The challenge and mystery of fly-fishing for pike
Ad Swier
I have waited a long time for Ad Swier to complete his book and I consider the wait to have been well worthwhile.
I have known of Ad Swier since his appearance at the Pike Angler’s Conference, as it was then known, in 1995. As an avid trout fly-fisher myself the thought of catching pike on the fly was a really exciting prospect.
Ad’s book gives an insight into just how exciting it can be!
The first thing that struck me when first skimming through the pages was the amazing number of colour photographs. The next was the realisation that many of these “photographs” were in fact paintings from Ad himself. There’s a lot of big pike caught on fly and on camera in this 240-page book!
The book is different from others as even the page numbers are not in the usual places and are highlighted for easy reference. The use of watermarked pages scattered throughout the book is again something I have not seen before, but they certainly make this book stand out from the normal run of the mill angling publications.
Following a foreword by non-other than Larry Dahlberg, the reader will soon be aware of the Passion that Ad Swier has for that wonderful predator, the Pike!
The main theme running throughout is one of conservation and highlights some of the darkest problems that confront anglers today. The major pike culling in the Great lakes of western Ireland gets a through mention.
Tackle and flies are an obvious part of the book but this section is not done to death, as there are many angling stories from around Europe and North America to fit in. However there is plenty of information for even the beginner to set up and go pike fly-fishing.
Ad has persuaded other Pike fly-fishermen to contribute to this book with Dutch, English and Swedish all involved.
The section on belly boating is interesting and amusing [pppssssss], although I’m still a bit sceptical and will continue to use a boat or terra firma. It’s obviously a great way to get close up to your quarry and also great to get to those “difficult to get to places”.
All in all a really interesting selection of methods and stories with great and plentiful colour images. Not just for the fly-fisherman but for anyone with a Passion for pike.
The book costs £19.95 and is available from Coch-y-Bonddu books and other booksellers.
Colin Brett 08/04/2007
