I can still vividly recall the first time I ever saw Henry Gilbey.
It was during one of those boring late evening ‘nothing on, flick through the channels before going to bed’ sessions when there, all of a sudden, on what was then the ‘Discovery Home and Leisure’ channel was some total loon of an angler, sporting the most extraordinarily comical pony tail, talking up pollack fishing off the rocks like it was the next best thing…
The presentation was slightly amateurish – in a very good way – but the enthusiasm for his sport that this guy generated just exploded out of the screen and smacked me between the eyes like a baseball bat; I didn’t quite know what he was on, probably just adrenaline, but whatever it was I wanted some of it!
The programme, and the others in the series I made sure I looked out for, made such a refreshing change from the usual crap angling TV and re-runs around at the time (A Passion… excepted) and portrayed the sport in a way few other shows have done, before or since.
The very best thing is that having subsequently spoken to and met Henry (by then mercifully sans pony tail) he is genuinely the same character in person as he is on screen. Unlike most of the other TV angling ‘stars’ with Henry what you see is exactly what you get; and thinking about it for the very first time now as I sit down to write this review, those shows of his are probably the main reason why, in the last few years, I have done more sea fishing than coarse fishing.
As well as his totally infectious love of angling Henry also has a love of angling photography and if, as I did many years ago, you check out the image library on his website you will see just how good he is so, when I recently received his book ‘Ultimate Fishing Adventures’ for review, I was expecting a positive smorgasbord of stunning images to assault me.
I was not wrong.
Ultimate Fishing Adventures brings together 100 of the world`s most extraordinary fishing destination experiences from Alaska to New Zealand, with each destination covering a DPS with a stunning full-page image. There’s plenty of coverage of UK and European destinations amongst the more exotic ones such as Angola, Belize, Mongolia and Bolivia and whatever you fish for be assured you will find much inside the 207 pages to excite, inspire and delight.
Ultimate Fishing Adventures covers a huge variety of species, some familiar, others less so, and encompasses fly, lure and bait fishing in rivers, oceans and lakes. Henry has clearly selected favourite destinations from his own itinerary and the choices cover some of the well-known ‘key’ destinations on most anglers’ radar to some lesser-known areas, including what Henry delightfully describes as: ‘Wild rivers stuffed full of insane fish that only Africa could produce…’ I’ll have some of that please!
In addition to the stunning full-page image each destination also includes a side-bar precis of the fishing comprising: a basic map, ‘Best times to fish’, ‘Fishing methods’, ‘Getting there’ and Tips and Tricks’. The accompanying notes give a brief snapshot of the fishing, not enough to fully satisfy the angling junkie mad-keen to dive into the experience in-depth, but certainly enough to pique the interest and to point you in the direction of further research.
Whatever you fish for the book is an excellent one to add to your Christmas list; published by Wiley Nautical the RRP is £20 and if you want to take a closer look inside you can do so HERE and you can buy it HERE at a 50% discount!
Highly recommended.
