In yet another sign that fly fishing blogging is going mainstream (hell, it went mainstream in other industries a year ago, but never let it be said fly fishing is on the cutting edge of marketing practice), Field & Stream magazine launched their own blog.

Field & Stream the Ultimate fly fishing blog?

Highlights include motorcycle/reel test videos, where they tie a line to a motorcycle, let ‘er rip, and test the drags on various reels.

The videos lack the Lettermen-esque edge we were hoping for, but they did give us an idea for some watermelon-based, high-altitude reel testing. (On second thought, the difference between them and us is that nobody sends us free reels, so we’d be destroying our own gear. Bad idea.)

Overall, the blog is interesting, and the blogmaster is Kirk Deeter — the diver behind the interesting scuba survey on the South Platte.

Like all blogs, it will take a while to find its voice, though we can only hope the Field & Stream Powers That Be take a hard look at the header, which is not only rendered in an unattractive “earthworm” color, but contains these words: “The Ultimate fly fishing blog.”

Ummmm. Hmmmm.

It might be a teensy premature to make that claim, and Top Secret communications suggest this somewhat bold tagline isn’t the work of the bloggers, so we’re exempting them from a further online beating (though perhaps only temporarily).

If there’s an “ultimate” fly fishing blog, it’s probably current traffic champion MidCurrent, probably the only truly adult-powered blog in fly fishing.

Welcome to the blogosphere, kids. The water’s fine. As usual, the Undergrounders are invited to comment.

[tags]fly fishing, fishing, blog, blogging, field & stream[/tags]