This latest tome from Wild Things Publishing celebrates the rivers, lakes and coasts of the South West – a region where Devon’s inlets and rivers yield to Cornwall’s windswept beaches and jagged cliffs – and far beyond as well. The book’s prose brims with evocative imagery: trout gliding through crystalline streams, the hypnotic swirl of mackerel bait balls gently caressed by the warming pulse of the Gulf Stream – inviting exploration. Its allure is undeniable, one that affirms the value and integrity of these valuable natural assets. Words by Jamie Crocker
The very notion of wild resists definition. Can a river, lake, or coastline – already shaped by millennia of human activity – truly be wild? The South West’s waters are steeped in history, from the nets of ancient fishing villages to contemporary conservation projects. However, what Wild Fishing offers is a purer engagement, an intimate and romantic rediscovery of waters and ecosystems that are vestiges of a bygone age. It is also full of little nuggets of amusing supplementary information – “Victorian ladies used Crooklets Beach for bathing while the gentlemen were segregated to Summerleaze. The best time to fish is two hours before low water and on the incoming tide. Typically for skate and flatfish. You should also be able to pick up bass at night.”
It is no surprise the landscape’s literary past also comes into play in this publication. Poets like Ted Hughes immortalised the rivers of Dartmoor in verses that sought understanding without alteration. Hughes wrote with a reverence born out of understanding, embodying a harmony that seems elusive in the modern world, for even recreational fishing, benign as it may appear, carries a toll. Discarded lures linger like splinters in the landscape; monofilament lines become entanglements for unsuspecting creatures, and the subtle disruptions of human presence ripple through sensitive environments. But by re-engaging mindfully and exercising restraint aligned with a sense of awareness, our impact can be mollified. It’s a worthy ideal that ripples through the pages of Wild Fishing, presenting a chance to resurrect that harmony that the poets of the past understood. If we are to engage with the wild, let it be with the reverence of guardians, not the entitlement of explorers. In that commitment lies the true celebration of nature – one that is celebrated and extolled in Wild Fishing.
Wild Fishing (Wild Things Publishing, £18.99, paperback) is published on 1st April.
