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The Hook - John Swain

Reviewed by Terry Lawton

Books are and have always been one of the great pleasures and attractions of fishing and fly fishing in particular. As there is no such thing as a bad day's hunting - there are good days and less good days - so with fishing books. I was interested to read recently a letter in the American magazine Fly Rod and Reel from a woman asking why there were never any reviews of bad books. She claimed that every book review that she had ever read said how good the book was.

I wonder if she will see this review because, sadly the book in question, The Hook by John Swain, falls into the less good category. What is most interesting about it is the fact that it is an example of a possible future for publishing. It is printed digitally and to order via the publishers website. Copies can, apparently, be personalised if you so desire. The book is a paperback and looks no different from a conventionally-printed paperback.

This book reminds me very much of John Wilson's autobiography, Fifty Years a Fisherman, in that it is a saga of growing up in South London and fishing local ponds, lakes and the river Thames. John Swain was introduced to fishing - in a somewhat idiosyncratic way - by his father. A local garage owner in South Norwood introduced him to salmon fishing which is the great love of his life. He spent his working life in the Police force and on retirement in 1976 he set himself up as a security consultant specialising in countering industrial espionage. Swain's great friend and angling companion, Peter S Anderson says : "John Swain's working life in the police service was immaculate, but I am certain if he were asked to describe his greatest capture he'd say: 'It was a beautiful short, deep bodied fresh run salmon, well over twenty pounds, caught on the river Spey.'." This book is worth buying if only for its novelty value as an on-line digital production. It may appeal to those of you who fish or have fished some of the waters that Swain writes about.

The Hook by John Swain. Published by Gopher Publishers at £6.75. Paperback, 132 pages. www.gopherpublishers.com (Click on Books and then scroll down to Sporting.)

Also received for review, from Coch-Y-Bonddu Books, were Thomas & Bray's Stillwater Fly Swotter and The Right Fly, An Angler's Guide to Identifying and Matching Natural Insects by Stephen J Simpson and George C McGavin.



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