A CARP TO BEGIN WITH. By John Nixon.

2010 1st edition. Large 8vo (178 x 256mm). Pp185. Colour and b/w photographs, b/w vignette line illustrations. Green boards, spine titled in gilt.

A Carp To Begin With is a collection of John Nixon's adventures and experiences over six decades of fishing for a wide variety of species. Born in Surrey in 1933, John did not start fishing until he was 14; his first fish being a small wild carp from a farm pond. On joining the RAF as an engineering apprentice in 1950 he was stationed near Hitchin, where he fished Arlesey Lake with Dick Walker and met Carpcatcher's Club member, Dick Kefford. Later he was posted to Norwich where he became friendly with Bill Giles, a hugely successful Norfolk pike fisherman, and then to Yorkshire, where one of his fellow servicemen was Suffolk angler Ian Gillespie. For the next 25 years John spent many happy hours in fishing expeditions with Dick, Bill and Ian. For several years, as a guest of Dick Kefford, John fished Redmire and his 23 pounder from there in 1961 - the famous 'Raspberry' - is still his best carp. After leaving the RAF in 1956, John worked at several editorial jobs in industry and was a regular freelance contributor to most of the angling press, as well as writing three books on fishing. In 1965 came his "dream job," succeeding Bernard Venables as editor of Creel magazine. For the next three years he fished in several countries and in 1966 caught his biggest-ever fish - a 341 pound blue shark from the Canary Islands, which was accepted as a Line Class World Record. He is very much an all-round angler!