Gone Fishing by Jon Beer

There is one chapter dealing with an expedition Jon made to target the wily porbeagle sharks way up in the north of Scotland, but mainly Gone Fishing is about Jon's trout and grayling fishing exploits in the UK, USA, Sweden and France. Nevertheless a book we felt we just had to review in our salt soaked pages.

This is a fishing book written to entertain. A book to have by the bedside or on the coffee table to pick up and read when the spirit needs to fish, but commitments and responsibilities dictate we must wait for another day. Gone Fishing, whatever you preference for species, will satisfy that urge to fish when being by the water is impossible.

There are 33 chapters within the 177 pages. They include reminiscences of adventures, observations, chance meetings and special places. In short it's a compilation of what Jon has experienced through his fishing life. Experiences many of us will recognise and share, at least in some part.

He writes in a descriptive manner, but at an easy to read tempo with an often humorous lilt. He is an excellent story teller. He includes the odd recipe including a riverside cassoulet, how to make sloe gin, even apricots and prunes in brandy, plus a shoulder of lamb dish you can cook on the bank, or beach for that matter. Fishing isn't just about fishing, and Jon brings that out vividly. Read it carefully too, for there is more than the odd good fishing tip gently hidden amongst the humour and the story.

My favourite chapters are The Passing of the Peugot when Jon bids goodbye to a faithful car, and Just A Closer Walk With Three, a story of a less than faithful horse used to carry fishing equipment to a far off Scottish loch. We've probably all shed tears when a favourite car leaves the drive for the last time, and we've all come across cantankerous individuals, be they horse or human. The book ends with a fact file. A compilation of contacts for some of the people and places Jon mentions.

Summing up, a thoroughly good read, an essential addition to any angler's library, and a book you'll read more than once.

Gone Fishing by Jon Beer (ISBN 1 85410 870 0) is available in all good book shops retailing for £16.99, or for more information contact Aurum Press Ltd, 25 Bedford Avenue, London WC1B 3AT