Old Billy Lane books...recommended !

[Lee Dobson]

Trawling ebay I picked up two old 1970's books on float fishing by the late great Billy Lane for a tenner.

For those younger than me who don't know him, he was a frighteningly good world champion match angler and innovator of many float designs which were created for the mass market by Ultra floats.

He could bag 17lb of fish in one foot of river water when others blanked !

These books are full of great info on shotting patterns and technique, ok..some of the float designs could be said to be obsolete these days...but the scientific approach of Mr. lane is well worth digesting and your float fishing will improve.

Me and my dad used to get the Encyclopedia of float fishing out of the library on a regular basis and now I'm so happy to own one.

Pick these up if you can find them, they're true gems from a master....

 

[Keith M]

I have a copy of Float Fishing by Billy Lane and think it is a great littlebook. I would still recomend it to anyone who wanted to Improve their float fishing knowledge. It gives a breakdown of each situation and the floats to use in each situation, withthedifferent shotting configurations to use and why. Brilliant littlebook.

 

[david bruce 1]

The encyclopaedia is great and if anyone wants to make their own floats it is v v good. Including the trotter for fishing in 12 inches of water - it works I have tried it.

 

[Keith M]

Yes I have also used the Trent Trotter on several occasions with a trailing shot dragging along the bottom above the float in a foot of water leaving the bait wavering above the bed ahead of the float and caught some nice Chub on it too.

 

[fred hall]

Have to say that the encyclopaedia is one of my all time favourite books.

 

[Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)]

Billy Lane was a master float angler. Many of his float designs were replicated by Peter Drennan and made available commercially.

I remember watching him catch bream after bream on the Witham against others who were all using the swing tip at the time. Bill used a dirty great 13 foot glass rod with brass ferrules that weighed a ton, together with a Mitchell 300 and a float at least 16 inches long. He was only a little guy but the way he wielded that tackle was something to behold.

I think he won that particular match.

A friend of mine bought one of those Billy Lane match rods. It proved to be excellent for thumping out big tench and it was superb for barbel trotting. He even used it for deadbaiting for pike!

 

[Peter Jacobs]

"Have to say that the encyclopaedia is one of my all time favourite books."

mine too Fred.

In fact, it sits on my desk permanently and a lot of his shotting patterns and methods are as effective today as when he wrote that book.

 

[Laurie Harper]

I have a copy of the final edition of the encyclopedia - published shortly after Billy died - and it is one of my favourite books too. Full of good advice and delightfully written. My other great read from that period is Kevin Ashurst's "World Class Match Fishing". It's a great complement to Billy's book.

 

[david bruce 1]

Benny, Kevin's dads book is also a good read.

I recall he talks of a wartime measures - cutting up worms into short lengths , keeping them for a short time - they apparently healed up and lived for a few days and used as small baits for canal fishing. Anyone tried it?

 

[Mark Wintle]

Lovely books though they are, the Billy Lane books are some of the least practical around. I met Billy and watched him fish and a fantastic angler he was too, but there is little of real use in these books. The Ashurst and Marks books are much better for general floatfishing. The exception is the stuff on Trent trotters but for stick and waggler work these books (Lanes) I think they are misleading.

 

[Lee Dobson]

Yeah Billy was no fan of the stick or waggler for some reason....

 

[Avon Aquatics - Ryan]

Whether they apply to modern angling or not, i'm sure they are a fascinating read,

I've just dug out a copy of 'the guinness guide to freshwater angling' from 1975 looks to be an interesting read, although it looks like it was a french book, that has been translated, and made for the english market.

Ryan

 

[Laurie Harper]

Have to disagree that the BL books are not practical. Billy doesn't dismiss the stick - he just prefers the Avon. He also refers the reader to others, including theAshursts, for more info. As for the waggler, the edition I have covers them quite comprehensively. His mini missile and missile floats were just big loaded bodied wagglers after all.

 

[Mark Wintle]

I have yet to lay my hands on the Floatfishing book (shown on the left) whch sounds a better bet than the other one which is a subtle way of selling his Ultra floats. It came out about the same time as the Ashurst one and possibly shared the same co-author (Colin Graham). I grew up on BL articles and learnt much from them but it was the Ashurst book that made all the difference for me. The floats in the Encyclopaedia book tend towards his commercial interpretations. Missiles are a float I've hardly ever found a usefor, especially when compared to sticks, wagglers, 'proper' Avon floats, sliders etc.

A similar accusation of a glorified catalogue could be aimed at the Floatfishing with Ivan Marks which followed the far better Matchfishing book by Ivan.

I am probably biased about the BL book because in the mid 70s one of my local match anglers who had until that time been a reasonable angler who did his own thing with fair successgot the book and followed it slavishly, and was never quite the same again.