38 November 22, 2013 WEEKENDWEEKEND

www.sundaysport.com

Anglingbooks –my pickof 2013

Water Colours. It was an honour and I knew it would be a cracker if his previous book, While My Float’s Still Cocked was anything to go by.

I wasn’t to be disappointed. Water Colours is a whimsical book. A collection of tales and Boy’s Own adventures, the polar extreme of obsession. It’s lovely, one to escape into on a cold winter’s evening.

Not surprisingly it’s liberally illustrated with Mole’s sketches and paintings throughout.www.anglebooks.com

GREAT DAYS EXTRA BY DES TAYLOR

DES Taylor is a bit of an angling legend with a reputation magnified through a long-run-

ning weekly column in Angling Times that originally caricatured him as a hard drinking, opinionated loudmouth.

But as editors have come andgone, so his imagehas mellowed.

These days he’s acountryman, keen to share a love of wildlife and nature.

What has never changed has been his desire and ability to catch fish. He’s beenprodigiously successful with coarse, sea or game fish.

Throw in giant halibut,sailfish and great white sharks, not to mention adventure fishing in numerous countries, and you have a true all-rounder.

The real value is in the softback which has three bonus chapters.

www.destaylorangling.co.uk UNDERWATER ANGLING BY PAUL GARNER AND

STUART MORGAN

VERY few instructional angling books can claim to be unique. Even fewer provide any kind of factual

evidence to support the author’s views. What we tend to get is a mix of dogma and supposition.

Opinions are based merely on what the author ima-gines is happening beneath the surface, or on what

he’s read elsewhere.Garner and Morgan set out to go with cameras and study the mechanics of every popular fishing method from a fish’s viewpoint.

Seventeen chapters focus onstillwaters and eight more on rivers.Conclusions are made, alternativessuggested. This is a book that could really make you think hard about your fishing.www.drpaulgarner.co.uk

PIKE HERE & THERE

BY PHIL WAKEFORD

Wakeford is a highly-respected pike angler and this book is no less than you might

expect from someone of his stature. Many pike anglers grind out their results by pure attrition – not Wakeford. He’s a thinker and his results suggest others would benefit by adopting hisapproach. Let him take you on ajourney that winds around lowland rivers, backwaters and gravel pits to the wide expanses of Irish loughs and the vastness of the Baltic Sea.www.harperanglingbooks.co.uk

JACK’S PIKE VOLUME 3 BY BRIAN ROBERTS

I’M surprised that neither of the angling weeklies has picked up on the Jack’s Pike cartoon series so far.Imagine Andy Capp as an obsessive fisherman. Jack

and Bob (his mate) walking down the street. ‘That’s where the Jehovah’s Witnesses live.’ Door bell rings. ‘Do you have a few minutes to talk about fishing?’

Or Jack’s take on One Million Years BC. The two main characters shelter under an archetypalStonehenge structure, two upright slabs and a cross

member, ‘This is a great fishingshelter... We should put them all round the pond.’ And there’s another great mystery solved.

You’ll find plenty more examples on the website should you require further persuasion. There are three volumes of cartoons produced in both B&W or

colour to suit your preference or budget.www.pikeblog.com

THE EEL ANGLER

BY BARRIE MCCONNELL

OF all the books I’ve readthis year, this one took me by

complete surprise.Surely it’s impossible to write an

interesting book about a creature that’s covered in slime and looks like a snake? Be prepared to be proved wrong. From the moment I

began reading I was hooked and the more I read the more I wanted to be out eel fishing.

McConnell is obsessive to the point where we might question his sanity. He lives a life that sounds insane because he’s eel mad but when did that actually hurt anyone else?

Everyone knows the Scottish Highlands through summer are a mozzie nightmare even in the daytime but what would it take topersuade you to sit out all night long by the side of a Scottish loch just to catch an eel?

His exploits in Australia and New Zealand are equally extreme – living rough in remoteplaces – but the results are staggering; think freshwater eels the size of a conger.

Full of technical content and tactical ideas, it was my best fishing read of the year.www.harperanglingbooks.co.uk

WATER COLOURS – FURTHER RAMBLINGS OF

AN ARTIST-ANGLER BY MAURICE J PLEDGER

I doubt any of us display less vanity than this author. Mole, as his friends call him, illustrates interactive

children’s books, of which more than ten million have been sold worldwide.

