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| Maurice Pledger's superb painting of a barbel, one of the illustrations in the book. |
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| Maurice Pledger's Perch and small fish. |
WHILE MY
FLOAT'S
STILL COCKED
LAUNCHED at the CLA Game Fair at Blenheim
Palace, While My Float's Still Cocked: The ramblings of an artist-angler, by Maurice 'Mole' Pledger
is a delightful book that will have you laughing out loud and talking to yourself as you either agree or disagree with the
author's account of a day's fishing.
Published
by Coch-y-Bonddu Books While My Float's Still Cocked is beautifully illustrated fishing autobiography account of how and his
friends went in pursuit of specimen perch, pike, carp and chub.
I felt that to do the book justice it should have
been read in the open air, to convey Maurice's enthusiasm for the outdoors but a look out of the window showed that we
were in the middle of yet another downpour - oh, for that much-needed lift on the salmon rivers.
I sincerely think
my wife and neighbours would have doubted my sanity if I had donned my full wet weather gear to sit under a dripping parasol
just to get into the right frame of mind to read a book.
But that's the type of book it is.
Maurice
writes so well about his fishing experiences that you are there with him. You can feel his pain as the pike threshes about
at just the wrong moment and impales his finger with a large treble hook. You can laugh with him as he recalls the pranks
played on him as a junior member of the Greaves & Thomas Angling Society. And, you can sympathise with him every time
his fish hole freezes over in sub-Arctic conditions.
Maurice Pledger is a fine artist, well-known for his best-selling
illustrated wildlife books for children which have sold more than 10 million copies worldwide. The illustrations in this book
are stunning. Whether full colour or black and white, the details are truly amazing.
While My Float's
Still Cocked (ISBN 978-1-904784-31-9) is his first book on fishing and has been eagerly awaited by anglers and discerning
book collectors alike.
It is ideal as a birthday gift, early stocking filler or, more important, just to yourself
something to pick up during the close season as a reminder of what your missing - and what is yet to come.
The
standard edition at £19.95 is a high-quality paperback with flaps. There will also be very special Collector's and
De Luxe editions.
FISHING THE WELSH BORDERLANDS
FOR those of you who will be catching up on your reading when winter forces you to remain indoors, Coch-y-Bonddu Books have several publications due for publication.
The include R.P Hardie, Ferox and Char in the Lochs of Scotland. Parts I and II; Golden Days: from the fishing-log of a painter in Brittany, by Romilly Fedden; Plu Eryri: The Old Trout Flies of Snowdonia; and Flyfishing the Welsh Borderlands by Roger Smith.
Ferox and Char in the Lochs of Scotland. Part I, a scarce and collectable book on ferox
trout and Arctic char, was originally published in 1940. Its author died in 1942 and Part II never saw the
light of day.
Now, thanks to Professor Peter S. Maitland and Professor Colin E. Adams of the University of Glasgow,
the 'lost' manuscript of Part II has been published and, in early 2012, Coch-y-Bonddu Books will offer both parts in one high-quality collector's edition - both in dust-wrappers and together in one slip-case.
Limited to numbered 100 sets only. Available in November, priced £65. Individual volumes may be available early
in 2012.
Golden Days is a handsome Flyfisher's Classic Library edition in a slipcase, limited
to 200 numbered copies, with new introductory material by Nick Lyons, Geoffrey Bucknall and Claude Belloir it will be available
in November, priced £75.
The Old Trout Flies of Snowdonia is a translation of Llawlyfr y
Pysgotwr (1899) by William Roberts; the first flyfishing book to be published in the Welsh language. Coch-y-Bonddu Books are aiming for publication in December 2011. Theres will be a high quality paperback with flaps, priced £19.95 and
a Flyfisher's Classic Library edition, limited to only 100 copies at £65.
Flyfishing the Welsh
Borderlands is described as "everything you could wish to know about the rivers of the Welsh Borderlands - Dee,
Severn, Wye and Usk - and their many delightful brooks and streams: The ecology of the rivers; their history and the books
that have been written about them; famous anglers of the Borderlands; their fly patterns and techniques."
It
includes more than 230 local trout and grayling fly patterns specially tied and photographed for this book, together with
selected excerpts from the best writings about the area, and an up to date comprehensive catalogue of where to fish today,
together with contact names, telephone numbers and websites.
There will be a high-quality paperback with flaps,
priced £19.95; a collector's edition limited to only 250 copies, numbered and signed by the author, clothbound
in dust-wrapper, priced £45 and a De Luxe Flyfisher's Classic Library edition limited to only 30 copies for sale.
Details to be announced.
