Saltwater Fly Fishing is devoted exclusively to coastal and offshore fly fishing. Our mission is to supply readers with superior “how-to” or technical articles on every aspect of the sport. Angling techniques, fly tying, knots and rigging, fish behavior, tackle, and travel are all topics of interest to our readers, who fish for nearly every saltwater species that can be caught on flies. An article submitted to Saltwater Fly Fishing should present useful information that will increase our readers’ enjoyment of the sport and proficiency as anglers. Please be aware that we schedule most of our content well in advance of an issue date. Give several months lead time when making a proposal for a certain issue. For example, if you’re pitching an article on spring tarpon fishing for our April/May issue, you should query us no later than October of the previous year.

Before making a submission, take some time to study back issues of the magazine. This will help you gauge the types of articles we might be interested in publishing in the future. It will also help you recognize the format in which to construct a manuscript, and our style and tone.

Technical pieces—those that deal with casting, rigging, fly tying, and the like—must be accompanied by appropriate photography or rough illustrations. A fly-tying submission should always include samples of flies for us to send to our staff photographer.

We run relatively few travel or “destination” pieces. We prefer “where-to” pieces devoted to accessible, reasonably priced, practical destinations, rather than articles about exotic, expensive destinations. Any travel story submitted to Saltwater Fly Fishing should provide the reader with the information he needs to catch fish once he has reached his destination.

Most articles published by Saltwater Fly Fishing fall into one of four categories:

Features vary in length from 1,500 to 2,200 words. We rarely print articles of more than 2,500 words, and be forewarned that a 3,000-word piece, if accepted, will be cut drastically before publication. A feature submission should include color transparencies.

Short features range from 1,000 to 1,200 words. A short feature generally has a very tight focus: tying a fly, constructing a specific type of leader, proper handling and release of a certain type of fish, and so forth. It is usually necessary for a short-feature submission to include photographs, rough illustrations, or flies.

Regional Reports are short features that spotlight regional fishing destinations. Reports should include detailed access information (boat-launch locations, roadway directions, and the like), effective local fly patterns, a description of required tackle (rod weights and types of leaders), and listings of accommodations, fly shops, and fishing guides in the area. Contributors should also include color or black-and-white photographs of fish caught in the area being covered. One-page reports generally run 750 words; two-page reports run about 1,200 words.

One-page shorts are 350- to 750-word pieces. We think of this type of article as a “problem solver”—the proper method of tying in hackle-tip tails, a better way to paint eyes on the heads of streamers, a particular aspect of tackle maintenance, and so forth. Appropriate photography can help sway our decision in favor of a short submission.
 We publish a limited number (one per issue; sometimes two) of essays and humorous or whimsical pieces. Such pieces should be no more than 2,000 words long; 1,500 is preferable.

Submissions and Payments

We prefer to work from query letters, and you should send a letter outlining your article before making a submission. A query can save you the frustration and disappointment of making a futile submission, and it allows us to fine-tune an idea to suit our editorial needs. We read and respond to all queries, but a magazine office is a wildly busy place and we are often forced to set aside our correspondence to meet a deadline. If your query arrives as we are beginning the busiest part of our production cycle, it’s possible that we may not be able to respond for several weeks, or even a month or more. Be patient, please.

A complete submission should include a cover letter, manuscript, selection of color slides, rough illustrations (if necessary), and flies (if necessary), and a SASE for return of your materials. A typewritten manuscript must be double-spaced and free from erasures or hand-written interlineations. If you write on a computer, please send a diskette with your submission. We work in Microsoft Word, but we’re able to convert a number of other programs. Please include a very brief autobiography with your article.

Make sure that your name, address, and telephone number are on all materials submitted. A submission must be accompanied by sufficient return postage. Unless you specify otherwise, we return all materials via First Class Mail.

Saltwater Fly Fishing is not responsible for unsolicited submissions or the safety of submissions not in our possession. Safe care of submissions in transit to and from Saltwater Fly Fishing is the responsibility of the carrier.

We reserve the right to edit all manuscripts. Photos provided with an article will be used at the editor’s discretion.

We buy modified North American serial print, electronic, and in-house marketing rights to articles and photos. Payment is made during our production cycle, usually four to six weeks prior to publication. Rates vary according to the length, quality, and completeness of a submission—articles that include good photography are usually worth more—but the following pay rates generally apply:
    _     Feature articles—$350 and up
    _     Short features—$200 to $300
    _     Regional Reports—$150 (one page) and $250 (two pages)
    _     One-page shorts—$100 to $200

Send queries, correspondence, and submissions to:

Russ Lumpkin, managing editor

Saltwater Fly Fishing
 735 Broad Street
 Augusta, GA 30901