I hardly remember life without a rod in my hand, writes James Batty in the opening sentence of his autobiography in fishing.

When his American wife moved with him to Cornwall, she saw his family photo album and commented that there was hardly a single picture of him in which he wasn't fishing. This witty, wacky account is Jim's tale of his obsession with his hobby of fishing, wherever his work took him around the world, seeking out lemon sharks in the Gambia, Striped Bass in New York and salmon in British Columbia. Jim's genre of writing is a mixture of John Gierach and Bill Bryson: his style is wry, witty and incisive. The end result is an entertaining insight into the mind of a dedicated angler, full of fishing anecdotes, tips and thought-provoking ideas.