According to the blurb, this is the dictionary of trout fishing terms that every trout fisher has been waiting for, so, pausing only to rack my brains about other books that I hadn’t realised I had been anticipating, I promptly checked to see if ‘baggot’ was in there and it was. Clearly, the copywriter wasn’t jesting and this dictionary would make an excellent gift to a beginner, though more experienced fishers are likely to find it less rewarding.

Each term has a paragraph devoted to it, the extent running to 188 pages, with a scattering of colour illustrations. Trout Talk’s most obvious rival is Darrel Martin’s Fly Fisher’s Illustrated Dictionary, which is slightly longer, but printed in monochrome on lower quality paper and apparently out of print, which is a pity. The world still awaits an updated version of McLane’s magnificent Illustrated Fishing Encyclopedia, but an extended version of Trout Talk might give it a serious run for its money. I think Swan Hill should give the matter serious consideration.