A Summer on the Test

A Classic of Modern Fly-Fishing Literature

By: John Waller Hills

Narrated by: William Boyde

First published in 1924, A Summer on the Test remains an essential read for fly fishermen.

No author has surpassed the Right Honourable John Waller Hills' description of classic chalk stream fishing, or indeed knew more about the history of the sport. The Test is a river much affected by decline and deterioration, with the days of crystal clear waters and plentiful brown trout seemingly impossible to recover.

A Summer on the Test reflects on the golden age giving an estimation of what it was once like and what we have lost.

Public Domain (P)2013 Aquarium Audio Books

Old and classy

Class like fly fishing is timeless.
The narrator makes this epic reflection on classic English fly fishing on the test.
Definitive volume on our sport and the river.

As relevant today as 90 years ago

I really enjoyed this, especially as an audiobook. Not sure I could’ve read through several hundred pages but the narrator does such an excellent job that it went by very quickly.

The history of the rivers involved, the techniques, and the copious notes that the author took his diaries, make for quite an interesting piece. I have fished both the Test and the Itchen and much of what he writes is as relevant today as it was when he wrote the revised version back in the 1930s.

Kudos to the narrator who brings the words to life and makes you feel like you were there.

I would recommend it for the angler interested in the words of a man with keen eye, wit and a heck of a lot time on the water.