Amazing Fishing Stories: Incredible Tales from Stream to Open Sea Book

Acknowledgements xi

Introduction 1

Part One Captured Monsters.

Salmon on the Flood 7

World Record in a Rowing Boat 12

Attrition and Slime 17

Brownie of a Lifetime 22

Bananas, Coca-Cola and Tarpon 27

Spinners, Rod Tops and Pike 33

Who Needs a Record? 38

Part Two Interfering Animals.

Glen Coe Infamy 45

Alaskan Melee 50

Crossed Lines on the Lochy 55

Deveron Monsters 60

Interfering Claws and Teeth 64

Kodiak Bears and Steelhead 69

Part Three Ghosts.

Maire's Cottage 77

Sea Trout and Standing Stones 82

King Henry's Horsemen 87

The Viking's Lover 92

Silhouette in the River 97

Part Four Amazing Days.

Orkney Olives and Sea Trout 105

Storm-Tossed Salmon 110

Australian Marlin and Sashimi 115

Colonial Flashback 121

Greedy Australian Trout 126

Tigers, Cats and Elephants 131

Cascades and the French Line Fisherman 136

Part Five Extraordinary Tales.

The Obnoxious Major 143

Don't Fool with the Joker! 148

CBA Pot 153

Anchors and Lemonade 158

Bones, Permit and Tarpon 163

Irish Eel Escapology 169

Thomas, Tiger Fish and the Old Bull Elephant 174

Performing Pike 180

Part Six Research and Reminiscences.

Things Ain’t What They Used to Be 187

From Whitehall to the Great Barrier Reef 192

Unconventional Tactics 197

Mahseer and Funeral Pyres 202

In Search of a Record Salmon 207

Roach to Perch to Monster Pike 212

Dynamite and Goonch 218

Arctic Salmon and Icebergs 223

Part Seven Lost Leviathans.

Cornish Man-Eater 231

Capture . . . Escape . . . Recapture . . . 236

Teifi Ghost 241

Palace Pier Monster 246