This is a personal record of a unique method of net fishing for salmon on the Cromarty Firth, and the life associated with it. Net and coble is an ancient, skilled and environmentally friendly way of fishing that has now been brought to an end in the Firth by order of the Scottish government. Its surviving practitioners are nearly all old men, and the techniques and memories of it will die with them.
In part, the book is a memoir, since for fifty-odd years the author was himself a net and coble fisherman. There are descriptions of great fishing days, the life of the fishing bothy and the characters who inhabited it. A couple of chapters look at the history of salmon netting in general and of the Cromarty Firth itself. Others take the reader through the salmon’s life story and discuss declining catches and the various threats to the wild salmon’s future.
Many chapters are deliberately discursive and include recipes, anecdotes and character sketches. There are five poems inspired by the fishing, the work of a variety of hands. The wildlife of the firth, especially its birds, is ever present. Longer chapters are interspersed with shorter, anecdotal ones.
The book is profusely illustrated with photographs of catches, fishing action, fishermen (and a few women) and the Firth. The fishing has also inspired several painters. There is a glossary (for technical terms and Scots words), and two maps.
Anyone interested in salmon – anglers, nature-lovers, conservationists – will be attracted by the book. But the general reader, too, will be introduced to a fascinating vanished world, some grand Highland characters and the delights of fishing in a beautiful setting.
£25
Published by Pen & Sword History
ISBN 978 1 39901 495 3