1.Historical

FISHING IN GENERAL AND FLY FISHING IN PARTICULAR

The Beginning. The beginning of the ancient and honorable art of taking fishes with an angle is lost in the dim, misty reaches of the past before men made a pictured or written record of events. Nearly all ancient peoples, however, had their quaint and curious fables on the origin of angling and many of these legends tell us that the art was handed down to men from the Gods which is, indeed, a reasonable supposition.

The earliest authentic mention of angling we find in the Book of Job, written about 1500 B.C. The Lord asks him.: "Canst thou draw out Leviathan with a hook?”Fish hooks are also mentioned by Amos (IV, 2) written 787 B.C., and the prophecies of Isaiah (XIX, 8), written 760 B.C., sound a warning to unrighteous fishermen: "The fishers shall mourn and all they that cast angles into the brooks shall lament and they that spread nets on the waters shall languish."

In Egypt, the civilization contemporary with that of the Hebrews, angling was no doubt practiced in remote times. Lake Moeris was constructed for a fishing pond about 1500 B. c. and in later days Plutarch tells of the prank played by Cleopatra on Mark Antony. They were fishing together, you will remember, and Mark had divers go down and fasten big lunkers to his hook, which he pulled up in a matter-of-fact way, as if it were an everyday occurrence with him. Cleopatra detected the fraud, however, and invited a number of her friends to come the next day and see what a mighty angler was Mark. Then she had her divers go down and fasten a salted fish to his hook which sort of took the wind out of his sails, so to speak.

The Greeks were fond of angling, and Homer mentions the art several times while with the Romans, who understood fly fishing, it amounted to almost a passion and at least one prominent citizen of that great city was ruined financially by spending too much money on elaborate fish ponds. The poet Oppian saved his father from the wrath of the Emperor Severus by writing a book on angling and many other classical writers were interested in the subject.

Fly Fishing. Although fly fishing was probably practiced much earlier the first mention of it is made by Elian in his “History of Animals,”written about 230 A. D. He describes a fly with a purple body and red hackles which was cast with a rod about eight feet long on a line of the same  length and trout fishermen must derive considerable pleasure in the fact that this pioneer fly was used to catch “speckled fishes.”The fly itself is still in use, being the pattern known as the red hackle. It is a killing trout fly and fairly good for bass. Every true fly fisherman should carry one if only for its association. The story of this fly is charmingly told by Mary Orvis Marbury in her “Favorite Flies and Their Histories."

It has been said that our Saxon ancestors earned the tribal designation “Anglo “because of their great skill in hook and line fishing, but it is quite probable that fly fishing was introduced into the British Isles by the Romans. They are also said to have introduced red chickens into Britain and we venture the theory that they took them there not only for cock fighting but to be assured of plenty of red hackles!

THE TREATYSE

One of the very first books printed in the English language was a sporting work: "The Boke of St. Albans.”, This volume was printed by Caxton in 1496 and contained, in the second edition, the famous “Treatyse of Fyshynge with an Angle,”generally attributed to Julianna Berners “Prioress of the nunnery of Sopewell, near St. Albans, a lady of noble family and celebrated for her learning and accomplishments."

The book contains a number of the crude drawings of that day and, as Marston points out, these old "cutts”have led many to believe that the text is equally impractical although, as a matter of fact, it contains not a little fishing sense and certainly the Good Dame's praises of angling and her advice on the ethics of the game are decidedly worth-while. The “Treatyse “mentions a number of flies (including the red hackle of iElian) that still are in use.

WALTON, BARKER AND COTTON

This work was followed by a number of other angling books but the crowning glory of all angling literature is that sweet, simple idyl “The C'ompleat Angler,”written by Izaak Walton, in his 6oth year, and first published in London in 1653. It was unfortunate, however, that Father Izaak was not much of a fly fisher himself but got much of his information on the subject from Thomas Barker who wrote a small book entitled “Barker's Delight or the Art of Angling."

