Fly Fishing History
A Look Back In Time
Fly Fishing History
For fly fishing history, it's impossible to say when fly fishing first began. My guess along with many others say that it began long ago in ancient times probably thousands of years past. The earliest reference to fly fishing written by a roman general called Claudius Aelianus in 200 AD. He wrote about people fishing with a hand made fly. And how they attached wool and feathers to a hook to make a fly.
The fishing rods they made and the string they used for line tied to the end of the rod were both about six feet long. The people he was refering to were the ancient Macedonians. Throughought fly fishing history from Aelianus to the present day, people have been writing about fly fishing, and thousands of others have been enjoying the sport as we do today.
Dame Juliana Berners, Prioress of the Benedictine Nunnery of Sopwell (near the City of St. Albans) outside London, was an avid fly fisherwoman. and she was an expert at fly fishing.
At the time Christopher Columbus was searching for the New World, Dame Juliana Berners was publishing an extensive report on the art of fly fishing. In her report she described twelve styles of fly and included instructions on how to tie them.
The patterns were put into categories by the month that they should be used most often. She described the rod that was used for fly fishing during that time. It was about 18 feet long and very flexible, The rods were made of a few different types of wood which aided their flexibility.
The lines were short by today's standards, and were made by braiding horse hair together by hand.
A general rule of that time was that the line should not be any longer then the fishing rod. The line was tied to the end of the rod. Many fly fishermen these days have used her fly patterns. They are just as effective today as they were more than five hundred years ago. Some of the more popular patterns include the Black Gnat, Wooly Worm, Stonefly and Whirling Dun type fly.
During the mid 1600's Isaak Walton published his book "Compleat Angler", from then on, as far as fly fishing history is concerned Izaak Walton has been considered the patron saint on angling, and of fly fishing in particular. If the truth was known, it was actually his friend, Charles Cotton, that had contributed the portion of the book that related to fly fishing.
The flies and rods described in this book were much similar to those described by Dame Juliana. but, the lines described were different. They were still made of horsehair and about six feet longer than those of the 1400's. The noted difference was that some of the lines were tapered. It is believed that this was the first time tapered lines were referenced in writing.
In the early 1800's, fishing line manufacturers began mixing silk in with the horsehair. At the time of the Civil War the first all silk lines were made. They were coated with an oily substance which made them resistant to water. after that, Horsehair lines were almost never used. Sometimes they were found in England up to World War II.
As a matter of fact, the first nylon line was made in 1948 and from that time onward synthetic materials were used by most people for fly fishing. During 1952, a new technology was created that could make automatically a tapered line with great precision.
We have come a long way since those days
and owe our thanks to these creative people of fly fishing history for
giving us one of the most pleasurable pastimes of our time. Tight
Lines.
A Treatise of Fishing with an Angle
By
Dame Juliana Berners. First printed in 1496
The Complete Angler
By
Izaak Walton First printed in 1653
The Fly Fishing Angler's Guide
Just
Released: New fly fishing guidebook contains all the necessary tips and
techniques you need to become an experienced fly fisherman! Now you can
learn the art and craft of fly fishing.
