Fishing books

mikench · Nov 9, 2018

Clearly Mark Wintle will know more about well written books on Angling and , as he has written two excellent tomes himself on the roach, may well be able to add to those already featured in the past ! I have bought and read several and have just acquired" The fisherman's bedside book" by Denys Watkins- Pitchford aka BB. He wrote several books under his pseudonym which were delightful to read whether you were a small child or an adult!

I reread Little Grey Men and Down the bright stream not so long ago and was as enchanted as a near pensioner as I was as an 8 or 9 year old when I first read them! They feature the lives and adventures of the last gnomes in England! Magical!

I heartily recommend them and look forward to reading my new book! He even drew his own illustrations!

Mark Wintle · Nov 9, 2018

Around 50 years ago I borrowed BB's 'The Whopper' from my local library and enjoyed it enough to re-borrow it a couple of times. Many years later I discovered there were only about 500 printed and that most went to libraries; the handful of non-library books command high prices and the best chance of getting a copy is to source a Medlar reprint. I have other BB books that were for adults, all a good read, some are quite cheap.

john step · Nov 9, 2018

mikench said:
Clearly Mark Wintle will know more about well written books on Angling and , as he has written two excellent tomes himself on the roach, may well be able to add to those already featured in the past ! I have bought and read several and have just acquired" The fisherman's bedside book" by Denys Watkins- Pitchford aka BB. He wrote several books under his pseudonym which were delightful to read whether you were a small child or an adult!

I reread Little Grey Men and Down the bright stream not so long ago and was as enchanted as a near pensioner as I was as an 8 or 9 year old when I first read them! They feature the lives and adventures of the last gnomes in England! Magical!

I heartily recommend them and look forward to reading my new book! He even drew his own illustrations!

I have a similar named book called The Anglers Bedside Book. A nice read. It a a compilation of stories. There is a very humerus entry by Walker and Fred J as well as an account of a quest for a huge shark by Bernard Venables.

Mark Wintle · Nov 9, 2018

john step said:
I have a similar named book called The Anglers Bedside Book. A nice read. It a a compilation of stories. There is a very humerus entry by Walker and Fred J as well as an account of a quest for a huge shark by Bernard Venables.

Got a feeling that's the one compiled by Maurice Wiggin who is one of my favourite authors.

Keith M · Nov 9, 2018

I have a great pocket sized copy of ‘Confessions of a Carp Fisher’ by BB *illustrated by Denys Watkins-pitchford which also contains Richard Walkers account of his record Carp capture. I acquired it when I used to run the library on HMS Tiger Back in the early 70s. I’ve taken it with me on several overnight Carp stints since then.

* For anyone who didn’t know BB and Denys Watkins-pitchford were actually the same person.

‘Denys James Watkins-Pitchford MBE was a British naturalist, illustrator and children’s author who wrote under the pseudonym of ‘BB’ and was a 1942 Carnegie Medal winner for British children’s books. He lived from 1905 to 1990.’

Keith

nottskev · Nov 9, 2018

Mark Wintle said:
Got a feeling that's the one compiled by Maurice Wiggin who is one of my favourite authors.

Maurice Wiggin! I had one of his books - an introduction to coarse fishing - out of the library several times when I was about 11. No pictures, line drawings, just on the edge of modern fishing (fixed spool reels were a bit newfangled), and just the usual general advice, but the tone of his writing and the personality that came through were really appealing. He wrote like he wanted to get you in on this enjoyable open secret called fishing. I think he wrote about one type of rod that you wouldn't find a sweeter tool to play on, short of a stick of licorice.

Thanks for the reminder, Mark - I'll look him up on ebay and amazon.

peterjg · Nov 9, 2018

My favourite fishing book is This Fishing by Captain LA Parker. First edition 1948 (reprinted 1960), it is a bit dated and quaint but there is loads of good info and advice. He certainly new his roach!

mikench · Nov 9, 2018

Just bought the Passionate Angler by Maurice Wiggin. From abe books! I will have plenty to read now in the run up to Xmas!!!

Mark Wintle · Nov 9, 2018

Other great books by Maurice Wiggin include: The Memoirs of a Maverick, In spite of the Price of Hay, Troubled Waters.

Peter Jacobs · Nov 9, 2018

There are so many really good angling books that is it difficult to know where to start.

