I sometimes wonder just where Chris gets the energy to produce all the books he does, but long may the power remain with him, because this one is a cracker. Barbel are in fashion at the moment, and everyone seems to be kitting out to catch them, so I read this volume with more than passing interest. When I finished it I had a definite urge to wave some cane, but the Fighting Barbel is an anthology, not a fishing manual, so I suppose I will have to ask someone to show me where to find the devils.

The are stories here by several Waterlog contributors, as well as a number of others who would have been contributors, had they lived a century or so longer than they did (H. T. Sheringham to name but one), and Chris has his two penn'orth. My favourite is undoubtedly Webb's Midnight Battle with a Monster Barbel, but buy it and make your own mind up.