by Jeremy Wade
fishing techniques
bait fishing, 132–41, 160–3
basket fishing, 48
big circle technique, 74–5
bow fishing, 45, 6
creep and drift, 104–5
dumping the line, 145
figure-eight technique, 74–5
fly-fishing, 96–7, 102–6, 189, 242
freelining, 7, 160, 242
hair rigs, 162–3, 242
handlining, 182–3, 185–6
multiple rods, 132, 135–41
noodling, 213–19
poison, 48
spear fishing, 46
spider-web fishing, 47–8
Fitzroy River, 199
floodplain drainage, 28
Florida, 78
Ganges, river, 155, 182
German and Swiss anglers, 197–8
giant salamanders, 129
giant snakeheads, 129
Göz, Daniel, 119
Graner, Florian, 230
grayling, 103
groupers
goliath grouper (Epinephelus itajara), 79
Queensland groper (Epinephelus lanceolatus), 115, 117
Gulf of Carpentaria, 115
Guyana, 33–5, 94, 106
Hamilton, Ross, 227, 230
harpoon heads, 45
Hasegawa, Atsushi, 103–4
Hemingway, Ernest, 103, 185
Heraclitus, 58
high sticking, 144, 243
Himalayan foothills, 85, 129, 180
hippopotamuses, 43
hooks, 49–50
barbless, 240
circle hooks, 240–1
and distress to fish, 201
fish’s ability to see, 163
hair rigs, 162–3
J-hooks, 243
jig-hooks, 75–6
sharpness of, 188–9
hunting instinct, 178–9
ID tags, 199–200
Indian River Lagoon, 78
International Game Fish Association (IGFA), 81
invasive species, 28
isopods, 230–1
jaguars, 26
Japanese mythology, 61–2
Jungle Hooks India, 133, 183
Kalahari desert, 125
Kali River, 58, 180–3
Kashima (thunder god), 61
Kaveri River, 57, 87–8, 134
Kekulé, August, 176–7
Khmer Rouge, 194
knife fish, 138
knots, 107–21
Bimini twist, 118–19
blood knot, 117–18
cat’s paw, 119
double grinner, 118
FG knot, 113–17
figure-eight knot, 119
grinner (uni knot), 109–10
half blood knot (clinch knot), 110–11
haywire twist, 118
highwayman’s hitch, 120
knotless knot (no-knot knot), 112
nail knots, 120
non-slip loop knot, 120
palomar, 111–12
perfection loop, 120
PR knot, 115
sliding stop knot, 118
surgeon’s loop, 119
wind knots, 189
Kobe earthquake, 62
kuarao, 46
Kumaoni people, 183
Lago Grande, 21
lateral line organ, 63
lau-lau, see goliath catfish
line-class records, 81–2
line-cutters, 190
Loch Ness, 129
Luangwa River, 43, 45, 50
Madeira River, 20
mahseer, 11, 77–8, 87, 135, 150–2, 183
Maison de la Mouche, 103
Manaus, 26
Marks, Tim, 184
marlin, 81, 145, 185–6, 224
meat and dairy consumption, 204
Mekong River, 193
Middleton, Lenny, 163
mirrors, two-way, 55
Monastery pool, 67–9
moon, phases of, 209
Mosquito Coast, 142, 148
mosquito netting, 195
motorbike crash, author’s, 93–4, 102
mullet, 45
Murchison Falls, 91, 113
muskellunge (Esox masquinongy), 73–7, 81, 129
namazu, 61–2
Native Americans, 49
needlefish, 48
nets
gill, 19, 48, 193
seine, 48
New Guinea, 49
Nile perch (Lates niloticus), 91–2, 113
notebooks, 206–12
Nyami-nyami spirit, 155
Okavango River, 125, 129
Okinawa, 49
Oklahoma, 213–14
Oxford Street, 149, 156
pacas, 19
pacu (pirapitinga) (Piaractus brachypomus), 129, 168
paddlefish, 211
Papua New Guinea, 129
Paraná River, 131, 136–7
peacock bass, 35, 45, 95, 105, 244
pigs, 19, 22, 226, 231
pike, 56, 220
piraiba, see goliath catfish
piranhas
black, 52
palometa, 136
pirapitinga, see pacu
Pursch, Don, 75
Purus River, 25–7
quantum physics, 170
racing driver, senses accident, 178
recasting, 133–4
Redmire Pool, 181
reflection and refraction, 66, 68
Rickards, Barrie, 167
River Monsters, 64, 84, 89, 102, 196
river noise, 134
river turtles, 36
roach, 221
Roatán, 226
rudd, 215
rugby, 102
sailfish, 81, 185
St. Petersburg, 48
salmon, 35
sawfish (Pristis pristis), 198–200
Sea of Cortez, 185
Searle, Gavin, 184
Segre River, 190
shamans, 154–6
sharks, 39, 79, 145, 152
bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas), 78, 118, 225
Galapagos shark (Carcharhinus galapagensis), 225
Greenland shark (Somniosus microcephalus), 111
six-gill shark (Hexanchus griseus), 199, 223–6, 228–32
tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier), 185, 225
Shearman, Steve, 227, 229–30
shot put, 102
shrimps, 52, 230–1
Snell’s window, 65, 67
Solomon Islands, 45–7, 244
sonar, 37, 57, 116–17, 163, 246–7
special forces, 194
spinnerbaits, 247
Stanley, Karl, 226–31
stingrays, 53, 79, 137–40, 164, 182
short-tailed ray (Potamotrygon brachyura), 131
spotted rays, 53
‘strainers,’ 89
‘structure,’ 59, 68
sturgeon, 35
Chinese sturgeon (Acipenser sinensis), 211
white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus), 120, 196
submarines, 209, 226–31
Suffolk Stour, 77, 219
Sulawesi, 185
Sundarbans, 155
sundials, 21
sunglasses, polarizing, 54
superstitions, see beliefs and superstitions
swim bladder, 63, 143
swimming, 87–90
taimen (Hucho taimen), 103
tarpon (Megalops atlanticus), 103, 119, 142–8
tennis, 13
Texas, 64
Thailand, 129, 193–4
tigerfish
African tigerfish (Hydrocynus vittatus), 125
goliath tigerfish (Hydrocynus goliath), 11, 29, 78, 151–2, 163–4
timbó, 48
Tocantins River, 51–3, 60
Trondheim Fjord, 111
tucunaré, see peacock bass
vectors, 91
Walker, Richard, 181
walking, 64–5
walleye (Sander vitreus), 73
, 75
warning coloration, 53
wasps, night-flying, 42
water-monkey, see arowana
Watkins-Pitchford, Denys, 67
Weberian apparatus, 63
Western Australia, 185, 199
Yada, Professor Naoki, 62
yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares), 82, 224
Zaire (Democratic Republic of Congo), 29
Zambezi River, 10, 155
Zambia, 195
zander (Sander lucioperca), 74
zanshin, 40