HAPPY DAYS: THE LIFE and TIMES OF A SHORT SESSION CARP ANGLER. By Chris Haswell. Edited and designed by Mike Starkey.

2012 1st edition. 8vo (162 x 239mm). Pp240. Colour photographs and b/w photographs. Plain red boards boards, spine titled in gilt.

This is a copy of the hardback edition that was limited to 350 numbered copies. It sold out quite quickly after publication. "Chris started fishing as a young lad at Keston Fish Ponds, where he learned his angling skills by catching roach, rudd, perch, tench and pike. He was determined to catch one of the large carp he saw and soon crossed paths with two seasoned carp fishers, Steve Edwards and Ken Rowley, who saw in him the burning ambition to catch a Keston carp. They took him under their wings and set him on a path towards a lifetime of carp fishing. He became the youngest person ever to join the British Carp Study Group, enabling him to join Ashlea Pool in 1970 with Ken Rowley. Since those days he has gone on to catch a number of carp in excess of 40lb. This by using his own tried and tested rigs and bait - detailing these, and the reasons for using them, in this book." Tales from a short session carp angler that cover waters such as Ashlea Pool, Redmire, Crayfish Pool, Yateley, Horton, Wraysbury, Dorchester Lagoon and more. For around twenty-five years, Chris ran a successful bait company and so a great deal of the book concerns the effectiveness of certain flavours, ingredients and other aspects of boilies and boilie making. With a foreword by Lee Jackson and a preface by Tony Tappenden.