Author: Wayne Thomas
Publisher: Little Egret Press
Year: 2019
Rating ***
Many books have been written about famous rivers but
surprisingly little has been written about North Devon.
Wayne Thomas is known throughout the area for his angling columns and latterly
his website and is regarded as one of best anglers in the area. Not in just one
branch of the sport, he is regarded as a generalist, perhaps a dismissive term
for someone who just loves all aspects of the sport and the environment which
is so beautiful in North Devon.
This has put him in a unique position to meet people down
the years and to fish most of the waters in the area. So when he decided to
write “I caught a glimpse” he started
from a position of having a wealth of knowledge and experience.
This has enabled him to produce an excellent historical
document covering the locations, catches and the anglers who used to fish it.
Sadly, much of it isn’t as good as days long ago,
particularly in salmon numbers where his interviews paint a graphic picture of
the decline, and even allowing for memories to be rose tinted, he uses catch
records to highlight this. However, he also notes that changing practices and
declining numbers of anglers have accentuated this and he applauds the efforts
of the environmentalist amongst anglers and their work in trying to improve
habitat.
Likewise sea fishing has declined as man harvests both the
fish and in one case the very sandbank that sustained differing species that
are no longer present.
What Wayne
does add is his appreciation of the beautiful environment he experience with
the flora and fauna included which, to many, is nearly as important as the
angling.
My concern for this book is for the sales figures, in that
the number of anglers has declined and has become more specialised and some of
whom may not fully appreciate the rich history of the not too distant past. I
am delighted that Wayne
took the time to compile this book recounting the memories of the contributors some
of whom are now in their dotage, and this is highlighted by the notes of their
passing in the book.
It will undoubtedly retain its place as an historical
document on angler’s bookshelves for years to come and is a valuable addition to
the angling history of North Devon.