**** Walker only wrote two decent fishing books

Mark Wintle

Mark Wintle

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Stillwater Angling and No Need to Lie are classics but I sometimes feel disappointed that most of his other books are either collections of articles or fall far short of these two. The unwritten one that always springs to mind is River Angling.

My patience is being tried waiting for the biography by Barrie Rickards, not that I've got time for much relaxed reading just yet, but no fixed date for publication has yet appeared?
 
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Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)

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As far as I know, Barrie has finished the book Mark.

He never did write many books designed as books in his life. They were all collections of articles in the main.

Don't blame Barrie, or ****. Medlar Press have always been notoriously slow about getting anything into print.

It took Stoney's book several years I believe.
 
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Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)

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I've just found out that it could be another year, or even two, before Barrie's Biography is a reality.

Unfortunately Medlar are still enormously influenced by Yates and The Golden Scale Club. And I don't have to tell you that they don't believe in work of any kind.

How Yates makes a living, beats my comprehension!
 
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Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)

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"Catching Fish" was probably better.

Peter, we were promised the Walker Biography a year ago!
 
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Tony Rocca

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Ron,
Do you remember Gordon Chell? I bumped into him on the river at the weekend, not seen him for 25 years.
 
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Graham Marsden (ACA)

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When Barrie phoned me last week he told me the Walker book is still scheduled for publication this summer.

By the way, not all the blame for the delay in publication lies with Medlar. There have been other forces at work...
 
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Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)

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Gordon Chell, I haven't spoken to him in years. He went to the same school as myself.
 
Graham Whatmore

Graham Whatmore

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"How Yates makes a living, beats my comprehension".

The answer to that Ron is simple, he writes good books, he writes them very well and anglers in particular appreciate them.

I only possess one Walker book and that is 'Stillwater Angling' and I will be honest and say I wouldn't buy any of his others but thats down to my choice of reading I guess.
 
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Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)

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Well I have just about every book Walker wrote, or contributed to, plus 1/2 a dozen of Yates' books too.

Two totally different personalities if you ask me.

Old Stoney was invited to become a member of the Golden Scale Club. But when the other members saw his carbon fibre Drennan rods and Shimano reels, they gave him a hard time.
 
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MarkTheSpark

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How Yates makes a living, beats my comprehension!

By getting Penguin to publish How to Fish and selling a squillion in the first three months, that's how, Ron. Have you read it yet?
 
pcpaulh

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I bought it after reading a review on here. I thougt it was a good book and I enjoyed it although I don't think I'd buy any others (with the exception of casting at the sun maybe).
 
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The Monk

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Do you remember Gordon Chell? I bumped into him on the river at the weekend, not seen him for 25 years.

A lovely lad Gordon, Tony, if you see him again tell him the Monk sends his regards,
 
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Tony Rocca

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Will do Monk, though his beard is a bit grey for him to be called "a lad".
 
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Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)

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I have Mark. It's quite well written.

That book only cost me ?12 or thereabouts. I think the problem with a lot of fishing book publishers is that they want extortionate prices for the books and they will only produce limited editions.

Whether this is a good ploy or not, I don't know. It certainly prevents a lot of people being able to own these books.
 
Chris Hammond ( RSPB ACA PAC}

Chris Hammond ( RSPB ACA PAC}

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I've always enjoyed reading stuff about **** Walker probably as much as his own writing. Chris Yates is in a different class to DW in terms of writing IMHO. I'd give Walker the ultimate angler accolade though.

Without having been inspired initially by stories of Walker, Redmire and Clarissa, I doubt I would ever have developed the passion for angling that has stayed with me from boy to man.

The funny thing is that I no longer hanker to catch carp. When I first started fishing carp had an almost mystical charm. They were the silent unbeatable giants that lied in the shallows in forgotten estate lakes and stew ponds. Now they're almost a plague in the rivers around here.
 
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Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)

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It was the mysticism that made carp fishing what it was in the 50s and 60s. However in the years that followed, I doubt if any other species of freshwater fish has been studied so intensely in terms of angling methods and how to catch them than the carp; with the probable exception of the American Large Mouth Bass.

Carp have their place in the angling world, but quite honestly, these days, there are too many of them.
 
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Fred Blake

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When I last emailed Medlar a few weeks ago re the Walker biography I was told it was (hopefully!) due out in April. From some of the remarks above it would seem there have been further delays, though quite what form these take I have no idea.

Apart from No Need To Lie and The Flemish Giant Rabbit (both of which a friend has) I have every book Walker wrote, as well as some magazine articles. As has been noted many are just collections of these articles, but they are nonetheless full of good advice. Oddly no-one had yet mentioned Rod Building For Amateurs - an excellent work with much good sense; even though we now use modern materials the basics are still entirely relevant.

I also have just about everything Chris Yates has written. His writing is of a completely different style and content, descriptive as opposed to instructive. Both are to my mind excellent.
 
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keora

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"**** Walker only wrote two good fishing books"?

Walker wrote a weekly article for the Angling Times for about 30 years. He was deeply involved in developing and improving fishing tackle - reels, rods, bite indicators. He also helped popularise stillwater fly fishing, and designed many innovative and realistic flies.

So I think Mark is underplaying Walker's achievements when he says that Walker only wrote two good books.

What about "Drop me a Line", which he wrote with Maurice Ingham? Or "Successful Angling".

And not many people know that one of his first books was on the care and upkeep of rabbits. Well, I admit that it's the one book of his that I've yet to read.
 
Mark Wintle

Mark Wintle

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Keith,

My emphasis is entirely on Walker's fishing books. I have no problem with his otherwise prodigious output and inventiveness.

Drop Me a Line was never intended as a book though it ended up as one. A book to me is something designed as a book rather than a collection of articles or letters. Catching fish was derived from How Fish Feed from about 20 years earlier, and it, Coarse Fishing and Successful Angling are all fine books but to my mind far short of what Walker was really capable of as exemplified by the two I mentioned.

Graham has mentioned before that Walker always reckoned there wasn't much money in books so concentrated on articles instead.

I suspect we are the losers. Barrie's bok will fill the gap left unfilled by Walker not doing an autobiography.
 
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