THE first tentative steps into salmon fishing can be treacherous. Beginners face a barrage of conflicting advice, a bewildering array of tackle, and a minefield of do's and don'ts.

The majority of salmon angling literature on our bookshop shelves does little to ease the novice's fears. At their worst, books on salmon angling are pompous, elitist treatises on which rivers and beats one really should be fishing this season, and at their best they confound the beginner with reams of detailed, and often unnecessary, information.

What the novice truly requires is an enthusiastic, step-by-step guide to taking up salmon angling; a book that warns of embarrassing pitfalls and revels in the joys of being by the riverbank.

Former ITN newscaster Fiona Armstrong has written one such book. Let's Start Fly-Fishing, The Rules of the Game is an easy bedtime read for prospective salmon anglers, and more importantly is a compact size for a Christmas-stocking filler.

Armstrong, a presenter on Sky TV's Tight Lines fishing programme, dispenses sound advice.

Salmon angling, she says, need not just be a sport for the country or tweed-clad set, but can be pursued at a modest price by anyone. An exclusive hobby it is not.

As I thumbed through the book's 120 pages it struck me that this was the type of literature that I had so desperately been hunting for when I took up my first salmon rod.

If only I had known then that chest waders would have been a more worthwhile purchase instead of a pair of thigh waders. ''They mean the angler can sit down on the riverbank without getting a wet bottom,'' advises Fiona. How true.

And what of those wind knots. The ones that I spent valuable fishing time attempting to undo. Use a safety pin or the point of a fly hook, says Armstrong. Well, now I know.

Above all, her book recommends that the beginner be modest, listen to ghillies' advice, study anglers' techniques and do not be ashamed of your ignorance.

Too often I have been plagued on rivers by jumped-up, tweed-clad 'experts' who wade into the middle and thrash the water in the name of salmon angling. At the end of the day these anglers usually return to a nearby hotel where they attempt to impress guests with whopping tales from the riverbank.

You see, there are rules when salmon angling, and Armstrong expertly lets the reader know which ones are important - after all, the rules were made to allow everyone a fair crack at the whip, or rod even.

Another of my pressing concerns when I first took up salmon fishing was what services to expect from a ghillie. In truth, that varies from ghillie to ghillie and from river to river.

But one thing ghillies should be is encouraging and enthusiastic. As Armstrong rightly points out, they cannot be held responsible for a blank day but they can add to the enjoyment of angling by providing invaluable information on salmon lies, what fly does best on their beat and how best to fish through a pool.

She also reveals that a brief enquiry among other anglers will usually elicit how much an angler should tip a ghillie at the end of the day.

Each of the book's chapters carries a brief anecdote or quote on fishing, some are legendary, others are obscure and amusing like the one that goes before the chapter on 'Catching, Playing and Landing a Fish' by a chap called Arthur Young, who says of angling: ''Incessant expectation, and perpetual disappointment.'' Who says anglers are a serious, lonesome lot who cannot poke fun at themselves.

There is only one quibble I have with the book, and that is the advice on how to carry a salmon rod. Armstrong suggests it should be carried with the handle pointing forward and the rod following on from behind. This way, she says, the angler will not take someone's eye out and will make unhindered passage through thickets, trees and grass.

I am an advocate of the opposite theory. I carry my rod with the handle to the rear and the rod to the front of me. That way I can see which branches my rod tip will have to avoid and whose eyes I am about to poke out.

But then that is angling. It would not be half as much fun if two anglers agreed on everything, all of the time. Salmon angling is full of questions and it is only the salmon who truly knows best.