Book Title: A Sporting Angler

Author: Michael Pritchard

Publisher: William Collins & Sons

ISBN: 0-00-412138-4

This is a collection of the author's recollections of a lifetime fishing for sporting fish. ("sporting fish"  to me are the species that fight all the way to the net - GG).

There are 23 chapters of which 14 are on sea fishing.  They are porbeagle in Ireland, swordfish in Portugal, tope in South Wales, shore bass in Kerry (various), giant pollack in Kerry, grouper in Gibraltar, huge skate & conger, cod at Stonehaven, and huge Garfish in the Arabian Gulf.

The people involved in the chapters, and the author himself, were modest anglers who spent their whole lives traveling and fishing, building up knowledge and experience based on nous and experimentation. A far cry from the angling picture books of today, written by career angling writers.

I found it quite evocative reading, the sort of book that is good for holiday reading, and certainly better value than the dross in the airport bookshops.

Hardback in dust wrapper, published in 1987, 192 pages. Out of print, but occasionally appears on eBay and quite easy for a secondhand bookseller to source for you. Expect to pay around £10 to £15.

Geoff

Excellent mate, I'll look out for a copy. I sometimes get the feeling that a lot of these books would benefit from a Y2K update. For me sport fish would now include smoothounds and light line bream fishing as well as the more usual subjects. Thanks again for another great report.

Aitch