Odham's Pictorial guide to fish and fishing

Well I did promise I might write a post about this book!

Odham's pictorial guide was my christmas present from my Dad this year. It was his very first fishing book, and one he pored over for hundreds of hours as a young angler. He found a copy and bought it so that he could share it with me.

The book is very big, and reminds me of comic book annuals. The colours are bright and the illustrations are typical of the late 50's early 60's when the book was published:

Inside the book starts with introductions to the water cycle and aquatic life, to make sure a young angler was properly educated!

 

The book then progresses through different species of fish, and compares them to land animals, for example the roach is similar to a sheep as a grazing shoaling fish, but the pike is likened to a tiger.

With a pretty thourough background in place the book progresses onto how to catch these beautifully depicted creatures, and I have to say it is very reminiscent of Mr. Crabtree:

Reading through with Dad, he told me how he could remember each of the illustrations, and how he had studied those explaining how a roach might bite (shown above)

What I really love about the book, aside from it's illustrations, is the attitude. The book progresses from environment to the natural history and biology of fishes, before eventually enlightening the reader as to how to cunjour these denizens of the deep. It even describes the natural history of predators like cormorants and mink, as well as commonly seen water side birds like the Kingfisher.

So often these days I meet a young angler in my social circles and they seem to have lost sight of everything but how to catch the fish, and they're missing out on so much! 

I think that what my young contemporaries may have missed out on, is an introduction by the likes of Odhams or Mr. Crabtree.

Odhams still gives a very thorough introduction to the watery world, and the time spent reading it, or as my Dad did comitting it to memory will pay dividends to any young or aspiring angler.

www.lonsdalepark.co.uk