| MARK WINTLE |
| Mark Wintle, an angler for thirty-five years, is on a quest to discover and bring to you the magic of fishing. Previously heavily involved with match fishing he now fishes for the sheer fun of it. With an open and enquiring mind, each week Mark will bring to you articles on fishing different rivers, different methods and what makes rivers, and occasionally stillwaters, tick. Add to this a mixed bag of articles on catching big fish, tackle design, angling politics and a few surprises. Are you stuck in a rut fishing the same swim every week? Do you dare to try something different and see a whole new world of angling open up? Yes? Then read Mark Wintle’s regular weekly column. |
OLD COARSE ANGLING BOOKS The recent forum debate by Ron Clay and Len Arbery got me thinking. Like Len, I am avid about angling books, but what books are worth seeking from the past? Is it worth spending hundreds, thousands, on these books? I am going to dip into my library to identify a few that constitute a good read. Many old angling books predate even the Victorian era. These really are rare and expensive, but often so far removed from modern angling that they are hard work to read, and reserved for serious angling historians. Of much more interest to the modern angler are those from the late Victorian period onwards. Though you can buy a copy of Izaak Walton’s Complete Angler for a quid, it’s no great shakes. It’s far better to look out for the great stuff. We are fortunate in that publishers such as Medlar have reprinted a number of these old books. Otherwise, you have the problem of tracking down rare and expensive books. Though this is not an impossible task, and certainly easier in the era of the Internet (www.bookfinder.com ), finding the book you want can take years, and still cost you a considerable sum. None of the books mentioned should cost more than £ 200 (fortunately most are much less), yet it would still be easy to rack up a bill into the thousands. At least the reprints cost mostly around £ 20 to £ 50. Late Victorian/Edwardian There are several authors to look out for in this period from 1870 to 1910. Ron began the forum with J. W. Martin or the ‘Trent Otter’. Some of his books (Trent Otter’s not Ron’s!) are re-workings of other books but if you can acquire ‘Coarse Fish Angling’, and ‘My Fishing Days and Fishing Ways’, you will be well rewarded. My favourite, as a roach angler, is ‘Roach, Rudd and Bream Fishing in many waters’, but this is exceptionally rare, and expensive too. Of the same ilk, and finally obtainable (original versions are practically non-existent) is Henry Coxon’s ‘A Modern Treatise on Practical Coarse Fish Angling’ (1896). An underrated yet affordable writer is Charles Wheeldon, whose book ‘Coarse Fish’ (1896) is well worth seeking. It’s mostly about a bygone age on the Thames yet sparkles with knowledge gained at the sharp end of angling. The giant of this era is Hugh Sheringham. Two of his books are collections of his articles, and very sought after: ‘An Open Creel’ and ‘An Angler’s Hours’ represent the cream of English angling literature. Original copies cost from £ 110 upward, but Medlar have issued reprints. I have also enjoyed his ‘Coarse Fishing’ and ‘Elements of Angling’. All aspiring angling writers ought to read and reread these books. There is a deftness and lightness of touch about his writing that does not date. Sheringham is truly the angling writer’s angling writer. Of serious interest to roach anglers, Greville Fennell’s ‘The Book of The Roach’ (1870) draws heavily on previous literature yet is centuries ahead of its time. Caster fishing, pole fishing, link legers, all are detailed here. The research that went into this compact, detailed book is immense. Francis Francis should also be mentioned. His ‘Book of Angling’ covers a wide range of subjects with much emphasis on salmon and trout yet there is much useful information on coarse fishing. I have yet to read some of the other writers mentioned by Len Arbery, though I have read Philip Geen. Between the Wars The golden era of angling writing was for the most part over for many years by the end of the Edwardian era. If you are lucky there are a few gems lurking out there from the 1920s onwards that are worth seeking. That great all-rounder, J H R Bazley, twice All-England champion, wrote several books. ‘Fun with the Fishing Rod’ and ‘Angling Stunts’ are both full of tales of his many adventures. Ernest Phillips did not write many books, but his ‘Float Fishing’ has stood the test of time. Continuing the theme of the ‘Sheffield’ style, W. G. Clifford’s ‘Holiday Angling’ is a cracker. Roach