How many rods and reels are manufactured each year? Where is the oldest depiction of an angler in art? How many fish species are there? Which is the world's most exclusive fishing club and what's the best-selling fishing book of all time? The answers to these and a thousand other questions can be found in this book, the most comprehensive angler's miscellany ever published. Despite the popularity of football and other sports, angling remains the most popular participant sport in Britain and when they are not fishing, Britain's one million-plus anglers can usually be found tucked up by the fireside and reading about their favourite pursuit. And what better book to accompany those fireside evenings than one that includes fishing's most fascinating facts and fancies - everything from the biggest fish ever caught on rod and line to the world's rarest fish, from a fish that can survive for years without water to a fish that draws pictures to attract a mate. And even a fish that lives for more than 500 years. Also included are numerous unbelievable but true angling stories - like the tale of the salmon angler who caught a freshwater mussel containing a pearl worth more than £1,000; the boy who caught a record fish from a sewage outflow, and the Victorian academic who insisted on trying to swim up a new salmon ladder just to make sure the salmon would be able to do it. AUTHOR: Tom Quinn has written a number of books about the history of the English countryside as well as books on fishing, eccentrics, long walks, railways, early aviation and the First World War. He is the author of BB Remembered, the life of children's author and illustrator Denys Watkins-Pitchford (better known as BB), The World's Greatest Shooting Stories, Heaven upon Earth, and Collecting Fishing Tackle, all of which were published by Quiller. A keen walker and fisherman he is also the author of several books about the Royal Family. He writes occasional obituaries for The Times and has edited a number of magazines including The Countryman.
