Sir Alfred Herbert's Hobbies - Fishing
Sir Alfred Herbert Fishing Alfred Herbert loved the country pursuits of shooting and fishing. His greatest love was fishing, and in the 1930s he wrote a monograph describing his fishing career. It has fascinating descriptions of the rivers he fished and the people he met as well as the places he stayed in, and he gives space to his great fishing friends - particularly Dr FM Haig, Canon 'Tommy' Downing and Dr Hugh Bankes-Price. FISHING Like most boys of my age, I started fishing by catching minnows and sticklebacks with bent pins. Afterwards came coarse fishing for roach and perch, but fly fishing did not begin until my early twenties. Then I met Tom Iliffe, one of Dr Iliffe's brothers. He was a fly fishing enthusiast and quickly infected me. On his advice a blue Mahoe spliced fly rod was bought from James Ogden of Cheltenham with all the rest of the equipment. Tom Iliffe gave me lessons on the lawn. Quite apart from the hope of catching trout, there was a cer...