A Student’s Guide to Fishing in the Anthropocene
Peace, Trout and Understanding: A Student’s Guide to Fishing in the Anthropocene, is a collection of essays written by me, Dr Dan Osmond, during my last decade as an ecology student and fish botherer. I am based on the edge of Dartmoor in southwest England, where I have a strong connection with the local waterscapes and the life within, which has inspired these writings. I hold a doctorate in the population genomics of trout populations living within minewater impacted rivers across the British Isles and a master’s degree in Zoology. I am regularly heartbroken by what is happening to our precious ecosystems and anxious for the future that my generation and subsequent might live to see.
My writing has previously featured in press in Fly Culture, Fallons Angler, Hookpoint Magazine, The Mission and Trout and Salmon. This collection includes new, previously unpublished work, as well as existing favourites. Thank you for taking the time to read and hope that the tales connect and inspire you within your own waterways.
Academic and other
Living in a post-industrial landscape: repeated patterns of genetic divergence in brown trout (Salmo trutta L.) across the British Isles (2025). Diversity and Distributions. https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.13854
A low-density single nucleotide polymorphism panel for brown trout (Salmo trutta L.) suitable for exploring genetic diversity at a range of spatial scales (2023). Journal of Fish Biology. https://doi.org/10.1111/jfb.15258
Forging together: Parallel adaptation to minewater pollution in brown trout (Salmo trutta L.). In Review: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.09.731039v1
Heavy Metal Trout in Hard Rock Rivers, Freshwater Biological Association (reproduced from The Wild Trout Trust). https://www.fba.org.uk/articles/heavy-metal-trout-in-hard-rock-rivers
UK Climbing interview of Exmoor Coast Traverse: https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/destinations/exmoor_coast_traverse_-_englands_best_kept_mountaineering_secret-15677
The Editor: Theo Pike
Theo Pike is a fly-fishing and environmental author who’s fascinated by the flow of rivers and writing.
In his current day job, he’s editor of the Wild Trout Trust’s Salmo Trutta and other communications materials (reflecting one of his previous lives as an advertising copywriter) and serves as the charity’s Trout in the Town officer for southern England. He has also edited the Flyfisher’s Journal, the twice-yearly magazine of the Flyfishers’ Club, since 2013.
As a former chairman of the South East Rivers Trust, Theo was instrumental in starting to restore London’s River Wandle as a healthy urban chalk stream fishery – and his love of wild trout and strangely counterintuitive post-industrial waterways continues to this day.
His own books include Trout in Dirty Places (2012), The Pocket Guide to Balsam Bashing (2014) and River Trout Streamer Fishing (2025).
He lives in Somerset with his wife Sally.
www.theopike.com
The Designer: Jon Ogborne
Jon discovered fly fishing in his early twenties and quickly embraced the pursuit of “wild fish in wild places”. His search for native brown trout and sea trout has taken him to the Scottish Isles, the west of Ireland, and rivers throughout England and Wales.
Jon’s passion for fly fishing and graphic design came together when Pete Tyjas invited him to design Fly Culture, where he also published several essays during the journal’s seven-year run. He continues to work as a graphic designer in his native Bristol, where he lives with his wife, Libby.
The Illustrator: Danny Jenkins
Despite the chaotic trajectory of Danny's creative life, image-making has always been central to his work.
A longtime Bristol resident, Danny has worked in illustration and design since the early 90s. He has made imagery and illustrations for publishing, corporate, charitable, educational and cultural clients; he has created spraycan-and-stencil nightclub murals, customised car paint jobs and hand painted designs on hats and jackets. He has washed dishes in Pizza Express, worked as a model maker for animation, as an educator and has specialised in digital retouching, whilst also working the graveyard shift designing dodgy club flyers and a wide range of record sleeves. He has created illustrated posters, infographics, annual reports, and applied designs to assorted merchandise (sometimes tasteful but more often not). He has created identities for music festivals and clothing brands, packaging for hospitality clients, large scale exhibition displays and tiny animated gifs.
Having worked together previously on FlyCulture magazine, old designer-pal and all-round good guy Jon Ogbourne invited Danny to collaborate with him and Dan on cover artwork for Peace Trout and Understanding. Danny jumped at the chance to be involved and is delighted with the end result.
He is currently working on a new body of work, with particular focus on British Birds, for a group show in Bristol later this year.
