The One That Didn't Get Away

Anglers are a curious bunch. They love to tell tales of the one that got away – the 30lb salmon that made a last, mad rush and cut the line on a rock, the huge tench that threw the hook just as it neared the landing net – but they neglect those happier days when the sun shines and they can hardly put a foot wrong. 'The One That Didn’t Get Away' celebrates these triumphs – and for the vast majority of Britain’s almost one million anglers there are always red-letter days. They may not come thick and fast, or involve a fish that breaks the records, but anglers know the excitement and joy of landing a fish beyond all expectations. Author Tom Quinn has trawled through a vast archive of reports from contemporary sources, as well as from long-forgotten angling newspapers and magazines, to unearth some of the most extraordinary tales of angling at its best. Stories include big fish landed against the odds on the flimsiest of tackle, monsters netted just when all hope had been lost and wonderful fish brought to the bank in the most unlikely circumstances. Whatever your interest in angling, whether you are a game fisher, coarse or sea angler, you will find much here to entertain and to delight – and to remind you why the next best thing to fishing is reading about it!

Tom Quinn has written a number of books about the history of the English countryside as well as books on fishing, eccentrics, long walks, railways, early aviation and the First World War. He is the author of BB Remembered, the life of children's author and illustrator Denys Watkins-Pitchford (better known as BB), The World's Greatest Shooting Stories, Heaven upon Earth, and Collecting Fishing Tackle, all of which were published by Quiller. A keen walker and fisherman he is also the author of several books about the Royal Family. He writes occasional obituaries for The Times and has edited a number of magazines including The Countryman.