Barker, by the way, did not have Walton's quaint and appealing viewpoint nor his writing ability but he was, I imagine, a more finished and practical angler. Besides assisting Walton with his fly fishing problems, he has the distinction of being the first angling writer to write a practical treatise on tying flies; to distinguish between hackles, palmers and winged flies; to describe fly fishing for salmon; to mention a reel and gaff, and to point out the possibilities of getting big fish at night. Says Walton: "I find that Mr. Thomas Barker (A Gentleman who has spent much time and money in angling) deals so judiciously and freely in a little book of his of angling and especially of making and angling with a fly for trout, that I will give you his directions without much variation.”Note, dear reader, that Barker "spent much time and money in angling”and be solemnly warned that he ended his days in an almshouse which is where most of us are likely to go if good fishing tackle does not become cheaper!

Subsequent editions of Walton's Angler contained chapters on fly fishing by Charles Cotton. Cotton had the reputation of being something of a “village cut-up “in his day, but it being unbecoming to point out the short-comings of a brother of the angle I will not dwell on this. That he was an expert fly fisher and a close friend of the simple, pious Iz. Wa., and was privileged to address him as “Father,”convinces us that he was a young man of many admirable qualities.

APOLOGY

Our object in writing this brief and necessarily incomplete historical sketch of angling and fly fishing of olden days is to trace the evolution of our subject mainly and also to impress upon the young angler, whether he be young in years or young in experience, that in taking up scientific angling he at once becomes one of a great brotherhood and practices an art that is of ancient and honorable lineage the only pastime, incidentally, that has produced a literary classic. Men of science, art, letters, statecraft and holy callings, from times immemorial, have hearkened to the call of the waters; have been thrilled by the swirling of lusty fishes and consoled by the song of the south wind and have been made “merie in Spyryte “and consequently better men thereby.

EARLY BASS FISHING

One of the very first to write of black bass fishing was Bartram, the naturalist. In 1764 he wrote an account of “bobbing “in Florida for “trout “as black bass are still called in the South. This method, somewhat similar to “skittering,”as practiced in the North, consists of manipulating a large treble hook concealed in a tuft of bucktail hair and red feathers called a “bob.”This “bob “is tied to a very short, strong line on a long pole. “The steersman paddles softly and proceeds slowly along shore; he now ingeniously swings the bob backwards and forwards, just above the surface and sometimes tips the water with it, when the unfortunate cheated trout instantly springs from under the reeds and seizes the supposed prey.”. Bobbing is still practiced but one could hardly call bobbing fly fishing although similar to it in principle and not differing a great deal from the “fly fishing “methods no doubt pursued by our cave-men ancestors in the brave days of old.

 FIRST BASS FLY FISHERS

The first fly fishers for bass undoubtedly were the early residents of northern Kentucky, the same good people who developed bait casting and brought the multiplying reel to its present perfection. These men were of British ancestry, educated and of more than ordinary abilities in many ways. Some of them were well-to-do; all of them found ample leisure to indulge their hobby. We suppose that they, or their forebears, brought fly tackle with them from their old homes and northern Kentucky, being neither mountainous nor far enough north for trout, they no doubt used this tackle for taking the bass that were plentiful in the near-by streams. Dr. Henshall informs me that the first man to take up fly fishing for bass seriously was J. L. Sage, the reel maker of Frankfort, Ky., later of Lexington. He made a rod and reel especially for fishing for black bass with flies as early as 1848.

NORTHERN WRITERS

While these early bass fishers were plying their craft in Kentucky, bass fishing did not receive the attention it deserved in the North. Frank Forester (Henry W. Herbert), the popular sporting writer of his day, probably never caught a black bass. In an appendix to his "Field Sports”(1847) he says: "Other fish there are, the name of which is legion; the best, perhaps, of these, and the most sporting after the Trout is the Black Bass of the lakes, which will rise freely to a large red and gray fly, made of Macaw, or parrot and Silver Pheasant or Guinea Fowl. . . . There is also a fish called "Trout “to the southward, which is certainly not a trout, though I do not know its correct appellation, which is eagerly pursued and considered a game fish.”The “trout,”of course, is none other than our friend the large-mouthed black bass.

