Valentine Atkinson is my favourite fishing photographer and his classic shot of a rainbow frozen in a crystal instant as the net closed around it hangs in our hall. Few visitors fail to remark on it, even the non-fishermen; it has all the qualities of a classic Atkinson shot, capturing, as Nick Lyons puts it,'the quintessential moments of fly fishing.' That being said, this book is clearly a part of the genre of large format illustrated works that enjoyed a brief vogue in the late '80s and early '90s - you will either love 'em or hate 'em.

I've fished with Val on Hat Creek and the Fall River and he once told me that his rule about photography was 'if you can't make it good, make it red.' He must have been pleased with this book, because there isn't much red in it. What you do get is a coffee table presentation of magnificent photos from fishing locations around the world that illustrate text by John Gierach, J.W. Hills, David Street, Roderick Haig-Brown, Zane Grey, Clive Gammon, Ernest Schwieburt, Nick Lyons, Bill Currie and others. The stories are well chosen, the pictures are lush and wish I was there. If you like this book, try Distant Waters by the same author.