His ornithological studies have sold at Sotheby’s, yet when I cheekily asked if I might use some of his fish images on my latest DVD inlays, and to break up different film

sequences, he not only talked his agent into letting me use them at no cost, he then wrote to me saying he was humbled to be given such an opportunity. Crikey, if anyone should be humbled it was me. Of course, I jumped at a chance to repay the favour when asked to write an introduction for

An linTHE UK’S TOP ANGLING COLUMN

November 22, 2013 38 November 22, 2013 38 November 22, 2013 38 November 22, 2013 November 22, 2013

CROSSWORD

SPORTDUKO

CROSSWORDACROSS:3. Phase; 9. Acacia; 10. On view; 11. Trout; 12. Ogle; 15. Ripple; 17. East-ern; 19. Yet; 20. Easel; 22. Steer; 24. Solid; 25. Roman; 27. Bid; 29. Listens; 32. Ecarte; 34. Oath; 35. Ranch; 37. Taurus; 38. Eagles; 39. Messy.

DOWN: 1. Canoe; 2. Pails; 3. Pit; 4. Harare; 5. Sour; 6. Entices; 7. Lippy;

8. Sweet; 13. Gastric; 14. Ether; 16. Lenient; 18. Naval; 21. Lotto; 23. Rostrum; 26. Nieces; 27. Beats; 28. Datum; 30. Early; 31. Shush; 33. Ease; 36. Hay.

QUIZ OF THE WEEK1 Kendall Jenner. 2 Hull. 3 Aldi. 4 Monty Python. 5 Seven. 6 Nuts. 7 Dr Who. 8 Be harmful to your health. 9 40%. 10 Trust.

ACROSS

3. Stage (5)9. Shrub or small tree (6)10. Being exhibited (2,4)11. Fish (5)12. Eye up (4)15. Slight wave (6)17. Oriental (7)19. Nevertheless (3)20. Artist’s stand (5)22. Guide (5)24. Compact (5)25. -------- Polanski, director (5)27. Offer (3)29. Lends an ear (7)32. Card game (6)34. Solemn pledge (4)35. American cattle farm (5)37. Zodiac sign (6)38. Birds of prey (6)39. Untidy (5)

DOWN

1. Light boat (5)2. Buckets (5)3. Mine (3)4. Capital of Zimbabwe (6)5. Gone bad (4)6. Tempts (7)7. Insolent, cheeky (5)8. Sugary (5)13. Of the stomach (7)14. Anaesthetic (5)16. Tolerant (7)18. Of a navy (5)21. Bingo (5)23. Speaker’s platform (7)26. Female relatives (6)27. Defeats (5)28. Fact (5)30. Not late (5)31. Be quiet! (5)33. Facility (4)36. Grass mown and dried (3)

PUZZLES

ANSWERS

1 Which Americanreality TV babe isOne Direction popstar Harry Styles (above) rumoured tobe dating?

2 Where in Britain has just been named theUK’s City of Culturefor 2017?

3 Which supermarket has won an award for their own mince pies?

4 Which comedy legends are planning to reuniteon stage for the firsttime in 30 years?

5 How many jobs has the Olympics legacy supposedly createdin the North East?

6 Eating what everyday can allegedly help people live longer?

7 Which famousBBC1 sci-fi showturns 50 this year?

8 According to newfindings this week, too much exercise can be what?

9 The EuropeanCommission hasinsisted every company should have whatpercentage of female board members, under new plans?

10 A survey has revealed what quality do menlook for the most in women, in order toget married?

FISHINGWITHWITHBOB

ROBERTS

IT’S been a golden year for book publishing in the angling world with so many great titles being released.

In other sporting arenas – andespecially in the case of theentertainment industry – writing skills are not required.

Some eager journalist ghosts your book, takes a cut of theroyalties and voilà – you have the latest blockbuster autobiography

supposedly ‘written’ by a pop star or flashy footballer: My Story!

The supermarket shelves arealready groaning under the weight of books by celebrities who would struggle to spell anything that doesn’t start with a hashtag.

But angling couldn’t be moredifferent. Each one of the booksI’m going to share has beenpainstakingly written by the author

and most of the images used are self-generated.

It’s about as far removed as you can ever get from manufactured pop bands and soap stars.

In fact you can be pretty certain that a lot of midnight oil was burned in the making of my choices.

So, in no particular order, hereis part one. Part two will follownext week.

PART ONE

FOR reviews and extracts from these and other angling books, check out the books section of my website www.bobrobertsonline.co.uk While you’re there,

please do check out the trailers for my latest DVDs