Brown in his "American Anglers Guide”(1849) went the limit in misinformation by stating that “the black bass has a swallow tail."

Dr. Bethune, the first American editor of Walton's “Angler,”a bookish man and a good fisherman, had a better idea of the bass than any of his contemporaries. In one of his notes (1848) he says: ". . . it is impossible to refrain from a brief notice of that fish which is, next to the Salmon family, most prized by the American angler in fresh waters. Angling for him may be begun in June, when he is to be found in about 14 feet of water, among the grass. . . . Nothing can exceed the vigor and liveliness of his play; for he will try every art, even to flinging himself high out of the water, that he may shake off the hook; and the rod must not be kept perpendicular, but moved in various directions, and sometimes even partly submerged, to counteract his rushes, and hold him under the surface. . . . The bass takes the fly freely; a favorite fly being made on a stout hook (the fish's mouth is large) with wings of scarlet cloth and a body of white feather. Other colors have been tried though not to much advantage. But the best fly is made of scarlet feather or cloth (which is better) with a piece of pickerel's tongue, cut in a fork so as to hang from the bend of the hook.”The latter to this day is a favorite lure of the bait caster, but, almost needless to say, not of the fly fisherman!

The only mention of the bass by Thad. Norris in his "American Anglers Book”(1864) states that he caught them skittering a spoon. Genio Scott in his "Fishing in American Waters”(1869) says nothing more of the bass than: “This fish is taken by casting an artificial fly or by trolling with a feathered spoon, with a minnow impaled on a gang of hooks and forming spinning tackle.”Robert Roosevelt in his “Superior Fishing”(1865) says: "That evening was devoted to the black bass which took fly and spoon greedily “but as trolling a fly was more commonly practiced than casting it he probably used that method.

That the sport of fly fishing for bass was a long time in getting general recognition may be seen by referring to the files of Forest and Stream, where one will find that a spirited controversy was waged in the early '70's on the subject of whether or not a black bass will rise to a fly!

FATHER OF BLACK BASS FISHING

The title of “The Father of Black Bass Fishing “has been earned by Dr. James Alexander Henshall. It was his writings in the periodicals and particularly his “Book of the Black Bass”(1881) that popularized bass fishing in America. His prophecy made in this book that the black bass would eventually become the game fish of the people has been borne out by events.

Dr. Henshall was trained as a surgeon but gave up that calling to engage in fish culture work that appealed more to his tastes and his efforts along these lines were crowned with unusual success. At this writing (December, 1918) he is hale and hearty at the ripe age of 83, bearing out Dame Berners' testimony that angling assures “that your aege may be the more floure and the lenger to endure.”

PRESENT AND FUTURE

At present fly fishing for bass is enjoying a great revival, more interest being taken in it than in many years and as the advance of civilization unfortunately destroys more trout streams and requires trout fishers to travel farther, many of them, by necessity, will turn to waters nearer home and cast their fraudulent feathers to the doughty knight in shining, green armor that “inch for inch, pound for pound, is the gamest fish that swims."

EARLY TROUT FISHING

The early history of fly fishing for trout in this country is just as disappointing as that of fly fishing for bass. Capt. John Smith in his “A Description of New England,”published in 1616, said: "Much salmon some haue found vp the Riuers as they haue passed,”but the doughty captain was no sportsman, for in his description of cod fishing he said: “And is it not pretty sport to pvll vp two pence, six pence and twelve pence as fast as you can hale and veare a line! “But there is no doubt that the amazing abundance of fish life had much to do in attracting men to the New World and several of these old chroniclers made mention of “troute,”meaning our common char, found in all New England brooks, and of the land locked salmon in Maine waters.

The first American anglers practiced their art along the Atlantic sea board. Frank Forrester in the first American edition of Walton's “Angler “(1847) gives a detailed description of trout fishing on Long Island and the editor of that fine edition of Walton, Dr. Bethune, gives many illuminating notes on trouting in his day. Daniel Webster and many other anglers annually journeyed to Cape Cod, attracted by the good trouting to be had there.

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