his lifelong interest in angling began with sticklebacks and minnows on the river skerne as a child, then moved on to coarse fishing on the tees and swale. he took up fly-fishing in the mid-1960s and was completely self-taught. his first book, "the pursuit of stillwater trout", was based on an examination of the nymphs he found in autopsies of trout, on detailed study of living specimens of the same nymphs that he stocked in an aquarium and on an analysis of trout rise-forms. the imitative approach the book advocated – small nymphs fished in a naturalistic way on long leaders – had a transforming influence on lake fishing for trout at a time when most lake fly-fishing was done with large lures and traditional scottish and irish lake patterns. "the pursuit of stillwater trout" was serialised by "the sunday times" and was described by "fly fishing and fly tying" magazine as "the most important book on the subject that has ever been written". richard walker, writing in "trout fisherman" magazine in 1980, described "the trout and the fly" as "a great work. likely to prove the most important contribution to the literature of trout fishing, this century".