Unless you have been living under a stone, or in the Big Brother House, for the last decade or more then if you are an angler you will have heard of Mick Brown. As one of the UK’s leading anglers Mick has achieved a staggering amount in his angling career but is probably best known for his TV partnership with Matt Hayes.
It is a struggle to think of a more natural pairing than Matt and Mick and this has resulted in some great TV programmes over the years and though Mick has made his name in print as predominantly a predator angler, he has achieved great crossover appeal thanks largely to the TV audience.
Mick’s first book ‘The Practice and the Passion’ has been in print for twenty years with Crowood Press and in that time has sold over 15,000 copies, so it was about time that a new book from his pen hit the shelves – and now it has.
First impressions are everything with a book and though they say never judge a book by its cover, a good cover will unquestionably help to sell a book. Here there is no problem as the cover is a mix of a nice catch shot of a big pike in the snow and a stunning scenic shot and the whole cover is very colourful; a theme that continues as you read through the pages as there are lots and lots of big, full colour pictures of the very highest quality which you would expect from someone who writes regularly for the magazines.
All the window dressing though would be nothing without good content and the book doesn’t fail here either. Mick has a writing style that I think makes him readable to any level of angling ability There is no over flowery description a la John Bailey but a no nonsense, approachable style very reminiscent of the author himself.
There are some great tales in the book too and I was particularly interested in the story of the capture of a certain thirty pound pike from one of my local rivers. Thirties from the venue in question are so rare I was hoping that there was maybe some big secret to its capture but to read Mick’s reaction to catching it: his legs shaking and going slightly to pieces made me smile as I think I would have been equally as blown away and yet Mick’s description also makes you think that it could be you on the very next bleep of a buzzer or dip of a float.
Mick covers within the pages of the book just about every method of pike fishing you could imagine. Not in a technical way, but in an anecdotal method that draws you into the story and allows you to grasp the mechanics of the method without being dry and boring. But there is more to the book than just the capture of fish. Mick also covers a little bit of piking politics, of how he has made his living from the sport and of course of his time in front of the cameras.
In many ways with the way that just about anyone now seems to be labelled as a “Consultant” or “Field Tester”, this book may almost be an historical account of a period in time when it was possible to make a living from this branch of the sport as sadly Mick is probably one of a dying breed and it is really interesting to get his views on the way that he has earned his living.
To conclude I would urge anyone with even the remotest interest in pike angling to get their hands on a copy. It kept me gripped from page 1 until the very end of the book, which came very late at night on the same day as I started reading it – and you can’t really get a better testament to the book than that!
‘Mick Brown Professional Pike Angler’ is available from Mick Brown Angling at a price of £28 + postage and packing.
