Hook Line and Sinker

by Raymond Doogue

Published by A.H. & A.W. Reed.  First published 1967, reprinted 1970, 1974, 1976. ISBN 0 589 00097 7 Size: 240mm x 160mm. 327 pp. There are 297 illustrations. Hardcover.

Though dated by modern standards and lacking in colour photographs Hook, Line and Sinker by Ray Doogue remains an interesting book by any measure. It contains 32 excellent chapters on a wide variety of subjects from making and using a Kon-Tiki fishing raft to Seacraft and their usage. Other subjects include Chartering a Boat, Lure Fishing, Watching the Weather, Fishing for different species, Strange Sea Creatures, Basic Tackle, Currents, Rough Seas, Surf Fishing, Big Game Fishing, and the Angler’s Workshop.

This work may be forty years old but is still well worth reading. Readily available from second-hand bookstores in New Zealand.

Hook, Line and Sinker by Raymond Doogue

Hook, Line and Sinker saltwater angling begin, for most Australian and New Zealand enthusiasts, with a primitive hand-line dangled from over the end of a wharf. It generally develops into a passion for the most sophisticated forms of the sport, surfcasting, or the pursuit of the great gamefish from specially equipped launches.

The author of this book has been a dedicated sea-angler all his life and has regularly practised every form of sea-fishing. To this practical dedication he has also brought an intensive study of the fish themselves, of their behaviour under varying conditions of weather, moon, tide, wind, temperature, and marine ecology, and of the tackle and tactics best adapted to outwit their
natural defences.

A particularly fascinating element of the book is the discussion of Maori beliefs relative to the optimum moon periods for catching fish, and the scientific basis for their success. The “Maori Calendar” deserves careful study by all anglers intent on improving their results.

The range of information offered on the relative efficiency of fishing methods, on the types of rods, reels, lines, hooks, baits, sinkers and ancillary equipment, is encyclopaedic. It is expanded and further clarified by the wealth of accurate illustration.

The book covers, in fact, the whole field of catching sea-fish for sport, and answers every query likely to be raised not only by anglers in Australia and New Zealand waters but by those on every coastline in the world.