Promising to bring home a feed of fish is the absolute kiss of death to any chances of catching anything but a large heap of derision when you get home.

Fishing, by its very nature, nourishes the imagination, feeding it with a potent fuel of hope and desire.

How can you need so many rods and reels to catch a fish? , she asked, her lips pulled into that weaned on a gherkin look, as she watched me prepare for a fishing trip. Probably for much the same reason that you seem to need 30 pairs of shoes for one pair of feet, I nearly said, but decided to live for another day.

.. the long hour and a half walk-in to the secret pool , only to find four anglers filling it. Secret pools? The only secret about these pools is the name of the one person on the planet who does not know their location!

Reading the features you would get the impression that this year's crop of rods will allow you to cast from here to eternity, with a rod so light you need to tie it to your wrist to stop it blowing away.