If your interview subjects don’t give you meaningful material to work with, you can’t build a solid finished product. With that in mind, here are some of the lessons that I remind myself of before every effort, despite (or perhaps because) I have no formal journalism training.

Sometimes it seems that no one wants to be an outdoor writer anymore. That’s a mistake if you love to fish because it opens up worlds of opportunity — as long as you’re willing to make certain sacrifices and play by certain rules.