I hadn’t bought a fishing book for a long time. Usually, publishers will send them to me before they’re launched as a mention on Anglers’ Net is well worth the cover price of a book! However, I was looking through the statistics from the Anglers’ Net Amazon Book Store a couple of weeks ago and noticed that the Sea Angler’s Step-By-Step Guide To Bait And Rigs was one of the best selling books, without even ever having a mention on the site!
Curiosity got the better of me, so I parted with my £9.99 (well, a bit more as I decided to then buy another book….you know how it is!) and eagerly awaited its arrival. I mean that – I was actually excited!
The first thing that struck me when I opened the package was that this is a hardback book. I hadn’t read the blurb on Amazon and just assumed it would be a soft-covered book. So, that was a plus.
Upon opening the cover, I could see yet more proof of how many copies of this book Sea Angler must have sold over the years. It was first printed in 1998, and then reprinted in 2001, 2002, 2005 (twice!), 2006 and again in 2007. By the time I finish this article, I wouldn’t be surprised if we could add 2008 to that list!
The book itself is 96 pages long, which doesn’t sound massive, but it is jammed pack with content. Most books are padded out with words, whereas this one sticks to plain English and fantastically clear photographs and diagrams.
Unsurprisingly, this book is about the rigs and baits used is sea fishing – the clues were there in the title. It’s an instructional book, designed to teach practically any angler to tie a variety of rigs and then use a number of baits to target fish. As an angler, I dare say that you have, at least, flicked through a fishing magazine at some point and seen the multi-page step-by-step guides that they have for tying rigs and baiting up. Well, this book is, basically, a compilation of the best ones available. Whether they appeared in the magazine before, or not, I don’t know. However, they are exceptionally easy to follow and having them all together in one book is a lot easier than delving through a great big pile of magazines.
The first forty or so pages cover basic knots and shore rigs. This section includes tying a leader knot, two-hook rigs, a plaice trace, long range bomber and a whole load more. There’s even a guide to making simple mackerel feathers.
The next twenty or so pages cover boat rigs. I was pleasantly surprised to see this, as my intention is to do more boat fishing this year and I always feel a bit out of my depth (if you’ll excuse the pun!) when I have to ask my more experienced mate to tie me up a new rig when targeting different species. Now I won’t have to.
Finally, we have sections on bait collecting and how to use them. The ‘using them’ section covers lugworm, ragworm, sandeel, squid, fish strip, live fish, mussels, and peeler crab.
The Sea Angler’s Step-By-Step Guide To Bait And Rigs is very image intensive, with every page packed with photographs and diagrams and you could perform much of what is shown with the aid of these images alone. That said, the instructions are there to help and are simple to follow.
If you want to get started in sea angling, or improve your basic knowledge, then this Sea Angler guide is perfect. It’s like a well-known brand of varnish/paint products that advertise in the UK – it does exactly what it says on the tin! If you buy ready-made rigs, it’ll pay for itself in no time.
You can order this book today from Amazon. Click here to go directly to the page, or visit our own Amazon Store here.
