Fishing Trip - Glossy Coffee Table Book

Fishing Trip - An Introduction to Fly Fishing and Trout 

I'd been wondering how to made a tangible version of the book currently available as e-book on Kindle available for its original purpose as a gift to my daughter.  I didn't use FeedARead.com as the internal images with that publisher are black and white/greyscale.  That was why Kindle was chosen as medium to show the trout in full colour.  However, the images had to be reduced in resolution for the book to be uploaded.

Visiting Weardale Studios (http://www.weardalestudios.com), at the Dales Centre in Stanhope, I mentioned my dilemma to the photographer (Liz Laidler) while waiting for my ID pictures for Kuwait to be printed.  She suggested http://www.photobox.co.uk and this morning I logged on, chose the A4 Portrait format and started adding the text and images one page at a time.  The formats are designed really to people to create albums of images from digital photography/scans, but text is allowed so I was able to have text pages and image pages along with mixed media pages of text and image.

It is not cheap, but then colour printing never is.   It is £65 (GBP) with 46 pages including the options  - HQ premium paper or glossy paper, matt laminated cover finish, box sleeve cover, but if you order another copy there's a discount.  Its on Photobox at http://www.photobox.co.uk/creation/2015752398

I do get messages from Photobox.co.uk suggesting the facility for the photobook was going to go in August 2016, but all seems to be well so far.

Consequently, two copies were ordered; Holly got her personal copy, as did the illustrator.  That was two Christmas presents sorted!

Incidentally, a resent search of the internet came up with this  at Angler'sNet.co.uk the kindle version got to #9 in the Fly Fishing top 10 on Amazon.co.uk which is very pleasing to see.

Fishing Trip - An Introduction to Fly Fishing and Trout

Fishing Trip - An Introduction to Fly Fishing and Trout

by Andrew R. Welsh

Illustrations by Vivien M. Welsh

Written as a poem with some prose.

Now on Amazon Kindle

Top 100 Free in Kindle Store (as of 29th July 2017)

• #2 in Kindle Store > Books > Nonfiction > Sport > Fishing & Other Outdoor Pursuits > Hunting & Fishing
• #17 in Kindle Store > Books > Arts & Photography > Art

I first went fishing (as my daughter Holly has done), with a jar and a small net attached to the end of a bamboo pole for sticklebacks and other fry.

It wasn’t until I was about nine years old that I actually got a small fishing rod with a fixed spool reel for casting the baited hook a little bit further away.  At about the same time my father got a fly rod from “Durham Anglers” when it was situated on Claypath in the city.  The proprietor ran casting classes for those who wanted them to go with their new fly rod, so I went along with my Dad and was shown the ropes.  At home I decided to practise casting on the large Rectory lawns aiming for targets with a feather ties to the end of the line.

I did get quite good at casting, but when it was time to go to the river, I ended up back with my five feet long rod and fixed spool reel.  I didn’t get to fish with the fly rod.  My other friends seem to enjoy ledgering, spinning and floating fishing for coarse fish, and every now and then a trout would take the bait.  I carried on an amassed a selection of tackle and rods and represented Newcastle Polytechnic in the National Colleges match fishing competition on the Grand Union Canal near Warwick University in 1984.  I did manage to borrow the rod on a few occasions to fly-fish in the River Wear at “The Sands” in Durham City, but always ended up catching chub, dace and roach; never a trout on the fly.

It was only while working at the Royal Infirmary in Sunderland that I inherited some fly making equipment from my grandfather that I started making flies for Mr. R Warne (the Senior Chief at the time in the Histopathology Department) and getting my father’s old fly rod, that I was able to go with my father and his new rod to practice fly-fishing for trout  in actuality at Witton Park.  It was their that I caught my first trout on an artificial fly.  It was exciting to think that a fish would take a piece of material wrapped around a hook that looked nothing like anything in its natural diet.

It wasn’t just the fish that was hooked that day but me, although it wasn’t until I met Bob Smith from Morpeth (while teaching in Ashington), that I really started to become obsessed as well as proficient at catching trout and making flies.  I had previously been thinking always about the cast and hadn’t actually understood what the fishing books had been describing for the process of retrieval of the line and hooking the fish.

I picked up the tips quickly and since then have generally managed to return home with a couple of trout from every trip.  The average is that I never return empty handed, and one July day in 2005, even managed to get a TroutMasters award for a 14lb 6oz Rainbow Trout at Jubilee Lakes in County Durham.

I have to say also, that I am not actually interested in pulling out every fish in the river or lake.  I like to catch  a fish that I will eat with my family.  I don’t wish to have a fish suffer the trauma of being caught and released either.  When I have what I need, I pack up and go home.  I like to tailor my flies to hooks that will fulfil this purpose.  When working in Qatar, I would fly fish in the shallow waters around the pier in the bay at Simaisima.  The fishing was good for four years, until net fishermen removed all the fish in about one month during the fifth year.  So much for my Friday morning relaxation!

Fly fishing is a skill; an art if you like.  Each cast I like to be as smooth a roll as possible.  I get embarrassed when the fly makes a splash on the water. In Qatar I remember being filmed casting by people from the pier.  I must have been an unusual sight, waist deep and casting across the waves in the baking sun.