THE SPLENDOUR OF THE GALA
OBVIOUSLY nothing to do with angling Splendour of the Gala by Ken and Jean Smith goes to the heart of the North East - its strong links to the region's mining communities,
writes George Macintyre.
This well produced book - written, published
and printed in the North East - will not only find its way on to the desk of serious students of the history of the Durham
Miners' Gala and the Northumberland Miners' Picnic but, undoubtedly, it will also be popular with general readers.
The spirit and excitement of these annual events
is vividly captured by the authors who have researched their topic thoroughly and the book is freely illustrated with many
colour - and black and white - photographs not only of the pit bands who accompanied the marches to the "picnic"
areas but also of the colourful and evocative banners from long closed collieries. The authors make no claims of telling the entire history of the Durham Miners' Gala since it was first held in
August 1871 but, instead, tell in clear, vivid detail the stories behind the big day - the process behind the selection of
those who would proudly carry their pit banners, the pre-Gala parades through the villages and the trip to and from Durham. With family links to the Northumberland coalfields, the tales
relating to the Northumberland Miners' Picnic - which every June or July became a point of focus of the pit communities
of the county - were especially interesting especially those reminiscences of the former pit men and their families. I had
heard some of the tales before but many others were new and highly entertaining. Splendour of the Gala (ISBN: 978-09557510-7-3) is an excellent read and continues the high standards
established by the Smith writing partnership in their earlier works. It can be ordered from any bookshop or from the publishers
Ergo Press of Hexham on http://www.ergopress.com or ergo.press@yahoo.co.uk Splendour of the Gala by Ken and Jean Smith, Ergo Press, £9.99, published with the generous
support of Durham County Council and the Fire Brigades Union.
 LIFE
BEFORE
THE CROCODILE HUNTER
LIKE the above book this one, My Mate Steve Irwin: Life
before the Crocodile Hunter by Tony Frisby & Julie Gatehouse, has absolutely nothing to do with angling.
Like the above book this one was
co-written by a former colleague.
Julie Gatehouse, like Ken Smith, worked alongside me as a sub-editor on The Journal in Newcastle
upon Tyne before returning to her native Australia to pursue a successful career in newspapers and magazines.
My first impressions were that
this would be a shallow, uninformative spot of cashing in on a passing acquaintance with a superstar in the world of wildlife documentaries and conservation.
After the preface and the first
chapter I realised how wrong I had been, poured myself a glass of Coopers Sparkling Ale and a large Bundaberg rum-based dark
and stormy and settled down to thoroughly enjoy a well-written and illustrated series of memories that give an insight into
what had gone into the making of Steve Irwin who was to gain worldwide renown as the Crocodile Hunter.
This book looks at some of the
highs and lows in Irwin’s life from his rise to Hollywood superstar status, rubbing shoulders with the great and the
famous to the utter devastation wrought on him and his father, Bob, by the untimely death of his mother Lyn in a road
accident in 2000.
There
are glimpses, too, of a Queensland of 20 or 30 years ago before the onslaught of resorts and holiday homes and the encroachment
of humans on the territory of crocodiles, kangaroos and other wildlife.
These emphasise the importance of
the conservation work done by the Irwins and others such as Frisby, a parks ranger based at Yeppoon in Queensland.
Frisby, one of the early curators
at the Irwin’s reptile and fauna park – now Australia Zoo – often joined Irwin and his father, on reptile
catching trips in the remote bush, speaks fondly and passionately about his friendship with a man who was so far ahead of
his time in many ways.
I wholeheartedly agree with Frisby that if the media were looking for a name to hang on Irwin today it would be that
of Crocodile Whisperer.
Irwin richly deserved his reputation for safely relocating threatened crocodiles. He was
“bring them back alive” Irwin, a rescuer not a hunter.
One description of the trip to America for Irwin’s marriage to Terri Raines brought
a smile. Frisby pointed out that “their June summer meant maxes of 22 degrees Celsius (72 degrees Fahrenheit), only
just bearable for the cold-hating sunshine Coasters”, stirring memories of co-author Gatehouse snugly wrapped up in
a heavy, black winter coat while the rest of us made our way to a Newcastle pub in our shirt sleeves.
Apart from Frisby, Before the Crocodile Hunter
features equally fond memories of fellow home town friends and others who had met and worked with Irwin in the early years.
Far from being soppy and overly
sentimental this is a good read and, although not yet available in the UK, is certainly one worth looking out for.
My Mate Steve Irwin: Life
before the Crocodile Hunter by Tony Frisby & Julie Gatehouse, Longueville Books, www.longmedia.com.au
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