A Train to Catch: A Return Ticket to the Golden Age of Fishing

With the invention of the railways in the early nineteenth century, anglers were, for the first time, able to fish the length and breadth of Britain. The great train companies positively courted them, with special trains and angling club discounts.
From the Highlands of Scotland to the English Channel, the Welsh mountains to the Norfolk Broads, no corner of the British mainland was ignored by the emerging railway network - and where the iron rails appeared, so too did the fishermen.

In 'A Train to Catch' Jon Berry, angling historian, fisherman and travel writer, attempts to follow in their footsteps using today's rail network, with fascinating and often highly comic consequences. ' . . . one of the most pleasing and original books about fishing that I have read in a long time . . . Half the charm of A Train to Catch is tied up with the sheer variety of fishing that ends up getting done, ranging from shark angling at Looe to perch at Marlow, spiced with a mini Grand Tour of Scotland and a quest for Broads pike . . . potentially the angling book of the year' - Waterlog Magazine

'It's the personal reflection of getting drunk, playing guitar or fondly imagining the youthful exploits which earned his Dad the monicker of 'The Coiled Spring' amongst the lads and lasses of Southsea, which make this book so readable. There's plenty of angling detail besides but the vignettes that frame the pursuit of fish are perfect bed-time material, inviting slumber and dreams of shimmering water . . .' - Caught by the River