In what feels like fly fishing’s version of American Idol (for writers), Gray’s Sporting Journal Editor Jim Babb will soon cease writing the Gray’s angling column, and is willing to look to fly fishing’s barbarian hordes for his replacement.

Gray's Sporting JournalFirst, let’s applaud Babb. A willingness to read two sample columns submitted by pretty much every fly fisherman with literary pretensions (hint: most of us) is either a stunning display of populism, or a lab experiment in exposure to near-lethal levels of bad metaphor.

We wish him luck.

From MidCurrent:

Babb described what he needs in order to make a decision about the new hire: “Basically, everyone gets the same treatment: I want to see two sample Gray’s columns, as polished as the writer can make them: one on fly fishing, one on whatever; they have to run between 1450 and 1485 words, and must be emailed to me not later than June 1, 2011. How soon they come doesn’t matter–I won’t be making a decision until after I’ve read them all–but crowding the last week might matter.”

Limber up those fingers, Undergrounders – and don’t overlook the bit about word counts. Editors are touchy about writers who can’t follow directions (hint: again, that’s most of us), and if you want to become fabulously wealthy writing seven columns a year for Gray’s, you don’t want to piss off the editor.

E-mail submissions to: editorgsj@gmail.com (no formats were specified for the submission, but stick to something normal).

See you at the keyboard, Tom Chandler.

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