ESF's very own bookworm Graham Nicol looks at a few of his favourite books to see him through winter
For the vast majority of us residing within the northern hemisphere the season has ended and tackle have been put away for next season. Some of us will switch to thymallus thymallus, or pursue winter pike but predominately most of us now go into hibernation. With the nights rapidly drawing in now is the time to replenish depleted fly boxes beavering away at the vice tying replacements, variants and completely different concoctions that are unlikely to ever see the light of the day but looked terrific on the bench! The other pursuit we take up is sitting next to a roaring fire, glass of Scotland’s greatest export in one hand a book in the other. Angling literature is rich in heritage with a multitude of sublime writing to the point that we are somewhat spoilt. With such an abundance of titles to choose from where does one start? Being an avid reader myself I thought I would try and list some suggestions that I have thoroughly enjoyed, found inspirational and would happily re-read. The books below are not in any particular order and are readily available from standard sources such as amazon or Abe books. I have tried to cover quite a spectrum in order to retain a balance and hope if you read any of these you get as much pleasure as I have.
1. A Summer On The Test – J W Hills
Written in the 1920’s this book transports one to the banks of the river Test when its waters were truly pristine and fly life was profuse. Hills prose is elegant and very quickly one is picturing themselves in his shoes. The bulk of the writing is about outings on the river and one can only be envious about how wonderful it must have been then just after the Great War.
2. A River Never Sleeps – Roderick Haig Brown
Born in the UK Haig-Brown moved to Vancouver and fished the Campbell River. He fell in love with it and wrote many books with the above probably his most famous. This book is written like a diary with each chapter covering a month on the river. His writing is very fluid and as a consequence the pages fly by as one dreams they are there fishing along with him. Once again the time spent there was when the fish runs were immense and somewhat predictable and thus sport was stupendous. He also wrote a quartet consisting of Fisherman’s Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter which are excellent; but do set aside a little more time to complete this omnibus!
3. Fly Fishing – Sir Edward Grey
Written in 1899 this book focuses on using the fly rod on mostly the Itchen. Sir Edward Grey was a Liberal statesman being foreign secretary for over 10 years and it is remarkable having such a busy political life he managed to write a book on his passion. The quality of the writing is out of the top drawer with no doubt his background accounting for it. It is one of the first to focus predominately on use of the dry fly. Being stuck in London for long periods Grey was a reformed man when he rushed out to Hampshire to spend a few hours by the riverside and he conveys this elegantly in this book.
4. Trout Bum – John Gierach
The title of this book sums up Gierach perfectly. He writes to fund his addiction and that is fishing as much as possible. This is his first book and was an instant hit. Subsequent books with titles such as “where the trout are as long as your leg”, “standing in a river waving a stick “or “another lousy day in paradise” gives one an idea of his mindset. In this book he spends a whole chapter explaining the perfect camp coffee and so don’t expect his writings to be educational unless you are a coffee critic. There really no-one else to compare him with.
5. Somewhere Down The Crazy River – Paul Boote and Jeremy Wade
This book is totally different to any of the above for it focuses on the giant mahseer and the goliath tiger fish. This intrepid pair travels to India for the former and the African Congo for the latter. Written before trips and expeditions opened up to the armchair angler to pursue these types of fish this book covers the difficulties all along the journey. The conditions and challenges they endured are somewhat beyond belief and for travelling anglers this is a must read making one realise how much easier it is now. Jeremy Wade has been producing a very successful television series called “river monsters”.
6. Salar The Salmon – Henry Williamson
This is a novel about the life of a salmon from hatching to returning to its native river in the West Country to spawn. On its journey it meets all the problems we know they encounter such as seals, nets, anglers, poachers, otters, pollution, disease, etc . Williamson lived next to a river and created a home made hatchery to study the salmon more closely and his knowledge on its cycle and habits are evocatively written here. He also wrote another famous novel “tarka the otter” which preceded Salar and likewise was a massive success.
7. The Longest Silence – Thomas McGuane
Although this book covers many species the section that targets the permit is magical. It is very obvious McGuane was obsessed with this fish and in a series of essays he powerfully conveys the addiction and affect these most difficult fish can have on a person. It became so extreme that he designed a permit boat and one very quickly shares the many frustrations and few successes these fish provide. Beautifully written this has to be a classic but I must point out his style of prose does not suit everyone’s taste
8. A Man May Fish – T C Kingsmill Moore
Moore was a High Court judge who fished the Irish loughs and his command of English was quite enviable. In this book he covers trout, salmon and sea trout and once again was fortunate when stocks were in rude health. Effectively a record of his 50 plus years fishing predominately in the Connemara and Galway area it is informative for he was both a questioner and experimenter. Moore was famous for introducing the bumble series of flies which are still used widely.
9. Where The Bright Waters Meet – Harry Plunkett Greene
Greene was an operatic singer who fished the Bourne which is a tributary of the Test. This was written as a memoir and must be read by all. Quite simply stunning this book covers the time he fell in love with it to its slow deterioration due to overstocking and disease. It has to be considered a masterpiece of writing
10. I Know A Good Place – Clive Gammon
As a travel book about one’s fishing exploits I could have chosen Farson’s “Fishing” but more out of sentimentality on account of his recent death I have selected the above. During his working career this Welshman was a writer for the US Sports Illustrated and was fortunately allowed to travel wherever he wished with unlimited budget to write sporting articles. As a consequence he visited remote and exotic places to catch a variety of species that many of us can only dream about. Being a journalist by profession his articles are well researched, written and with good humour.
Happy reading