OF course, as any sensible person knows, angling is a far more productive use of time than gardening, and within a year Mr Crabtree was going fishing. It was an immediate success and developed into a fishing page, with Bernard as the angling correspondent.

I had another look at my copy of Crabtree at the weekend and particularly the "plugs for pike" chapter. Mr Crabtree Goes Fishing has since gone on to sell more than 2 million copies worldwide, and in recent years has inspired the well-received television series – Fishing in the Footsteps of Crabtree, under the watchful guidance and steady hands of John Bailey . Fly fishing is the one that caught me and for several years in my teens, my Dad and I would nip off in the caravan for a weekend on a fly-blown river or lake. I bought this book as I'd heard a great deal about how it was an inspiration to many young anglers when it was first released in the form of newspaper segments.He co-founded the Angling Times in 1953, was founder editor of Creel magazine in 1963, and wrote over 20 books. As Crabtree was written just post-WW2, there may not be too many anglers still around who can answer your question from direct experience.

Crabtree explains what cast to use, but what I'm wondering is why was that casting technique advantageous?His technique of casting a line directly from the spinning drum of the 'pin became universally know as the Wallis cast. OK, the plug on the far left looks just like a Flatfish which is a classic plug made by Heddon in the USA and I still fish with them, in fact.

Within these short story boards and accompanying chapters are superb snippets of river and water craft that we all could learn from and you can’t help but feel like a young lad again trying as hard as you could to catch that unseen monster. The subsequent strip was a huge success, and in 1949 a book featuring the fishy adventures of Mr Crabtree and his son and apprentice Peter was published. He could go fishing," Bernard suggested, and so one week Mirror readers saw Crabtree digging his allotment. Theirs was a mobile sport, filled with discovery, wonder and piscatorial good fortune – A Crabtree never blanks! Chip to tape at top of spine and mostly missing from spine edge, covers rather used, prize winner inscription to inside front cover.

You learn the difference between bottom and top fishing, the weight of tackle for different fish and circumstances.