|
Sport? Science? Art? Mere pastime? Escape into nature? Atavistic imperative? Fishing is all of these and more.
When we fish, we are hunting - indulging that innate prompting to overcome and capture wild animals good enough to eat (whether for food, or just to prove we can do
it). But in an increasingly over civilised and technologically sophisticated world, we are also reminding ourselves how much we need to see, hear, feel, smell and taste the beauty of nature in its more untamed
state.
Bill Nathan's modestly titled The Ordinary Fisherman takes us on a series of real-life fishing adventures, each one filled with the excitement of this
most gentle form of hunting, together with the wonder and enjoyment of the natural habitats of stream, river, lake, estuary and sea. Importantly, he never lets us forget the myriad aesthetic facets of the world's most popular and satisfying sport-pastime.
But perhaps above all, Bill Nathan is a story-teller; turning these pages is like exploring the contents of an angler's treasure chest of a memory - picking up
handfuls of autobiographical natural jewels among these forty-odd fishing adventures.
This is writing about fishing that calls the modern fisherman back to his roots.
|
