All Things Considered

Caught By The River
Posted by Simon Lewin

It's been a real pleasure swapping mails and finally meeting the team behind Caught By The River. I was a relative newcomer to fishing - introduced by my father-in-law who fly-fished for England (not quite an Olympic sport yet...). I was running a record label at the time and I'll confess there were times when I felt it best to keep my new found passion quiet - the music/fishing connections I knew of weren't exactly the ones I felt an affinity with (Roger Daltry, Jethro Tull etc.). A bit of a guilty pleasure.

But then I remember sitting in a boat on Sutherland's Loch Hope, trying to catch sea trout. Chatting with the ghillie I asked if he'd has any interesting clients recently - and as it happened he'd had the owner of a much more established dance label (who we admired) fishing with him the week before.

As my success rate on river & loch improved I couldn't help but 'out' myself to those we worked with. That was a few years ago and I've been fishing ever since. This isn't the place to convince you of the many pleasures of fishing - it you get it, you get it.

But the last few months have been enriched by the content of Caught By The River which we've mentioned a few times here. I can't remember exactly how I stumbled across it originally but it's a site that triggers a daily visit. I've described it to friends as a fishing blog that's not really about fishing (a rather cowardly attempt, I know).

Continues below...

Created by the team Heavenly Records, the site is (as The Times puts it) "...a joy, a treasure trove of stories, obsessions, anecdotes and enthusiasm" and covers angling, music, literature and much more. And it's the enthusiasm that flows through the site that has spilled over into the world of 'proper' publishing, resulting in the recent launch of a collection of "words on water", published by Cassell Illustrated.

This isn't a book review - I'll be starting to read my copy anytime now - but it's beautifully produced and illustrated. A proper review will follow.

The Times have been featuring a number of extracts and their website includes some podcasts recorded by former Cabaret Voltaire member (and now acclaimed sound recordist) Chris Watson. Visit The Times website to listen to these and find our more about the book and the team behind it.

Posted by Simon Lewin on June 8th, 2009