Who Was Hugh Falkus?
I came across Hugh Falkus when he presented the thrilling BBC documentary Salmo The Leaper in 1977, it was all about the life cycle of the salmon and how to catch it. Falkus was forthright, opinionated and assertive in his views as he talked of fishing as a total immersion in nature and an identification with your quarry, and it instilled a lifelong passion in me for fishing and wild places. His books were, and still are, some of the best writing you will find on the subject of angling. Salmon Fishing and Sea Trout Fishing were revolutionary in their day, challenging entrenched habits and opinions whilst suggesting entirely new tactics.
Falkus was, as I later found out, a complicated character. We would undoubtedly label him a bully and sex pest these days, his self confidence strayed readily into outright arrogance and he could treat his friends and family terribly. Yet I still have a fascination with him, what made him into this gifted ogre of a man? Son of a bank manager he went to Culford School near Bury St Edmunds, became a pilot in WWII and was shot down in1940 and was imprisoned in Stalag Luft III until he escaped near the end of the war. After the war he divorced, abandoned his children and remarried, only for his new wife to die when filming a documentary on shark fishing off the coast of Ireland. A 27′ wave capsised the boat they were all in, Falkus swam a mile to shore in freezing waters to get rescue but to no avail as they died from the cold. He married twice more and ended up in Cumbria where he wrote and made TV programmes about nature.
There’s far more to this story and I recommend the biography Hugh Falkus – A Life on the Edge by Chris Newton, available from The Medlar Press. This obituary in The Herald of him also gives a good overview of his life and character.
The definitive books on game fishing
Sea Trout Fishing by Hugh Falkus
A revealation when it was written, and a classic read today. His seminal work on the little understood habits of the sea trout reads more like a novel than instructional work.
Salmon Fishing by Hugh Falkus
One of the seminal works on Salmon fishing that challenged perceived wisdom and remains a touchstone for many anglers – Read my review
Salmo The Leaper
Here is the programme in all its grainy 70s glory. It is a brilliant companion piece to Salmon Fishing. The bit at 26 minutes in when he demonstrates how to survive a dunking when wearing waders is eye opening.
