I have heard it said, not entirely tongue in cheek, that Mr Crabtree isn't old hat, he's pretty up to date. A wonderful book bringing back memories of both my childhood and the wonderful TV program following on Mr Crabtrees footsteps. I would much rather watch a float and the nature than sit in a bivy reading a book and waiting for a carp run.

He fished with all the great names of that generation, from Richard Walker to Charles Ritz, and from Fred J Taylor to Frank Sawyer. Each time I read it I was taken back to a time when, as a small boy who didn't have the means to take himself fishing, my passion for fishing was mostly lived out through my imagination and the written words of others. When a phrase becomes part of an angler’s vocabulary you know it’s because it stands for something very special. I'm sure that at the time (1949), a book of a hundred pages was a reasonable offering, but to simply reprint that when all of the other material is presumably preserved (since it was published in the Mirror from 1947 to 1949 and onwards and the Mirror is preserved) seems wasteful. OK, the plug on the far left looks just like a Flatfish which is a classic plug made by Heddon in the USA and I still fish with them, in fact.This vintage guidebook is filled with articles, photographs and comics and will add so much character to any library it is placed in!

I took all my instructions from Mr Crabtree and I can cast from the drum quite effectively but having said that I have a Carbon 11' Avon rod for Mullet fishing which is does not perform a Wallis cast at all. Fly fishing is the one that caught me and for several years in my teens, my Dad and I would nip off in the caravan for a weekend on a fly-blown river or lake. Creel magazine was an upmarket magazine, edited by Venables for the first 18 issues, that ran for 47 issues from 1963 to 1966 - highly collectable. And is that advantage only related to maximizing the functional aspects of the gear available at the time (cane rod/centerpin reel) such that there is no need for the technique with a modern rod and spinning or casting reel? In 1937 a Trent angler named FWK Wallis travelled to fish the Christchurch area and soon caught a 14lb6oz Barbel which equalled the record at the time.WITH COLOUR ILLUSTRATIONS AND THE FAMILIAR B/W STRIP STORY TELLING STRAIGHT OUT OF THE OLF DAILY MIRROR FEATURE. This book is in good condition for its age other than some minor signs of wear and a little grubby on the page edges. THE CLOTH COVERED SPINE IS WORN AND STAINED WITH BUMPING AND SMALL TEARS AT BOTH ENDS, WHICH HAVE STARTED TO FRAY.

BOUND IN PICTORIAL LIMP WRAPS, WITH COLOUR ILLUSTRATION OF FISH IN LANDING NET, AND CLEAR TITLES TO FRONT COVER, THIS DATED 1959 FIRST EDITION SIXTH IMPRESSION IS VG. Mr Crabtree Goes Fishing has since gone on to sell more than 2 million copies worldwide, and in recent years has inspired the well-received television series – Fishing in the Footsteps of Crabtree, under the watchful guidance and steady hands of John Bailey . To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. But he was working for the Daily Mirror as its angling correspondent when he wrote 'Mr Crabtree Goes Fishing*'*. Within these short story boards and accompanying chapters are superb snippets of river and water craft that we all could learn from and you can’t help but feel like a young lad again trying as hard as you could to catch that unseen monster.V. provided are probably the most practical that you will find anywhere but take note of the illustrations.

The Crabtree and the Mr Cherry series of books inspired my childhood , Yes the Royalty is still there and as popular as ever I was in Christchurch at easter and enjoyed a walk along it and gazed longingly at the parlour pool, I was also able to fritter some hard earned away in Davis fishing tackle which is a few hundred yards away. With a centrepin reel the best way of casting such a rig a long way, under control, is the F W K Wallis cast (Nottingham style). Henry from Devon and John fish numerous lakes, deploying different methods and tactics depending on the environment and enjoying the natural world as they fish for all species. I used to find a small redworm a very useful change bait for winter grayling which they sometimes absolutely hammered, and I never noticed any particular extra tendency to catch brownies, sea trout or salmon kelts when I used it. Subsequently the Mirror's gardening guru was Mr Digwell and (not many people know this) at one time Paul Peacock, Jack Hargeaves' biographer, was Mr Digwell.

It can be said that this looks as if it ought to be a good day, and quite often it will turn out so; and an apparantly bad day will generally prove to be so.