james brian clarke (born 1938) is an english author, journalist and angler. he is credited with two of the 20th century's seminal works on fly-fishing ("the pursuit of stillwater trout," 1975, and, jointly with john goddard, "the trout and the fly," 1980). his environmental novel "the stream" (2000) was described by david arnold-forster, chief executive of english nature, as "the most significant book of its kind that i have read since rachel carson's "silent spring"". "the stream" became the first work of fiction to win the international natural world book prize, britain's top environmental book award, and was the same year named best first novel by a british writer by the uk authors' club. clarke was angling correspondent of "the sunday times" from 1975 to 1996 and has been angling correspondent of "the times" since 1991.