Last Wednesday afternoon, I set off on an all-too-rare fishing trip with some of the lads from work. We headed round the back of Rangitoto on the charter boat Redskin, a boat that landed a 100kg marlin back in January.

We caught a good few pan-sized snapper, but it quickly became apparent that my fishing skills are a little rusty. Tucked up in bed that night, I turned to my copy of How To Catch A Fish by Kevin Ireland (pictured) and found that the book offered very little practical guidance, but excellent entertainment.

You won’t learn how to tie a Palomar knot, and you won’t be advised on the best type of hook to use in the Motuihe channel. You will, however, learn about the drains of medieval abbeys, the joys of punting on Irish lakes, and the tribulations of attempting to catch trout in New Zealand. You’ll discover that the brown and rainbow trout are very different creatures, and that Mr Ireland holds commercial fishing guides in particularly low esteem.

Ireland does tend to wander ‘off topic’ in a big way, and one is occasionally impatient for him to meander back on course. But it’s fair to cut the guy some slack: after all, he has won not only the Montana Award for History and Biography, but also the National Book Award for Poetry. And in 2004, he received the Prime Minister's Award for Poetry.

How To Catch A Fish is an enjoyable diversion, especially for those fascinated by fly fishing. Ireland may be an 'average angler' but the quality of his wordsmithery is beyond dispute:

To man and beast
a puff of air
is the natural order of affairs,

but breathing in
and breathing out
is a liquid matter for a trout.

Coming next: How To Write Poems, by Bill Hohepa.

This is the 500th entry on LeafSalon. A small milestone for us, but a giant testament to the enthusiasm in our small country for books and the literary world. Thank you for reading this far.