Helm Change on a Lucky Ship

I’ve always believed that Anglers Journal has the best readers in the fishing world, even if we don’t have quite as many as those titles that started a million years ago.

This summer marks the ninth year since we began working on the inaugural issue of Anglers Journal. This issue is our 34th. That’s no small thing in today’s print magazine business, which is regularly beset by storms. But AJ has been a lucky ship since it first slid down the ways and was splashed in the winter of 2014. And with a good, seasoned crew, we have managed to skirt the reefs and shoals that cause even well-found vessels to founder. Our crew has included more than 150 writers and photographers whose work has appeared in these pages. Each reader and each contributor have been responsible for our success.

It is with a deep sense of gratitude that I thank each of you for your support as I turn over the helm to a new skipper. I am not bidding you adieu, exactly, because I’m remaining on board as editor-at-large. I am excited to continue writing and editing stories while using my expanded ration of free time to explore new waters, adventures and projects.

Charlie Levine has the right stuff to guide Anglers Journal on the next leg of its journey. Charlie is a lifelong angler in both salt and fresh, but he is most at home on the briny. As a toddler, he caught snapper blues, then worked his way up to sails, tuna and marlin as an adult.

Charlie carries on the fishing tradition in which he was raised. His father had a six-pack license and likes to fish. His late stepfather was a hardcore offshore guy. Charlie lives in Florida, owns an 18-foot flats skiff and enjoys fishing with friends and his two young sons.

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Of the more than 40 years I have spent writing and editing magazines, my time working on Anglers Journal has been the most rewarding of my career. We set out from the start to do things differently, to cover the fishing world with a unique eye for photos and design, and a refined ear for stories.

We brought our distinctive style to features on pioneering anglers, our favorite species, adventure travel, camaraderie and art. In the pursuit of a good story, we roamed the flats, soaked ourselves in booming surf, fished streamside from the Rockies to Patagonia, and lived in coastal and offshore waters around the world. Our goal was to create a fishing magazine that you and your friends would want to devour.

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I first met Charlie more than 20 years ago when he came to work for Soundings Trade Only, a marine business monthly owned by the same media group that started Anglers Journal. Charlie left a little after one year to become managing editor of the New England edition of The Fisherman magazine. He later became a senior editor at Marlin magazine. Charlie has written hundreds of fish stories while pursuing a laundry list of species from Alaska to Australia.

On his last night working for us two decades ago, we went out for pints at the Tap Room in the Griswold Inn, an historic hotel in Essex, Connecticut. I was impressed by Charlie’s work and was sorry to see him leave. On a bar napkin, I wrote: “If you ever need a job, give me a call.” I signed the napkin, as did Anglers Journal senior editor Michael LaBella. Whenever I’d run into Charlie, we’d joke about that napkin. All these years later, fate, luck and the tides carried him back and deposited him at Anglers Journal. It was a sure sign.

Charlie and I, and the rest of the Anglers Journal team, are excited to embark on the next leg of our voyage as we continue to bring you this striking magazine. We hope you enjoy the ride.