If you haven’t read any, do so, and if you have where you similarly affected, or am I alone in my appreciation? That first book (The Passionate Angler), is heavily quoted in ‘A passion for angling’ and I can see why. I didn’t agree with many of the outdated views or his disdain for Coarse Fishing (it is primarily about fly fishing) but he expresses it in such a way that I didn’t care too much. I laughed in places and was upset about his friends dying through the war. I was amazed to find out that, having written all these books, of such quality and obvious passion, that at 41 he caught a large trout and never fished again, despite living into his 70’s. if anyone knows more of that story I’d love to know.
Finally I have to contrast this with Frank Sawyers - The Nymph and the Trout. I found this really hard to get through (most of the rest of the holiday). I’m sure that Mr Sawyers contribution to the art of fishing the Nymph is both extensive and deserved, but the written word is not where his talent lay. Sorry to tread on toes if others thought different, but to me it was an endless list of majors, generals, lords and sirs he’d fished with followed by an anecdote about how he proved a Nymph worked and then how the gentleman gave up their life long hatred of the Nymph fisher and became one.
M
