As it was my birthday I felt the need to buy myself a
present that would of been difficult to get hold of using the unreliable method
of dropping hints to loved ones. Luckily Dominic Garnett’s new book entitled, “Tangles
With Pike” is just off the presses and with a little forethought I ordered a
signed first edition from his website which despite Britain’s postal service arrived
on my birthday.
I am not one for penning book reviews as having to write
reports about memorably dull books at school has scarred me for life and I feel
if I was to write a review it would in some way be a victory for my english
teacher who was shit.
Back to the book. This
is really a collection of short stories about Dominic’s own brand of pike
fishing which he treats less like a religion and more like a pleasant drug
habit. Along the way he gets to bump into some fellow addicts and the odd bit
of fishing royalty all sandwiched neatly with a bit of travel.
That is the hard stuff out of the way, what I like about
this book is that quality in the writing that transports. I can watch a video and
it is great to see Robson Green shouting about losing some monster fish on some
tropical jaunt, but it is not going take me there. By contrast reading a few lines
from this book and I am away in Finland pulling perch from pristine water or
sneaking along some stretch of semi urban canal to put a bit distance between myself
and the town’s delinquents.
Should you buy this book? I don’t bloody know but I wonder
if I had spent the £15 on a spool of braid would I have gotten the same
pleasure, would I have travelled and would I have learnt anything worth
knowing. Cheers Mr Garnett and keep dipping them quills in the ink and occasionally
in some water attached to a hook and a worm. Link to Dominic's Site
I also need to say thanks, to all those fellow lure makers
who sent birthday wishes. I think apart from the Artic and Antarctic I got a
happy birthday from somewhere on every continent and thanks to google translate
one of them came out as “Happy cow feast”
I spent the best part of the day practicing filming with
Jordan and Jordan to local lure nuts and youtubers (The Scouse Angler) on a stretch
of canal close to the city centre. It was great to get away from videoing myself
carving lures and see another side of filming. It gave me some great ideas for future
films and projects. I also felt little old realizing I had left my glasses at
home and also watching the pair of them flip lures round like Jedi’s with graphite
sabers. I put together a little experimental intro to a video and hopefully I can
get out soon with them again.