Regretfully, I didn’t do my research into Mongolia particularly well before arriving for a three month teaching stint, though in my defence, I only had four days to get ready!  I left my rod at home and only last week discovered that the country has the world’s largest trout species about 700km from where I was in Ulaanbaatar.  However, given that the Taimen can be up to two metres long and 90kg, my light tackle might have been hard pushed to cope with something more deserving of heavy salmon equipment.

Many fisheries are importing trout species from around the globe, so it may be useful to anglers young and experienced, to see the many varied forms and colours of fish we call “trout” included in the guide.

The e-book got into amazon.co.uk's top ten for fly fishing books according to Angler's Net website in April 2013.

Now at the end of July 2014, the action in the book is about to become reality as Holly and I head to Chatton Trout Fishery  in Northumberland to meet up with Bob Smith who has indicated he will be able to assist in the fly fishing tuition of Holly. I have no doubt that she will do well with his expert tutelage. 

Fly Fishing

A new book on fly fishing has come through the pipeline.  The trout and instructional pictures are complete.  Its based on a poem I wrote to my daughter about her first fishing trip (which is hopefully to happen in the summer when I return home).  It gives brief instructions on the equipment to use and how to cast the line.

The one secret to fly fishing, however, is the method of retrieve of the line.  All the books and magazine articles assume understanding of jargon and never pass the information on correctly.  I stell in the book (in the simplest possible terms) the real method that allows you a fish (if one is there) almost every cast.

Brook Trout

She appears to be fascinated by the fish I return home with to gut and prepare for eating. She will hopefully will take up fly fishing when older and land plenty of trout.  Until that time, I shall show her the knots she will need, and also play and land fish.  Casting might take a while for her to master, but I'll not stop her trying.  Maybe she will better the 14lb 6oz lump of Rainbow Trout I'm holding in the picture after catching it in County Durham.  This one earned me a 2005 TroutMaster award.

Californian Golden Trout

The book has been typed up, the last few pieces of artwork, such as the images on this page have been added and it was uploaded to Amazon Kindle on the 14th April 2013.  Copies have been selling well so far.

Pleasantly surprised.

When I first wrote the poem "Fishing Trip", it was done while I was working away from home in Abu Dhabi just for something to read to my then 2 year-old daughter.  By the time she had arrived to stay, so many other things happened, I forgot about it and only found it again while writing the second novel "Protective Craft- The Lost Diaries of Richard Buchanan".
By that point, Holly was 4 and I was in Mongolia and had published 3 books on Kindle.  I decided to polish up the poem and add images of trout to make it more interesting for her now she was able to read simple books and was showing an interest in my fishing "exploits", especially the catches of trout.
I needed an illustrator so my mum was again roped in for artist duties.  This had the benefit of "free artwork", but the problem of the paintings only becoming available when she had had the time to complete them.
Effectively, the main text of the book was completed by September 2012, but the illustrations weren't.  While waiting I decided to add the simple casting and fishing instructions too which I could draw on my own.
Eventually, almost a year after since accepting the "commission", the final picture was delivered and the book could be uploaded on to Kindle as "Fishing Trip - An Introduction to Fly Fishing and Trout".
This was not the original hope.  I had hoped that I would be able to find a publisher capable of turning it into a colour plate hardback for children to read, or for others to read to them to get them interested in fishing in general and fly fishing of trout in particular.  The nice thing about Kindle format is that the machine will read the book to the child and Holly has already done this, fascinated by being "in a book" where her father helps her catch a fish.  The really surprising thing about the whole affair is that, after writing it with a target audience of one, copies are being whisked of the electronic shelves at a rapid rate.
Not long now Holly.  I'll be home soon and we'll really catch one together.

Autumn thoughts

I am pleased with the success of White Sands, Green Trees  ebook,  with the pictures being the big attraction for those purchasing it perhaps.  Interest has been generated in this and the two historical adventure books from the Pinterest site with people seeing the "ancient charts" and other images from the books.  

I think that possibly the same can be said for the the steady sales of Teaching Overseas - A Short Guide. Clearly it is filling a gap in the market for teachers needing advice before taking up, during or in preparation to leave their posts internationally.  Images from the travels around the world posted on Pinterest by me and used in Twitter tweets must be grabbing some attention.

I'm looking forward to receiving the final trout illustrations for the Fishing Trip and putting that together in time for Christmas.  The species included are mainly from Europe and North America, and have been chosen for their colours as well as to enable identification of the more common types by young anglers.

The current location is Usk'-Kamenogorsk (Oskemen) in Kazakhstan and information from this post will be feeding into a future update of the teaching guide.

My latest camera to combat the predicted cold, rain and dust is a Fuji XP10, with which I intend to get some winter pictures to offset the large number of hot desert jungle and tropical island images I already have.  I have taken some test shots as it were to get used to its functions and its ability to cope with cold conditions.  Over the course of 24 hours the temperature here plummeted from +10C to -6C and what had been muddy wet conditions have been freeze-dried.  Check the weather at the bottom of the page for current conditions.  I can see why log cabins are the common form of accommodation outside of the city.  Fur hats and coats are the favourite item for winter amongst the populace here in Central Asia. The wind certainly does blow cold.

So far (and one can only ever say that) things have gone well here.