How to Fish

by Chris Yates

How to Fish is an unabashed, unashamed celebration of the joys of fishing. It is about contentment, calm and solitude, rivers and river banks, losing track of time and, of course, the fish themselves. For those who already enjoy fishing it is a love letter to their art and for those who don't - yet! - it is an insight into a life spent getting up at the crack of dawn and, armed with rod and line, heading for water...

Genres: Nonfiction

240 pages, Hardcover

First published September 28, 2006

Reviews

[Bex · Rating 5 out of 5]

'One of the flies - a large dark olive, I think - has landed on the top of my pen as I'm writing. There you are, little fly; I dedicate this line to you. And maybe I'll be able to dedicate a beautiful perch to you as well...'

I've never been fishing, but I do love rivers and swimming in them with freshwater fish, so a good friend suggested this to me and insisted that I borrow his copy. This book was a beautiful lovesong to my beloved riparian places and their piscean inhabitants, and I found it completely charming and enchanting. I read it in one day, and I'm going to gobble up everything else I can by Chris Yates, just like a little chublet (which, by the way, was my favourite word in the whole book!). Would recommend this to anyone who wants to spend a relaxing read immersing themselves in rivers.

[Steve W · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book about fishing, but also as much about being at one with nature. The book is very well written and certainly lets you picture place and atmosphere. Not a technical book on how to fish as the title might suggest, more a person relating his enjoyment of it. It has a style similar to the classic Waterlog. A flow to it that makes it a pleasure to read. On a number of occasions I forced myself to slow down and enjoy the read: undoubtedly a book I will reread. Chris uses an old split can rod and perhaps suggest that the less complex approaches to life can be thoroughly enjoyable.

[Emily Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book! What a nice change in pace, slowing it right down to analogue. What a taste you get for the outdoors, the song bird, the ripples of the water and the dazzle of colourful scales! Oh this book transports me to warm summer days by the water. Nothing but you, a rod and a nice flask of hot Joe! This book ignites my passion for getting in nature and turning of the frequency of the rat race. I love that the book is short and sweet and written as a diary captured in the quiet moments by the river bed. What a wonderful life to lead Mr Yates.

[Ed Sellier · Rating 4 out of 5]

“It was, therefore, a curious but beautiful alchemy: first the hoped-for dream, then the dream transformed into a small flickering fish that rooted me to the earth… what makes fishing so compelling is the way it keeps my attention fixed on the present.”

Wonderful, meditative nature and journal writing. I was swept up in Yates’ conjuring of a river bank scene. One to return to in times of anxious energy.

[Derek Rutherford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely superb! Not a how to fish book at all, of course (unless you read between the beautiful lines - then you'll learn loads about how to fish), but an evocation of what it's like to be out there on the river bank in the early autumn mist. One of the finest fishing books I've read. Simply, a joy.

[Vernon Yarker · Rating 4 out of 5]

"When I look upstream and see everything flowing towards me it's like looking into the future. When I face downstream and see everything flowing away, it's like looking into the past"a rough nugget of philosophy taken from his book, I am an armchair fisherman these days , so I can react the passed through this delightfully written book

[Sara Hughes · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was a nice philosophical take on fishing and enjoying nature but it was kind of dull. Each chapter was hard to differentiate because they didnt have clear focus, just wandering fish stories. Then the book just stopped.

[Dai · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb as always by Chris Yates

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful

[richard webster · Rating 5 out of 5]

True Chris Yates style.

A brilliant read that takes you to the bank side with him. For all Chris Yates fans. Worth the money.

[Chris Warren · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had forgotten just how good this book was. Thank you Mr Yates!

[Robert Antell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book if you like fishing and / or nature.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely little book about the joys and travails of angling through the seasons. Enriching!

[Charlie Webster · Rating 5 out of 5]

🎣 ☺️

[Simon Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delicious little book but one with the wrong title. It's really a collection of insights into 'why' we fish. If you're an angler or even someone who fished as youngster, it will stir up long forgotten memories that might just quicken your heart rate and nurture a desire to return to the water once more. Although Mr Yates doesn't directly go into philosophy, mindfulness: being truly present in a moment and with a heightened awareness of your surroundings, seems to be embedded in each of the 23 bite-sized chapters. It's full of short stories and personal anecdotes, including many from his childhood. If there is a practical takeaway from the book, it's to focus on the art rather than the mechanics of angling: traveling light, listening to the water and improvising rather than being encumbered by loads of the latest 'gear'. In his words "...(uncluttered) fishing offers a dimension where, even if you don't cast very far into it, you can be free of the wired-up world and suddenly in touch with an equally complex, less concise but deep-rooted reality".

[Will Jeffries · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kind-of a fun, easy, laid-back approach to reading. I actually found this book through reading Tom Hodgkinson's books on how to be idle and all that good stuff that can be found at: http://idler.co.uk/

There are a few revolutionary idlers out there encouraging us to Slow Down Now: http://slowdownnow.org/
and that preach the Joy of Not Working: http://www.erniezelinski.com/
Any my favorite is The Lazy Way to Success: http://lazyway.blogs.com/

Enjoy these websites, sit-back, enjoy life, release resistance and All Will Be Well...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbD6j_...

[THE GOOD LIFE]

[Paul Newman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A little pearl of a book. Just makes you want to sit by a gently flowing river or under tarpaulin before a rain-dimpled lake while a kettle boils nearby on a smoking fire, fishing rod in hand - bliss. Better than any self-help book to bring the blood pressure down. Beautifully written, existential and zen like.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book that gets to the heart of the why's of fishing while telling enjoyable tales of days on the water.

[Matt Grommes · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great series of little meditations on fishing. No, you won't learn how to fish as in how to cast and what to feed which fish but you will how to enjoy fishing.

[Timothy Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun if you like fishing. Not a philosophy book.

[Chef · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this if you like prose about rivers.

[Lee Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book