BENEATH THE BLACK WATER: THE SEARCH FOR AN ANCIENT FISH. By Jon Berry.

2011 1st edition. 8vo (165 x 240mm). Pp190. B/w photographs, chapter heading vignettes. Black boards, spine titled in gilt.

When "'I was very young and on holiday in Scotland, my cousin told me about giant trout that lived in small numbers at the bottom of the Highlands' deepest lochs. They were called Salmo ferox, and they were rumoured to be uncatchable.' In his twenties, wholly accidentally, Jon Berry caught one. This led to an obsession that would cost him every pound he had to his name, a few thousand that he did not, a couple of girlfriends and his home. It would take him to Scotland, Cumbria and the wildest corners of Ireland, in the company of a disparate band of fanatics - alcoholics, mountain men, scientists, tree-planting eco-warriors and one genuine soothsayer. Not all of them survived. This compelling account of Berry's mission to catch Salmo ferox will have you hooked, fellow fisherman or not." Chapters include:- The Kildermorie trout; The last frontier; Polly; The road to Sutherland; The soothsayer; To the west coast; The Reverend's trout; Predator and prey; Among the black stuff; Kildermorie; The tyros; A Hampshire distraction; Fishing for ferox; Beneath the black water; Northern soul; Here is a sunrise; The trout of Loch Shin; Freddy; Windermere; The road to Oughterard; A week on the Corrib; A gathering of the clan; The guru; Uisge Beatha - the water of life; Wade in the water.