Apart from the many great books by some well-known anglers there are two that I particularly like that are written by Robin Armstrong who is an artist and author.

The first one is “Cane and Sable” and the other is called “Under the Bridge” neither are straight on angling books but rather stories that include a lot of fishing anecdotes.

john step · Nov 9, 2018

Mark Wintle said:
Got a feeling that's the one compiled by Maurice Wiggin who is one of my favourite authors.

Yes thats the one. I won it for excellence in academic subjects in the early 60s. I went down hill after that

mg:

john step · Nov 9, 2018

peterjg said:
My favourite fishing book is This Fishing by Captain LA Parker. First edition 1948 (reprinted 1960), it is a bit dated and quaint but there is loads of good info and advice. He certainly new his roach!

I have one of his books. It is one of the How To Catch Them series. A hardback called ROACH. Am I right in believing he was at one time the record roach holder?

barbelboi · Nov 9, 2018

The first two books bought for me in the 50's, Angling in earnest (Fred Taylor before the 'J') & Walker's pitch still make interesting reading.

If you really want to go back in time 'The Book of the Roach' by Greville Fennell (1870) can be read HERE

Philip · Nov 9, 2018

Mark Wintle said:
Around 50 years ago I borrowed BB's 'The Whopper' from my local library and enjoyed it enough to re-borrow it a couple of times. Many years later I discovered there were only about 500 printed and that most went to libraries; the handful of non-library books command high prices and the best chance of getting a copy is to source a Medlar reprint.

I recall as a kid in Junior school so aged about 8 or 9 years old each afternoon we had to read a book. You choose a book from the school library and then read it to yourself for 30mins or whatever. I recall that one of the books in the library was the Whopper..I remember that I could believe my luck they actually had a book about fishing in there so I read it a number of times.

It was a long time ago but I do wonder if that was an original copy…I think it may have been. I keep meaning to go back one day as the school is still very much there looking pretty much as it always did. Chances are its long long gone but ! … you never know…

mikench · Nov 9, 2018

You have a good memory Philip! That was all of 4 years ago!!!

:boom::yo:

Mark Wintle · Nov 9, 2018

Philip said:
I recall as a kid in Junior school so aged about 8 or 9 years old each afternoon we had to read a book. You choose a book from the school library and then read it to yourself for 30mins or whatever. I recall that one of the books in the library was the Whopper..I remember that I could believe my luck they actually had a book about fishing in there so I read it a number of times.

It was a long time ago but I do wonder if that was an original copy…I think it may have been. I keep meaning to go back one day as the school is still very much there looking pretty much as it always did. Chances are its long long gone but ! … you never know…

There have, as far as I know, only been three print runs of The Whopper; the original 500 printed in 1958, Medlar's 1997 reprint and a later, cheaper reprint by Medlar in 2011.

Mark Wintle · Nov 9, 2018

john step said:
I have one of his books. It is one of the How To Catch Them series. A hardback called ROACH. Am I right in believing he was at one time the record roach holder?

Captain L A Parker never held the roach record and without looking it up I don't think he ever quite caught a 3lber either. Bill Penney held the record from 1938 onwards.

Philip · Nov 9, 2018

Mark Wintle said:
There have, as far as I know, only been three print runs of The Whopper; the original 500 printed in 1958, Medlar's 1997 reprint and a later, cheaper reprint by Medlar in 2011.

Thats really interesting to know..so it must have been an original !!!...this was way before 1997.

....that settles it, that school is due a re-visit !

David Rogers 3 · Nov 9, 2018

mikench said:
Just bought the Passionate Angler by Maurice Wiggin. From abe books! I will have plenty to read now in the run up to Xmas!!!

I can guarantee that, having read it, you WILL want to go to Ashford Carbonell!

Hugh Bailey · Nov 9, 2018

nottskev said:
Maurice Wiggin! I had one of his books - an introduction to coarse fishing - out of the library several times when I was about 11. No pictures, line drawings, just on the edge of modern fishing (fixed spool reels were a bit newfangled), and just the usual general advice, but the tone of his writing and the personality that came through were really appealing. He wrote like he wanted to get you in on this enjoyable open secret called fishing. I think he wrote about one type of rod that you wouldn't find a sweeter tool to play on, short of a stick of licorice.

Thanks for the reminder, Mark - I'll look him up on ebay and amazon.

I had that book too! Pretty sure it’s still around somewhere- will have a look.

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