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Best fishing books?

I've got the Martin Bowler book but have not started reading it yet. Looks quite good. Not really a beside the bed book though, more of a coffee table book as quite big.
 
Going further back in time, if you want a book that is both readable and educational then you have to get 'Drop Me A Line' by Richard Walker and Maurice Ingham.
From the same era Walker's 'No Need To Lie' has to be in your collection.
 
Books.....

After fishing, collecting and reading angling books is my 2nd passion - have something approaching 200 in my little library - below are some of my favs...

For All Those Left Behind - John Andrews (reminds me of my late father)
Reflections From the Water's Edge - John Bailey (His best book IMO)
I Know a Good Place - Clive Gammon (also a fantastic travel book!)
The Lady of the Stream - Paul Morgan (an anthology about one of my favourite fish - the Grayling)
Fish, Fishing and the Meaning of Life - Jeremy Paxman (A fantastic anthology - if I was only allowed one book on a desert island it would have to be this one!)
Rod and Line - Arthur Ransome (sublime)
Red Letter Days - Paul Rogers Ed.
An Angler for all Seasons - H T Sheringham (A superb anthology from the best angling writer of the 1st half of the 20th C)
Mr Crabtree goes Fishing - Bernard Venables (sentimental reasons - without this book I would not have been an angler)
The Deepening Pool - Chris Yates (my favourite CY)
The Secret Carp - Chris Yates (Writing that is just about as close to perfection as it is possible to get!)
Death, Taxes and Leaky Waders - John Gierach - If you never read any Gierach - start here!
The Float - Keith Harwood - The sort of Book Medlar do really well!
Somewhere Down The Crazy River - Boote and Wade
The New Complete Angler - Downes & Knowelden - Steve Burke put me on to this (thanks) Seriously under-rated work, scholarly yet readable - a must have for any angler.
The Longest Silence - Thomas McGuane
No Need to Lie - Dick Walker
Trout at 10000 Feet - John Bailey
Four Seasons - Chris Yates
Small Stream Fishing - David Carl Forbes
Somewhere Else,
The Accidental Angler - both by Charles Rangeley Wilson
A Dream of Jewelled Fishes - Jon Aston
A Can of Worms - Jon Berry
The River Prince - Barbel anthology ed by Chris Yates.
Out of the Blue - Chris Yates
Falling in Again - also Chris Yates

I could go on!


Chris
 
Frank Sawyer - Keeper of the stream

Clive Gammon - Hook Line and Spinner

Anglers Bedside Book

How to catch them series
 
Another plug for Jon Berry here ! A can of worms is a great read and I know just how much work Jon put into the writing of this book. It really is brilliantly researched !
Another favourite of mine is Chris Yates How To Fish, a book that really captures the true essence of what fishing is all about.
I also enjoyed John Baileys Tales From The River Bank and A Passion For Angling !
To be honest, I found A Lifetimes Addiction ok to start with, but it didn't hold my attention that well after a while as I found it a little repetitive. More of a pick up and read a chapter now and then book. I don't think Mr West comes across very well in print ! But that's just my opinion !
A childhood favourite of mine is Mr Crabtree Goes Fishing. Still pick it up on occasion now. I have my dads old well worn copy and recently bought a new one to hand down to my kids, but still always pick up the old one........Real boyhood memories !
 
i have read a few barbel books from fred crouch, understanding barbel, (a little outdated now) to most recently quest for barbel, trefor west and tony miles, a good read which when finished you have to admire the amount of work these guys put into there fishing, and deserve every fish they put on the bank. one of my favourites though is barbel rivers and captures, barbel catchers club, probably because it is the only book that covers some of the yorkshire rivers that i fish so is more relevant than others, e.g. fish spotting on the cherwell or feeding fish on the great ouse, just can't be done on the yorkshire ouse or even on the smaller rivers like the nidd seeing barbel is a rarity. on that note a question, is there a book out there that deals with fishing the yorkshire rivers?
all the best, leon
 
Lewis Anderson said:
Anyone read the terry lampard books?
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First Cast by Terry Lampard is excellent. Most anglers would settle for what he's caught in one chapter let alone the whole book!

