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History of fly fishing

The End of a Stiff Fight-Louis Rhead (1902)

Fly fishing is a distinct form of angling that has undergone centuries of development and refinement to where it is today. That development and refinement might be best broken down into several categories as follows:

• The creation and development of artificial flies
• The development of fly fishing equipment--rods, reels and lines.
• The development of general and specific fly fishing techniques
• The understanding of target fish species, their prey and how best to catch them on artificial flies.
• The evolution of the social and cultural aspects of fly fishing.

Change over the last several centuries in these elements of the sport constitute the history of fly fishing. Although the preponderance of literature on angling is of British and American origin, [Scullery says:

Origins

First known illustration of a fishing fly from John Denny's The Secrets of Angling (1652) ,

Frontpiece from Bowlker's Art of Angling (1854) showing a variety of artificial flies

The concept of artificial flies preceeded the concept of fly fishing. The first literary reference to flies and fishing with flies was in Ælian’s Natural History probably written about 200 A.D. That work discussed a Macedonian fly. Other than a few fragmented references, however, little was written on fly fishing until The Treatyse on Fysshynge with an Angle was published (1496) within The Boke of St. Albans attributed to Dame Juliana Berners. The book contains, along with instructions on rod, line and hook making, dressings for different flies to use at different times of the year. Probably the first use of the term Artificial fly came in Izaac Walton's The Complete Angler (1653).

Oh my good Master, this morning walk has been spent to my great pleasure and wonder: but I pray, when shall I have your direction how to make Artificial flyes, like to those that the Trout loves best?

Noted fly fishing historians Paul Schullery, in The Rise (2006) and Dr. Andrew Herd in The Fly (2001), both cite probable evidence that angling with artificial flies in some form was also practiced in Asia, Northern and Southern Europe many centuries ago and that The Treatyse and The Complete Angler are just one of many branches in the origins of fly fishing as we know it today, .

At the same time Walton was writing The Complete Angler, John Denny published The Secrets of Angling (1652) which contains the first known illustration of an artificial fly. However, Denny does not refer to the use of artificial flies as fly-fishing.

Well into the 1800s, natural fly-fishing was being practiced in Europe by anglers using natural aquatic and terrestial insects as baits. It is evident from the the literature of the time that artificial fly-fishing was but a logical extension of natural fly-fishing. In The Complete Angler's Vade-Mecum; Being A Perfect Code Of Instruction On The Above Pleasing Science: Wherein Are Detailed, A Great Variety Of Original Practices And Inventions; Together With All That Can Contribute To The Sportsman's Amusement And Success. (London 1808), Captain T. Williamson devotes a whole chapter to the subject of On fly-fishing with comprehensive sub-chapters entitled: of Natural flies and The Artificial fly

By the early 1800s, the term artificial fly-fishing was being routinely used in angling literature much like this representative quote from Thomas Best's A Concise Treatise on the Art of Angling (1807) to refer to a distinct method of angling that was begining to define its cultural niche in the overall sport of angling.

The art of artificial fly-fishing, certainly has the pre-eminence over the other various methods that are used to take fishes in the art of angling

For most of fly fishing's early documented history, British angling writers focused most fly fishing discussion on angling for trout, grayling and salmon. But other species, both fresh and saltwater were being pursued by anglers with artificial flies. As angling with the artificial fly gained popularity in America, more species were added to the list of fish to be caught with the artificial fly. As British, European and American anglers traveled aboard, the sport of fly fishing as practiced by europeans and americans was exported across the globe, so that by the beginning of the 20th century, fly fishing was an accepted form of angling for just about any type of fish.

This passage from The Rod in India (1897) by Henry Sullivan Thomas which contains several chapters on fly fishing for various species found in India, is illustrative of the extent that fly fishing was being applied by the beginning of the 20th century.

Fish with the fly for Mahseer, just as you would for salmon; that is to say, that if you are a salmon-fisher I can give you no advice, you are sure to follow your practice. But if you are not, I may as well mention that the general idea is, that you should not draw your fly with a steady pull through the water, but with a succession of little jerks, with slight pauses between, so as to give it a shrimp-like motion, the theory being that with every jerk the feathers will be compressed against the hook, and with every pause they will spread out again, thus making a greater show, and giving an appearance of life to the fly, an appearance of kicking out for a swim.

17th-18th centuries

John Hills, in The History of Fly Fishing For Trout (1921) captures the essence of these centuries in fly fishing history as follows:

The one hundred and eighty years which separate Stewart from Cotton are years of advance which, though great, proceeded by hardly perceptible stages. At the beginning men fished with no reel, twisted hair lines, long rods, and a single fly. At the end they used short rods, sometimes of split cane, reels, silk lines, and drawn gut, and, except those bold adventurers who used the dry fly or on very shy waters, two or three flies. These great changes were evolved so slowly that the period cannot be divided into epochs. Advance followed advance by measured and orderly procession; we are hardly aware that we are travelling, and it is only when we have reached the end and look back that we are conscious of the distance which we have covered.

But from another point of view the period shows a marked division. Up to the end of the eighteenth century it was one of technical rather than intellectual progress: a progress wrought by the tackle maker rather than by the writer or thinker. No great names stand out. There are neither great masters of the rod nor great masters of the pen.

19th century

The 19th century saw fly fishing defining itself as a distinct angling method with its own distinct vocabulary, equipment and techniques. By the end of the century, fly fishing was gaining mainstream support from the angling public.

Competitive Fly Casting

20th century

Fly fishing as a recreational pastime matured scientifically, technically and culturally in the 20th century.

The rise of western trout fishing

Competitive Fly Fishing

See Also

Annotated bibliography of fly fishing

Further Reading

• Blakey, Robert (1856). Historical Sketches of the Angling Literature of All Nations. London: John Russell Smith.
• Turrell, W. J. (1910). Ancient Angling Authors. London: Gurney and Jackson.
• Hills, John Waller (1921). A History of Fly Fishing For Trout. London: Phillp Allan & Co.
• Radcliffe, William (1921). Fishing From the Earliest Times. London: John Murray.
• Goodspeed, Charles E. (1939). Angling in America-Its Early History and Literature. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
• Koller, Larry (1963). A Treasury of Angling. New York: Ridge Press.
• McDonald, John (1972). Quill Gordon. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0394469895.
• Gingrich, Arnold (1974). The Fishing In Print-A Guided Tour Through Five Centuries of Angling Literature. New York: Winchester Press. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Waterman, Charles F. (1981). A History of Angling. New York: Winchester Press. ISBN 0876913435.
• Law, Glenn (1995). A Concise History of Fly Fishing. Birmingham, Alabama: Odysseus Editions.
• Schullery, Paul (1996). American Fly Fishing-A History. Norwalk, CT: The Easton Press. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Schullery, Paul (1999). Royal Coachman-The Lore and Legends of Fly-Fishing. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0684842467. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Herd, Andrew Dr (2001). The Fly. Ellesmere, Shropshire: Medlar Press. ISBN 1899600191.
• Schullery, Paul (2006). The Rise-Streamside Observations on Trout, Flies and Fly Fishing. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books. ISBN 9780811701822.
• Schullery, Paul (2006). Cowboy Trout-Western Fly Fishing As if it Matters. Montana Historical Society. ISBN 097215227X.