"My Misspent Youth"

As far as modern day anglers go, Darrell Peck has certainly hit the front of the scene with his captures over the years as well as becoming Korda's own angling coach. When it was announced that Darrell was writing a book, a lot of anglers sat up and waited patiently for it to become available. Darrell has fished some of the UK's most prestigious waters and more often than not, caught the target fish from the water before moving on to his next target.

"My Misspent Youth" follows Darrell's angling life from his early days fishing for doubles (including one pictured with a unique back drop of Chelmsford's high street Burger King!) on venues such as the Essex Quarry and North Met pits, right up to and through hs days on Yateley Car Park Lake, St Ives, Conningbrook and the Essex Manor. All of Darrell's notable captures are written about in detail including the Fat Lady, Heather, Arfur and Two Tone (at a British record weight!).

"My Misspent Youth" is Darrell's first book and I look forward to reading future books from Darrell, as the book is extremely well written. The photographs capture both the fish and the story behind the capture perfectly with the words. Darrell explains about the book "Throughout this story I will try to tell you exactly, rightly or wrongly, how I have come to be where I am today; the good, the bad and the ugly".

Darrell is not "whiter than white" and all little details pertaining to the tales in the book are explained without anything left to wonder about, and Darrell comes across as extremely honest with things he has done in the past.

After reading the 367 pages that are between the hardback covers, Darrell left me wanting to read more and I started reading the book from the beginning again. Also in the book are several guest chapters, and these have been used to tell stories that needed to be told rather than be used to fill space. Unlike some other books I have read, I found the guest chapters to be as intriguing as the main book itself.

Ali Hamidi sums up Darrell in a nutshell with this quote "Darrell was destined to be an angler; the natural hunting instinct was inside him from birth! If I had a mere 10% of his talent, I'd be a happy man." I cannot argue with that!

Prior to the books release at the Carp Society Winter Show at Sandown in 2011, "My Misspent Youth" was expected to be THE book of 2012, and after thoroughly reading it, I am not going to disagree!

To purchase "My Misspent Youth", please visit the Angling Publications website where it is available for £30.00.

*It has been noticed on Facebook, that people have been asking Darrell where the book they have ordered from a different place other than Angling Publications is. Angling Publications are the publisher and at this moment in time, the book is only available from them directly. If you have ordered it from elsewhere and not yet received it, please request a refund politely and order it directly from Angling Publications.