Need columnist

Time flies when you’re having fun, or at least when you’re busy.  The last couple month have been busy as Sue and I have plowed ahead with the final details of retirement and becoming full-time RVers.  To that end we got a contract on our house and close shortly.  That has prompted us to finish selling all possessions that won’t fit in the RV.  And looking at the remaining pile I’m still not sure it’ll all fit, but time will tell.

We’ll actually be out of the house about three weeks before I retire.  Homeless, but rather than living on the street, we’re opting for a nice motel suite.  Then it’s on the road.

At this point I’m rather sure most of you are wondering what this has to do with fishing.  This is a call for folks in Northern Colorado, especially the Fort Collins/Loveland/Greeley are who might be interested in contributing to the fishing column in the Fort Collins Coloradoan.  Let me give you a bit of history.

The column was started in January, 2008 by three Fish Explorer members, with the idea of promoting fishing with a local flavor and at the same time provide name awareness for Fish Explorer and the authors.  The writers were Matt Snider, Chad LaChance, and myself, Dave Coulson.  As I recall Chad wrote the initial column, followed by Matt, and myself.  The idea was we’d rotate and fill in or trade dates as necessary.

As to what we were to write about, that was left to the writer with the following constraints, all columns were to be fishing related, approximately 500 words (now 600) and no “pure” advertising or self-promotion That was it and it remains that way today.

As time passed, both Chad and Matt became increasingly busy and ultimately I became the sole columnist.  It’s interesting that when we started, I wasn’t sure I had enough to write about for more than a year or two.  So I started a tickler file of ideas for times when I was short of ideas.  Turns out, the more you write, the easier it becomes to come up with things to write about.  I haven’t used the tickler file for years.

With my retirement, Sue and I plan to travel the country.  Consequently, it will be difficult for me to continue writing a local fishing column for the Fort Collins/Loveland/Greeley area.  As the column has been running now on its tenth year I’d like to see it continue.  I’ve spoken with Matt and Tom and neither is feels they’re in a position to take on the column.  Although, Matt is open to the idea of scheduling writers and contributing on occasion. So the purpose of the blog is to see if there’s enough interest to continue the fishing column in the Fort Collins Coloradoan. So if you’d like to contribute, I’d like to hear from you.

One last point, over the nine years of writing the column, some 415 articles, it’s been an act of love, community service, in that I’ve never received any financial compensation for my work. If you’re wondering why I write then, because I get read and on occasion folks tell me how much they enjoyed a piece.  That’s why.

If you’re interested, let me or Matt know, and soon, as I need to talk with the Coloradoan folks in the next couple weeks.