Book Review - The Lambton Worm by Pete McParlin

Sean Meeghan reviews a book billed as ‘The Definitive Guide to Angling in North East England’

Let me start by saying that I enjoyed reading this book. On its cover it is billed as ‘The Definitive Guide to Angling in North East England’ but it's really more of a history and general survey of fishing in the area with a several instructional chapters thrown in for good measure.

The book is split into two parts. The first part consists of a history of each of the major branches of our sport in the region: river trout, salmon, still water trout, coarse and sea; each followed by a guide to the fishing of that type offered by the region. These guides aren't exhaustive,for example, the river trout fishing being limited to the Coquet, the Wear, the Derwent and the Wansbeck and the salmon fishing a brief survey of some of the better beats in the region.

Part two is entitled “North East Fishing Seasons” and consists of a description of what I suspect are the author's favourite species and methods in each season of the year. I feel that this part of the book slightly falls between two stools in that the descriptions of each method are really only of any interest to newcomers to a particular branch of the sport (a diagram describing typical tench bites for example), but which don't go into enough detail to be of real instructional use (a short description of the often fiendishly difficult upstream wet fly fishing for example). 

Finally there are five appendices giving the location and contact details of a number of fisheries in the region, followed by a bibliography of books and magazine article relevant to the region.

The book is well written, nicely illustrated and an enjoyable read, so, who should buy it?  It will be of real interest to anyone who would like to learn about the history of angling in the North East; anglers in the region who would like to try another branch of the sport, or are looking for new waters to try and, finally, anglers from outside the region who are considering a holiday in the North East. 

One glaring omission is that the writer gives neither the dressing nor how to fish the Lambton Worm, so I am none the wiser as to whether it is any more effective than the Consett Budgie!

The Lambton Worm is published by Amberley Publishing with a cover price of £16.99