If the fish are there, people will continue to fish. So, environmental quality must continue to support strong fish populations. So too must our knowledge of how to manage fisheries and fish populations continue to expand.

As long as people fish, the services of the In-Fisherman staff, presently the most experienced editorial group in all outdoors, will be in demand by a cadre of anglers who like to fish for a variety of species and want to improve their fishing. If anything, the basis for In-Fisherman is stronger today than ever before, for more than ever before, we offer a unique blend of expert insight based on extensive field experience, coupled with knowledge of the best of what science says on these subjects. We're the only fishing organization that offers a teaching system whereby anglers can learn in step-by-step fashion to fish -- not just well, but exceptionally well.

Someday perhaps we'll do a list of all the various pioneering introductions, ideas, and concepts that have flowed from In-Fisherman over the years. Some have by now bounced around the fishing world so many times in various forms that most folks don't realize from whence those ideas sprang. It wasn't long ago, for example, that someone lectured me on the concept of selective harvest, without a clue that we were the first to use the term and to define the idea, now some 15 years ago.

In-Fisherman magazine remains a straightforward but diverse package with topical coverage that includes hardcore how-to, cooking the catch, humor, and new-product coverage, along with inside tips on where to go and whom to contact to take advantage of your fishing skills. The main point is that a lot of field experience and a steady but easily digestible measure of science runs through everything we do. We offer a look at a unique fishing lifestyle.

In this issue, look for a bit of retrospective in each of the feature articles covering fish species. Sometimes, as is the case with the panfish article, the retrospective is woven into the fabric of the article. Meanwhile, the catfish article is a comprehensive look back at the march to a new age of catfishing. Caricatures from our cover artist of 28 years, Larry Tople, also are featured in this article. In other cases, sidebar items offer a look back at important topics from the past.

I was one of those first In-Fisherman subscribers waiting patiently to get that first issue, which arrived not in January 1975 as promised, but in June. There were about 11,000 members by the end of that first year, many of whom, as we know from correspondence and personal contact, are still with us today.

As editor in chief I too shall pass, as will the rest of the people who labor at In-Fisherman today. The concept of In-Fisherman, though, remains timeless -- the teaching format too; so as long as people fish, In-Fisherman will remain, this initial generation passing into the next and many beyond.