Fly Fishing History
Fly fishing enjoys a very long and illustrious history. Though it was recently popularized by movies such as A River Runs Through It, fly fishing has roots in true antiquity. Perhaps the earliest known references to fishing with a lure made to resemble a natural prey item come from around the third century AD, or about the year 200. In a book called De Natura Animalium (On the Nature of Animals), Claudius Aelianus very briefly describes a group of Macedonian people who fish for trout using red thread and chicken feathers attached to a hook, resembling a long-winged crimson fly that could often be seen sitting on the surface of the water. This, of course, was only the beginning - it's unknown as to whether or not fly fishing had an earlier birth, but what is certain is that the ancient method for catching fish has survived to this day.
The actual form of fly fishing that we know today - that is, "false casting" the fly back and forth, using the weight of the line to throw the lure out into the water - didn't come into existence until the eighteen hundreds. Before that time, would-be anglers evidently hoped for dark, windy weather so that they could keep from casting a shadow on the water (so as not to scare the fish away), and could also send their lines into the breeze. In many cases, before the nineteenth century, people constructed poles (some over ten feet long) out of pliable, bendable wood, with cane hooks for handles. They didn't have reels, for the most part, either. The few reels fishermen did have caused more trouble than they were worth, making their lines kink or making the process of bringing a fish in even more difficult than it already was.
What's more, lines were made out of horsehair and were woven by individual people; a lot of times, they would become waterlogged or wear out. Often one needed to soak the lines to make them pliable. It wasn't until the later part of the century that the industrial revolution came about with new breakthroughs in textile manufacture - and, subsequently, the production of better lines. Some were still made out of horsehair, others made out of silk, and still others constructed of a combination of the two. Much has changed in the last few centuries. Today's fly lines and leaders are a joy to use.
In the history of fly fishing, gear has gone from poles of up to eighteen feet long, or as short as six to eight feet, with reels in every conceivable position, with line that was fuzzy or split or otherwise woefully inadequate compared to the equipment available today. Somehow, though, anglers managed to become proficient enough to feed their families or to fish professionally.
In the more modern times, fly fishing has become less a necessity and more an enjoyable pastime. From freshwater fishing to saltwater fishing, fly fishing is more widespread than ever before.
