Fisher in the Hills - A Season in Galloway, by Robin Ade

It is sometimes the case that we know we will enjoy a book even before we open the cover. And so it was for me with "Fisher in the Hills" by Robin Ade.

Galloway was the place where I caught my first trout on a fly, many years ago. I was on a rowing boat on Clugston Loch, drawn into some reeds and fishing a dry sedge. You don't forget your first trout, and the place where you catch it becomes imbued with a sense of belonging and self. Galloway is an isolated region, known for its spate rivers,  Robert Burns, Robert the Bruce and its Belted Galloway cattle, and home territory to some of my ancestors of the Douglas Clan.

Mr Ade has managed to balance two themes without ever allowing one to detract from the other. His deep love for the countryside, extremely well observed in his drawings and attention to detail, comes through strongly. Observations on the significance of trout markings, spate feeding, fishing in the dark, trout species and the behaviour of large trout all show a deep connection to nature. 

The other theme of this book is the increasing pressure being placed on our countryside. The "coniferisation" of the hills; local people barred by forest gates; the increasing economic dependence on external interests - these are the concerns which place his observations of nature into context. The process of rural depopulation goes on unabated, as it has done for centuries in Scotland and local people find themselves increasingly alienated as the real decision makers are businessmen many hundreds of miles away. It was ever thus!

This is a book which is contemplative - a panacea to many books we now see where angling is portrayed in acquisitive terms -  "100 rivers to fish before you die" or "extreme fishing" etc.  And in the detailed observation of each season's unfolding Mr Ade brings us to reflect more deeply on old ingrained habits ...

We often fish the same spots by habit and ignore and forget to search more unlikely places.

There is much to commend this book.

5th November 2010

The book is copyrighted 1985 and first published by Andre Deutsch in London. ISBN 0 233 97570 5

Here is a link to Robin Ade's web-site ( link )and some excellent examples of Mr Ade's art work.