Going Fishing: Travel and adventure with a fishing rod - Hardcover

Farson, Negley

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1873674635 ISBN 13: 9781873674635

Publisher: Merlin Unwin Books, 2015

Synopsis

This is just the story of some rods, and the places they take you to. It begins with surf-casting on the New Jersey coast, when I was 13, and carries on to such scenes as flyfishing the headwaters of the Kuban in the upper Caucasus, and casting for rainbow trout in the rivers of southern Chile, with a volcano erupting every ten minutes within plain view. There is not a record, or even a very big, fish in it; and some of the finest things fishing has given me I have found beside the steams of the West Country in England. Chiefly, I love my rods because of their associations, the places they have brought me to. They have been part of my kit, when I travel, for many years. This magic wand has revealed to me some of the loveliest places on earth. That is the story of this book.

About this title

About the Authors

Born in New Jersey in 1890, Negley Farson was raised by his eccentric grandfather, General Negley, a veteran of the Amercian Civil War. Fishing and sailing on the Chesapeke Bay as a boy, he soon showed signs of a natural wanderlust which took him, eventually, all over the world, his fishing rod a vital part of his luggage.
He began his married life on a houseboat in British Columbia in 1920 and died in 1960 in his home in north Devon, England.

Charles Tunnicliffe (1901-1997) was raised on a small farm in Cheshire. In 1920 he was awarded a scholarship at the Royal college of Art. He soon made his mark as an etcher and wood-engraver, illustrating dozens of books for famous authors

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Loch fishing is vastly different from fishing the crystal-clear waters of British Columbia. It does not pay to strike loch trout; it is better to let them do the striking. It is a tantalising performance, and a man does just as well to restrain himself for the fraction of a second until he feels that tiny touch ― then snick him! I do not think that loch trout jump as frequently as the clear-water fish. You seldom see them when you're fighting them. The water is so dark that a trout can be barely two inches under the surface; and as long as he does not turn on his side you cannot see him. That is why, when they do jump, their revelation is astonishing. You think you have been fighting a whale ― and it is only a game half-pounder. But they are game.
Dull days are best; vile days are better. And it seems as if a day you simply hate to go out in is perfect. I fished Eela Water on a day dark as pitch, bitter, raw, with high winds and an occasional rain squall passing over it. I had seen it first on a bright day from the road, and its ruffled waters seemed to lie among the green hills like blue silk. But on this day I knew that the water was brown, with yellow soap-suds of foam among the black rocks ― and that it had not one bit of lee. There was not a place in the loch where I could find shelter to eat my dinner. The gale seemed to be howling in from both the North Sea and the Atlantic at the same time. By nine o'clock I was sitting by a cosy peat fire ― dead beat but contented.
We split the trout open, spread them out like a mat, fried them in oatmeal for breakfast.

Edition details

• Publisher: Merlin Unwin Books
• Publication date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1873674635
• ISBN 13: 9781873674635
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Tunnicliffe C F
• Number of pages: 192