Fly Fishing Insider Podcast
DUN Magazine is a fly fishing magazine for women by women, founded by Jen Ripple in 2013 after she could not find one that already existed. It ran digital and free for its first years to build an audience, then went to print, and publishes everyday angler stories rather than professional trophy features.
Jen Ripple is the editor-in-chief of DUN Magazine, the online and print fly fishing magazine for women she founded in 2013 and now publishes quarterly from Tennessee.
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How did Jen Ripple get into fly fishing?
Jen Ripple did not grow up fishing. She was in her thirties, working in Michigan through a very cold winter, when she signed up for a fly tying class largely because it was cheap - eight classes for sixty-five dollars. She walked into the fly shop and never left the sport. Ripple learned backwards, tying flies first and only fishing once the ice came off, then teaching herself to fish for bass on the river running through the university campus.
Why did Jen Ripple start a women's fly fishing magazine?
Ripple was already writing a women's column for a Midwest online fly fishing magazine when she asked its editor what he thought of starting a women's fly fishing magazine. He assumed one already existed. She challenged him to find it; he could not, and neither could she. That exchange happened in June 2013, and DUN Magazine's first issue came out that September.
Why did DUN Magazine launch digital instead of print?
DUN went digital for its first couple of years on purpose, at a moment when everyone was saying print was dead. Ripple now describes the timing as more lucky than smart: digital let DUN Magazine give the content away free, which built an audience fast. By the time readers were emailing weekly asking where they could buy a print copy, the audience that wanted to buy it already existed. DUN's digital content is still free today.
What kind of stories does DUN Magazine publish?
DUN Magazine does not commission professional writers to reproduce familiar features. It runs everyday angler stories in the writer's own voice - a daughter working through grief with her late father's fly rod, someone who picked up a fly rod for the first time on vacation and caught a trout. Ripple's argument is that a beautifully written account of a steelhead landed by a professional does not make a reader believe she could do it, while an ordinary story does. The magazine's tagline is empowering women, not ignoring men.
Why were advertisers slow to back a women's fly fishing magazine?
Three things held advertisers back in DUN Magazine's early years, by Jen Ripple's account. They did not believe a large contingent of legitimate female anglers existed. They had almost no women's product to sell - the gear on offer amounted to ill-fitting waders. And established advertising relationships kept budgets where they were, with outlets whose owners the brands knew personally. What changed it was longevity: proving the audience was real and that the magazine was not going anywhere.
What does DUN Magazine do for conservation?
DUN Magazine commits to one hundred combined volunteer hours a year in conservation, which Ripple describes as something the office does rather than advertises. The magazine backs Casting for Recovery and The Mayfly Project, which takes children in foster care and orphanages out on the water, and does local work - river cleanups, high school and grade school programs, and volunteering with veterans.
What advice does Jen Ripple give someone starting in the fly fishing industry?
Shortly before DUN Magazine's first digital issue went out, a friend with roughly fifty years in the industry told Jen Ripple the magazine would be fabulous but would only ever have one edition, because not enough women fish. She let it roll off and published anyway. Her advice is that pushback is guaranteed for anything new, that whether it succeeds is down to willpower and passion rather than the market's permission, and that anyone chasing the industry for free gear and a pro staff slot has it backwards - fish more, and the business grows out of that.
Key takeaways
- DUN Magazine went from idea in June 2013 to first issue in September 2013, and is now a quarterly print publication with free digital content.
- Giving digital content away free for the first years built the audience that made the print launch viable.
- First-person everyday angler stories empower readers more reliably than professionally written trophy features.
- Advertisers followed only after longevity proved the audience was real - not after a single pitch.
- The magazine commits to 100 combined volunteer conservation hours a year.
- You do not need years of experience to teach someone: one day more on the water than the next person is enough to have something to pass on.