I think anyone who doesn't enjoy Gravel Pit Angling by Peter Stone should sell their rods, and a relatively recent one I'd recommend is Carp Life by Mike Wilmott of Essential Baits fame.

John Baker's "Modern Barbel Baits" is interesting but is probably the longest advertorial in history!
 
David Gribble said:
John Baker's "Modern Barbel Baits" is interesting but is probably the longest advertorial in history!
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I remember when John was on the club talk/slide show circuit...much the same thing...and he always had shed loads of bait in his estate car so you could do a 'car park deal' after the show :D

Good bait though :)

Cheers, Dave.
 
Negley Farson - Going Fishing. Just sublime. Recently recommended on a thread here, by PB I think, and rightly so.
Ferox Trout and Arctic Charr - Ron Greer. I don't usually read 'how to' books but this is a bit different.
..and almost everything on Chris Plumb's list.

There are some nice (relatively) obscure books on the Caught by the River site, including Blood Knots and The Loch of Green Corrie - both well worth a read.

best,

Jon
 
For those that prefer a book which isn't an instruction manual, I can't recommend John Aston's book, A Dream Of Jewelled Fishes, highly enough. I bought the hardback edition a few years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm enjoying it more second time round. This might be because of the penny dropping that I actually know the fella.
It's a book about the feelings that fishing brings and little else. Atmospheric and well written. I'm looking forward to his latest offering which I've heard may appear in the near future. If anyone can suggest similar books, possibly with a greater emphasis on all round course angling, I'd love to hear about them.

For a more technical and barbel specific book, I thoroughly enjoyed Trefor West's book. The fact that I ended up agreeing with and was already did an awful lot of what Trefor proposes as the way forward probably helped.:D
 
Great book to read, recently published ,BLOOD KNOTS by LUKE JENNINGS. A marvellous evocation of all things that we enjoy about fishing. I urge you to buy it - you will not be disappointed.
Read 'jewelled fishes' book like you a few years ago - passed it on -was well received.
geoff
 
I can't say that I am that well read, fishing or otherwise, but what I have read of him I find to be the easily the quickest in the transporting of a sad soul to a place far away, wherever that be - H.T. Sheringham, it is for me!
 
Who is 'him'? Which of H.T Sheringham's books do you rate? He died in 1930 so the style may seem a little dated to some.
 
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Damian Kimmins said:
I can't say that I am that well read, fishing or otherwise, but what I have read of him I find to be the easily the quickest in the transporting of a sad soul to a place far away, wherever that be - H.T. Sheringham, it is for me!
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Now we're talking one-off genius, exquisite, apparently effortless prose and perfect "voice", Damian ... An Open Creel, An Anglers Hours...

Here is a link to a .pdf of the latter - http://www.archive.org/stream/anglershour00sherrich#page/n7/mode/2up

Open Creel and one or two others from H.T.S. are to be found on the same site.


P.S. And yes, I have the originals.
 
Hi men ,

For me , Rob Maylins Tiger Bay . Wrote about a classic time of carp angling history , when there were still great waters being discovered , tackle/rig progression , and bait development . Huge camaraderie , great period .

Hatter
 
There are so may angling books I would like to read its just being able to afford them all!

When I was a small child I remember looking through and being fascinated by an angling book that lived high up on a shelf.
It was only recently that my Dad passed the book on to me and I realised it was in fact an original copy of Izaak Walton’s Wallet Booke.
Inside the front cover are a number of cloth pockets for all manner of things and endless talk of fysshe tales!

http://www.archive.org/stream/izaakwaltonhiswa00waltrich#page/n3/mode/2up
 
You lucky devil Paul!
I have the reprint versions of both 'An Anglers Hours' and 'An Open Creel'. From the Medlar Press, they're both great, but somehow I imagine them soulless when compared with an original.
 
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