'With perfect clarity I remember how as I stood in the boat the evening light lay on the water, making it pearly. There was just the gentlest breeze which stirred the leaves a little and wafted in my hair. The current washed against the anchored boat and gurgled quietly. I was using an American five-foot steel rod, and my bait was a Pal-o'-Mine, natural perch colouring. Throwing a long line, I cast across the current. When it had come round I brought it up working slowly over the lie. At the third cast a jarring shock nearly wrenched the rod from my hands . . .'

Bernard Venables, author of Mr Crabtree Goes Fishing, was one of the great all-round anglers and angling writers of the twentieth century. Written originally as an escape from the horrors of war, A Fisherman's Testament weaves together the many different approaches of the all-round angler’s art - from fishing a dry fly for trout on the Coln at Fairford to perch, chub, pike and ‘other things’. The descriptive text and beautiful illustrations of this book have made it stand the test of time and it is one that is as relevant today as it was when first published in 1949.
 
Illustrated by the author with thirty-five black and white drawings.