An Anglers Journal

Ian Watson's Involvement

Ian Watson lives with his wife Jo and Cat ‘Sir Thomas’ in a small Herefordshire Village. He has actively fished since he was just three and a half years old and now, at “just” 70 he likes to say that he’s sure, if he sticks at it, he is bound to catch something eventually! However, even the most cursory glance through his Journal will show that he says that with tongue firmly in cheek. Although he has contributed the occasional article to such worthy publications as The Carp Society magazine, The British Carp Study Group’s ‘The Carp’ and also Waterlog he much prefers to keep a low profile.

For a long time he resisted pressure to have his ‘An Anglers Journal’ published. (All 8 volumes of it!) In his foreword to this ‘From an Anglers Journal Volume 1’, Ian’s long standing friend Jim Gibbinson writes “To the best of my knowledge this book is unique in angling literature…..”

Jim Gibbinson's Involvement

Ian regularly corresponded with such angling greats as Richard Walker and Jim Gibbinson and resulted in his account of his first Carp capture being published in Jim’s book, published by the Richard Walker Angling library ‘Carp’. Jim’s introduction to Ian’s letter to Dick is as follows:-

“The merit of a carp, or any other fish for that matter, does not depend solely on its size. How for instance can you evaluate a carp angler’s very first carp? An angler’s first carp is always a thrill, especially if it is caught as a result of deliberate carp fishing. When that first carp comes as a result of a long fruitless effort the thrill resulting from its capture is surely immeasurable. An account of one such carp follows. The captor, an angler named Ian Watson from Sussex, caught his first carp after no less than five blank seasons. As a matter of fact this account was not written with a view to publication- there is something of a story behind it. Ian’s lack of success prompted him to write to Dick Walker and I for advice-we gave him the advice he asked for and a carp resulted. Ian subsequently wrote to Dick describing the capture- Dick forwarded the letter to me, knowing that I was collecting accounts of carp captures for this book. I enjoyed reading the letter immensely and quickly obtained Ian’s permission to use the relevant parts of it. His account certainly disproves the popular notion that carp anglers take their sport too seriously. So, here then is the story of a man’s first ever carp, a carp that followed five blank seasons.

To read more please click. ..(here)

Jim’s comments on this title are:-

“I feel confident that Ian's book will cause quite a stir, particularly among collectors. Its uniqueness - being published in facsimile form - will ensure that it's a "must have".”

Martin Mumby's Involvement

In 2007 I ventured into what was then to me unknown, world of book publishing. I was very lucky to meet Eddie Price and even luckier to see his old fishing diaries and photographs. The moment I saw them I knew they had to be made available to a wider audience.
Eddie's book sold out within a few months and has gone on to become a highly desirable collector’s book selling at many times the original price.
I think it's fair to say it has now become a 'classic'

In May 2008 I was contacted by David Griffiths of fishingbooksender who told me about his good friend Ian Watson had been keeping angling journals since 1987, purely for his own pleasure and with no intention of publication.
David felt the journals were something special and eventually persuaded the modest Ian into considering publishing them.
Visiting them both at Ian's home it was as though we were long lost friends as we chatted about all aspects of angling.

A while later, Ian, in typical fashion, said "I suppose you want to see these blasted journals then?"

He awkwardly handed me the first journal and I remember looking at his pictures and reading some of the text continuously saying things like
"oh, I like that" or "that is lovely"

I had EXACTLY the same feelings as I had when I saw Eddie's diaries - these journals HAD to be seen by a wider audience.

With David and fishingbooksender's help I have been working on them since June 2008 and the book 'From an Anglers Journal Vol 1' will be available in late summer 2009.

Wye Angling Publications is very excited to be involved with fishingbooksender and hopefully more hidden gems will come along in the future.

Martin Mumby April 2009