We have these books and find them very useful-
Collins Gem - Food For Free by Richard Mabey
River Cottage Handbook no 1 Mushrooms
River Cottage Handbook no 7 Hedgerow
If anyone has good books one seashore and sea fishing please let us know about them.
A really good book that I happend upon by accident is 'Wild food' by Roger Philips it contains a lot of plants that most books don't containe and it also contains which seaweeds are good to eat.There is also a river cottage handbook no5 Edible Seashore.I don't know of many good books on sea fishing as they all seem to be a bit daunting for begineers.The best way to learn is to ask a friendly fisherman or ask at you''re local tackle shop if they know someone who will show you the ropes.
My advice would be to stick to spinning as all the species you will catch this way are nice to eat(mackerel,pollock,whiting,garfish,large sandeel.I even caught a sea trout once which I returned alive of course as I don't have a licence to catch them
)
Bottom fishing can be more expensive and some of the fish you catch although edible will never make it to a resteraunt table wrasse,dogfish,pout etcetc.Theres also the chore of getting/buying bait for this method.
One alternative to fishing with rod and line is to set a gill net on the beach at low tide.I've got a 30 yard one and it keeps me in fish all year with some left over for barttering for eggs,fruit,veg,plants,beer and even meat on the od occassion.It's a really good way as all the fish you catch are a good size as the holes have to be by law 4 inches so the small one get away as opposed to a traul net.There are legal restrictions on when and where you can put them but a phone call to you're local fisheries dept would put you straight on that one(they call them fixed engine's for some reason ).