In the few years that I've been fly fishing, October normally sees me promising to give it a go. But then I find myself catching up with all the jobs that were ignored through the trout season - accounts, bill paying, you know the type of thing - and before you know it - we're back in the trout season.

'Fly fishing for Grayling' is the revised and extended follow up to John Robert's 1982 publication 'The Grayling Angler'.

And this man knows his grayling. From his home in Yorkshire he has travelled the world in pursuit of the 'lady of the stream' - taking in Scandinavia, Canada and the USA.

Since writing 'The Grayling Angler' there has been a considerable increase of interest in grayling fishing in both the UK and Europe - the Grayling Society's membership has seen fourfold growth in that time. And the distribution of fish has increased as artificial stocking has taken place. We're no longer limited to the original holding areas of the Derbyshire Wye, Dove and Derwent, the Welsh Dee, the Severn and Wye, the Lancashire Ribble and the Hampshire Avon.

The book covers probably everything you need to know about grayling - the facts of life, food, fishing methods, recommended grayling flies and a comprehensive list of grayling rivers in Britain. There are some excellent colour plates which feature underwater photography, and grayling flies shot by Terry Griffiths.

I now know more about grayling than I could ever have cobbled together from magazine articles, and feel far more confident about catching my first grayling than I ever did with my first trout.

So, perhaps I was the right person to review this book. If you're a grayling fisherman who has read a copy and would like to comment - let me know.

But for me, this will be an invaluable addition to my bookshelf.

The only problem is - when am I going to sort those bills out?

'Flyfishing For Grayling' by John Roberts is publish by Excellent Press.

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