fishing was by far the most popular branch of the sport in those days, so it is no surprise that Edward Ensom (‘Faddist’) weighs in with ‘Roach Fishing’ in the late thirties. You are more likely to find a post war third edition, as the first two editions are rare. E. Marshall Hardy wrote the definitive ‘Angling Ways’ back in the thirties, but you are much more likely to find a heavily updated 9th edition dating from the early sixties. In a similar vein, ‘Fine Angling for Coarse Fish’ in the Lonsdale Library is easy to find, and a comprehensive look at how fishing was in 1930. Come the revolution I suppose ‘BB’ began the gold rush that began in the immediate post war years. ‘Confessions of a Carp Fisher’, and the sublime ‘Be Quiet and Go-A-Angling’ (written under the name Michael Traherne) are must haves. The first is not too difficult to find but the second only affordable as a Medlar edition. One of the first modern books to take a scientific approach to angling is Captain Len Parker’s ‘This Fishing’, describing roach fishing on the Hampshire Avon in the thirties and forties. The era of Dick Walker was coming up fast though. His seminal work ‘Still-Water Angling’ is a must. Though several of his books are collections of articles from Angling Times, this does not detract from their value. There is more peppered through the four Angling Times yearbooks. The other wonderful Walker books are ‘No Need To Lie’, and ‘Drop Me A Line’ co-written with Maurice Ingham. One may not agree with all Walker had to say but he’ll get you thinking, that’s for sure. Walker’s attitude to books was that articles paid more, and in a way, one might have expected (hoped) for more books from Walker. My advice is to obtain as many as you can. The one to look forward to is the biography being prepared by Barrie Rickards (no pressure, Barrie; when’s it coming out?). Walker encouraged a number of other anglers to put pen to paper, including Fred J. Taylor, Peter Stone, and Frank Guttfield. Fred J. is reckoned one of the most readable, and ‘Angling in Ernest’ and ‘Favourite Swims’ have become classics. Though he wrote many articles, Frank Guttfield wrote just one book, and I don’t think it is in the same league of some of the others from the same era. Peter Stone wrote several definitive books, ‘Legering’, ‘Bream and Barbel’, ‘Fishing for Big Chub’ and ‘Gravel Pit Angling’, as well as three autobiographical ones, plus some simple how-to-do-it books. I would liked to have seen both a much updated tactical book, as well as a consolidated autobiography. Then the avalanche From the sixties onwards, huge numbers of angling books were published. Many of them are rubbish. But amongst the trash, several authors stand out as worth finding. David Carl Forbes was a brilliant writer and illustrator. He may not have been the best angler around but every angler’s library ought to contain ‘Catch a Big Fish’ (many contributors), ‘Successful Roach Fishing’ and ‘Small Stream Fishing’. Bernard Venable’s cartoon creation ‘Mr Crabtree Goes Fishing’, the book that launched a million angling careers, is a pale imitation of his more literary works, most of which fetch tidy sums now. I have no particular favourite but treasure them all. John Wilson is better known for his Go Fishing spin-offs, instructional books and travelogues, but if you can find ‘A Specimen Hunting Year’, you have found gold. Likewise, Geoffrey Bucknall’s ‘Fishing Days’ is a rare find.John Bailey’s prolific output includes some potboilers, yet there are gems. I still rank ‘The Great Anglers’ as his most scholarly effort so far despite a handful of forgivable errors. ‘Reflections from the Water’s Edge’ is also something special. I’m going to wrap up with the modern equivalent of Sheringham, old fogey Chris Yates. Purveyor of a magic carpet to transport you to the waterside from your armchair, Chris never lets you down. I chose ‘The Deepening Pool’ as my favourite but his other books are just as good, especially ‘Casting at the Sun’. I have mentioned less than forty books. Some are easier to find than others, and as I mentioned, a few of the rarer ones are starting to finally re-appear as affordable reprints, courtesy of Medlar and Little Egret Press. There are many books that I haven’t mentioned, and that doesn’t mean that they’re no good, simply that I’ve run out of space. Perhaps we ought to get some of the other bibliophiles to select their best books on their specialist subjects, so how about Jim Gibbinson on carp books, Barrie Rickards on pike books, any takers for a definitive list of chub or barbel books? Next week: Plan Z – or why the best laid plans go awry |
