ARTHUR’S ARCHIVES

Inside fishing history

“Hugh’s Spitfire was shot down over France in 1940...”

THE LATE Hugh Falkus could be described as a ‘character’.

He started fishing at four, eventually becoming an authority on game fishing – particularly salmon and sea trout. He was a fighter pilot during World War II, his Spitfire was shot down over France in 1940, and he was interred in Stalag Luft III, the POW camp in The Great Escape.

After the war he lost his first wife in a drowning incident while filming shark hunting off Ireland, he being the only survivor of the four on the boat due to his swimming prowess.

Hugh worked as a producer and film maker for the BBC, including writing, producing and presenting several episodes of The World About Us.

His filming career gave us one of the moments for which he is most famous – certainly what is at the front of my mind whenever I hear Hugh’s name mentioned. Setting up on the banks of the mighty River Spey, wearing a thick sweater, thighlength waxed jacket and green thigh waders, he demonstrated how to survive falling in.

He flung himself into the swirling waters, turned on his back and described the entire process of finding a safe landing spot, leaving the water... even how to empty the waders by holding both legs in the air while lying prone on the ground. A famous Scottish tackle shop has the film on its Facebook page.

His three most famous books are Sea Trout Fishing; A Practical Guide ( first published in 1952 and still in print), Salmon Fishing and, along with Fred

Buller, Freshwater Fishing.

His work on methods and flies remains part of the backbone of the sport today.

Hugh had three wives – at different times of course – and a career and lifestyle that would seem almost impossible these days. The title of a biography written about him probably encapsulates Hugh Falkus best – A Life on the Edge.