In Walton's footsteps

The first day of the coarse fishing season sees Richard Negus try his luck on the old River Lea, where England's greatest angler once stood

The River Lea boils over the Kings Weir at Broxbourne with determination. Its ever-present roar hushes the screaming passenger jets that stream overhead in a conga to Stansted. The sooty hum of cars, buses and trucks from the nearby A10 is similarly quietened, yet the twonote phrase of a cuckoo rings clear. It is as if this old river, coolly tunnelled by its bankside attendants of towering 3 willow, dusky thorns and maples, steadfastly refuses to admit the modern world. More remarkable is that this place, where nature trumps the 21st century, is less than 30 miles from Hyde Park Corner.

To cast a line into these crystal flowing waters is a joyful, natural act; the perfect location to see in the opening day of the coarse fishing season. Better yet, angling here is to follow in the historic footsteps of arguably England's greatest angler and fishing author, Izaak Walton.

The spirit of angling

Walton published his masterwork The Compleat Angler in 1653 at the height of the Interregnum. Angling no doubt helped the staunch Royalist forget the momentous social and political upheavals of the day. Penned at a time of Puritan prudery, The Compleat Angler kicks back against the pious traces with a joyous delight. The book celebrates not only the art and spirit of angling, but also the thrills of otter hunting and delectation of lengthy liquid lunches, served up by an attractive hostess in the bucolic Thatcht House Inn.

In dialogue form, Walton (dubbing himself Piscator) educates a keen novice angler (Viator) in the ways of fishing, fish and rivers. The River Lea of the mid-17th century, where much of The Compleat Angler is set, was then in the heart of glorious countryside. Now, 470 years later, the old River Lea remains, but its course has been changed and diverted by locks and gravel pit excavations.