"Secret Lochs and Special Places" A review.

[Inchlaggan]

Forum member and respected writer, Bruce Sandison's latest offering became my prize elsewhere on the forum and arrived promptly.
It was devoured over two evenings accompanied by a fine malt.
The full title is "Secret Lochs and Special Places, an angling memoir." Don't get excited about the "Secret Lochs" bit. Anyone owning "Rivers and Lochs of Scotland" will not find any new waters listed here. Watten and Harray, for example, are no secret but hold special places and fond memories of Clan Sandison's fishing trips and that is the main focus of the book.
Nor is it a whumper catcher's directory, the phrase "three to a pound" occurs regularly.
Useful detail includes advice on where to wade, and more importantly where not to. Flies and drifts are also included.
But, even where specific information is given on where to park it is almost inevitably followed by "three mile hike across trackless bog" and/or "map and compass essential". This attitude reaches a peak when a perfectly good loch is described as "beautiful, although a bit too close to the road for us."
Negatives. I found two typographical errors- not Bruce's fault, he knows how to spell "Scourie"- but that they have gotten through the net will infuriate him so I'll mention it here! The only other was the choice of typeface. The lower case "L" is almost identical to the digit "1" and I misread "3lb 8oz" as thirty-one pounds, though that may have been the malt.
Bruce's views on forestry and fish farming are well known and feature in the book, some of which will be considered controversial but his knowledge and conviction are well known.
Towards the end, the reader is rewarded with some details of Bruce's favourite loch. For a family with such vast experience of Scotland's waters this information is something that many of us will have been waiting for.
Not me however, I fished it and discussed it with Bruce some years ago. Details are scant and I can assure you that the remark that the walk in is "not for the faint-hearted" is an understatement.
History, legend, flooers, and wildlife feature strongly as they do in all our memories of days that were supposedly spent simply fishing but we know that it is much more than that.
Two omissions. A Peter Ross seems absent from Clan Sandison's fly boxes and there is not a single deid thing.
Otherwise, buy and enjoy.

[burnie]

Nice review, I've asked Santa for a copy, not sure if I've been a good boy or not though.