Laurence Catlow Livres

"Set against the dramatic backdrop of the Pennines, Catlow's shooting diary records his year as an amateur pheasant rearer, gamekeeper, forester, dog-handler and all-round shooting enthusiast. But he also records his thoughts as he goes around his small his views on the right to roam, on why he loves the birds he shoots, his wine cellar, his other sporting interests. He airs his opinions on subjects as diverse as sport and the nanny state, game cookery, friendship, disobedient dogs and beloved hats.Interspersed with pheasant shooting are magical evenings duck flighting and expeditions rabbit shooting. He controls vermin such as mink, crows and foxes - all familiar activities to those who run small shoots.Catlow is shooting's most articulate exponent and this is an intelligent, funny and thought-provoking book."

""I need to start thinking like a shooter, for shooters and fishers, even though they are often the same person, think very differently."So writes author Laurence Catlow as his fishing season on the lonely northern rivers comes to an end, and he prepares for his next shooting season on his own small shoot on the edge of the Pennines.Many sportsmen enjoy both shooting and fishing, and in That Strange Alchemy, Catlow examines- fishing and shooting memories and why they differ- why both sports are so important to him- the loss of his shooting dog and the undertaking of a new one- best fishing days and how these differ from best shooting days- the anxieties of running a guest shooting day- fishing in middle age compared to in youthCatlow writes with great wit, modesty and insight."

"I want, through this written record, to articulate what a rich blessing it is to be a fisherman. And I sense that there may somewhere be a mystery that has yet to be a great and hidden truth lying at the heart of the angler's experience, a truth both simple and profound, the power and the importance of which are felt only by fishermen, because it is the irresistible summons of this shy and beautiful truth that takes hold of them, driving them to fish-filled waters in search of their happiness.'Laurence Catlow, July 2001Once a Flyfisher is a sporting diary which follows the events of a season on the beautiful rivers of Yorkshire, Cumbria, Shropshire and Scotland.As he fishes through the summer months, the author's views forthright, at times extremely funny, unexpectedly moving and always thought-provoking."

Laurence Catlow writes here on many subjects close to his fisher's heart: the contrast between fishing in early spring and in autumn, the realisation that mayfly fishing is not as easy as it seems, views on flies, on fishing in an opposing wind, low or high water, holiday fishing, why a brace of trout matters so much, and why small wild trout can mean so much to an angler. He sums up: 'Anyway, throughout this book I have been trying to come to some sort of understanding about why this whole business of catching trout means so much to me and why, after fifty years spent catching trout in fair numbers, I find an even deeper satisfaction in catching them now than I did as a young fisher when they were caught much less frequently and were therefore individually much more important. I hope that I have managed some insights but it seems to me that there is always more to be seen and more to be said.'

The story follows Laurence Catlow, a classics teacher at a boarding school in Cumbria, who experiences a moment of temptation when he spots a stunning pheasant in flight. This encounter ignites a deeper exploration of his desires and the conflicts between his academic life and primal instincts. As he grapples with his impulses, themes of nature, morality, and the complexities of human emotion unfold, revealing the tension between civilized existence and raw instinct.

Laurence Catlow s long-awaited new book is one of the most candid and eloquent fishing memoirs ever written. This is Laurence s unusual fishing autobiography in which he talks openly about how, as a young man, his excessive drinking brought him to an important turning point in his fishing life. This is elegantly interwoven around his lively views on the northern upstream tradition, catch-and-release, worming and other topics. In the second part of the book, Laurence embarks on what he expects to be an idyllic time as he takes early retirement and looks forward to even more shooting and fishing when a personal crisis plunges him into a nervous breakdown. This frank exploration of how fishing became impossible to contemplate during the darkest days but how it went on to form an essential part of eventual recovery, is a new departure in angling literature and will strike a chord with many readers"