Redfin Diaries - reviews
Redfin Diaries A life in the year of a roach enthusiast By Dr. Mark Everard
Hardback in dust-wrapper. £25.00 Hardback in dust-wrapper limited to 250 signed and numbered copies. £SOLD OUT De luxe leather-bound edition limited to only 30 signed and numbered copies. £250.00
"Loosely described as a life in the year of a roach enthusiast, this isn’t a diary of events that takes place over the course of one year. It’s a book split into the four seasons with tales drawn from several decades neatly filed under the headings of Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring. Emotionally it’s hard to describe how I felt after reading the diaries because it took me back three decades to when big roach could be found in rivers like the Idle and Torne. It brought into sharp focus what we've lost through disastrous river board drainage practises, chemical fertilisation and that blight of all blights, the influx of freshwater cormorants which threatens the very survival of river roach. Yet here’s a bloke who claims to have caught more than 900 specimen roach pretty much during that same era of decline. It’s an astonishing tally yet I see no reason why Everard should exaggerate and I therefore take him at his word. Unfortunately, here in South Yorkshire I've almost as much chance of spotting a unicorn as catching a 2lb roach, never mind one of the many three-pounders he catches. So yes, it’s a book that fills me with jealousy, with regrets and a yearning for the past in equal measures." (Bob Roberts).
"I thoroughly enjoyed reading this and picked up some useful tips along the way. The author has caught over 900 2lb plus roach, some over 3lb, on a variety of waters mainly rivers in the south of England and he has picked out some of his most memorable days for this book. His enthusiasm for the species is contagious and he generously shares full details of his successful methods for locating and catching big roach which the reader can replicate. The book includes many good colour pictures of his roach bags - I was surprised that these sometimes appear before the account of their capture though, somewhat giving the game away but that is a minor detail. Mark's interest more widely in life and nature shines through and the book is also illustrated by his own first class drawings of waterside objects which is a nice touch. I would recommend this book particularly to river fishers who would like to catch big roach or just enjoy reading how it's done." ("Sandlubber", Amazon review, 4th of November 2013).
"Bought this book for my husband and he loved it." (Susan Cartwright, Amazon review, 26th of November 2014).
