainbows05:50 Happy Canada Day: 30 Years With the Company to the Day07:03 How a Cheap Fly Rod and One Magazine Started It All09:24 Why Fly Shops Still Matter More Than Ever11:07 Selling His Comic Collection to Buy a Guide Business13:26 The Bow River14:30 From Summer Guide to Journalism Degree16:54 Building One of the First Fishing Websites on Earth19:23 The Article That Got Him Hired at Fly Fisherman22:17 The Dot-Com Bubble and Auction Sites Before eBay24:04 Moving to Pennsylvania and Climbing the Ranks26:55 The Longest-Serving Editor in the Magazine's History27:22 How has Fly Fisherman changed over time?29:15 The Biggest Change He Made: Telling People's Stories30:13 The "Secret Sauce" Behind the Sport's Biggest Names32:52 Why It All Comes Back to Education33:41 The Pressure of Being the "Magazine of Record"35:16 Full Autonomy: No Focus Groups, No Corporate Pressure36:12 Print Isn't Dead: Films, Podcasts, and What's Next38:34 Why a Full-Page Ad in Fly Fisherman Means You've Made It40:28 Chasing the World's Most Remote Fisheries43:22 The Trips That Didn't Pan Out45:01 A 30-Hour Boat Ride to St. Brandon Atoll47:38 Giant Trevally, Permit, and Sharks on the Flats51:12 Next Up: The Beartooths and a Film in Brazil53:11 How to Actually Get Published in Fly Fisherman55:06 Finding Fresh Angles on Every Fly Fishing Topic56:25 Conservation: How AI Data Centers Threaten Our Rivers1:00:13 Who's Fighting Back for the Watersheds1:01:27 Pebble Mine and a 20-Year Conservation Fight1:02:25 Simple Conservation Wins Any Angler Can Do1:04:03 The Roadless Rule and What's on the Chopping Block1:04:56 Is the Sport Healthy? Covid, Tariffs, and New Anglers1:06:43 Fly Fishing's Cool Factor and the Price Myth1:09:01 You Don't Need a $1,200 Rod to Start1:09:26 How to Subscribe and Where to Find Their Films1:12:20 Wrap-Up and Thanks