Many credit the first
recorded use of an artificial fly to the
Roman Claudius Aelianus near the end of the 2nd century. He described the practice of
Macedonian anglers on the Astraeus River: In his book
Fishing from the Earliest Times, however, William Radcliff (1921) gave the credit to
Martial (Marcus Valerius Martialis), born some two hundred years before Aelianus, who wrote: The last word, somewhat indistinct in the original, is either "mosco" (moss) or "musca" (fly) but catching fish with fraudulent moss seems unlikely. Tenkara originated in the mountains of Japan as a way for professional fishermen and inn-keepers to harvest the local fish,
Ayu,
trout and
char for selling and providing a meal to their guests. Primarily a small-stream fishing method that was preferred for being highly efficient, where the long rod allowed the fisherman to place the fly where the fish would be. Another style of fishing in Japan is
Ayu fishing. As written by historian
Andrew Herd, in the book "The Fly", "Fly fishing became popular with Japanese peasants from the twelfth century onward...fishing was promoted to a pastime worthy of
Bushi (warriors), as part of an official policy to train the Bushi's mind during peacetime." This refers primarily to
Ayu fishing, which commonly uses a fly as lure, uses longer rods, but there is no casting technique required, it's more similar to
dapping. Ayu was practiced in the lowlands (foothills), where the Bushi resided, tenkara practiced in the mountains. Fishing flies are thought to have originated in Japan for Ayu fishing over 430 years ago. These flies were made with needles that were bent into shape and used as fishing hooks, then dressed as a fly. The rods along with fishing flies, are considered to be a traditional local craft of the
Kaga region. Although anglers in Scotland and Ireland had been fishing the lochs and loughs for trout with an artificial fly for several generations (as far back as 1840 John Colquhoun listed the menus of fly dressings in his book The Moor and Loch detailing the wings, body and hackle of artificial flies in use at the time), the history of stillwater trout fishing in English reservoirs goes back little more than a century. The simple reason for that was because (apart from the Lake District which was somewhat isolated before the construction of the railways) England possessed few large stillwaters that contained trout. That all changed when the water supply reservoirs began to be built to meet the increasing demand for water from the big cities. The earliest of these reservoirs to be stocked with trout were Thrybergh Reservoir close to Doncaster completed around 1880, Lake Vyrnwy, Powys in 1891, Ravensthorpe Reservoir in Northamptonshire in 1895 and
Blagdon Lake in Somerset which was first opened as a trout fishery in 1904.
Origins 's
The Compleat Angler, published in 1653 helped popularize fly fishing as a sport.Woodcut by
Louis Rhead, 1900. Other than a few fragmented references little was written on fly fishing until
The Treatyse on Fysshynge with an Angle was published (1496) within
The Boke of Saint Albans attributed to
Dame Juliana Berners. The book contains instructions on rod, line and hook making and dressings for different flies to use at different times of the year. By the 15th century, rods of approximately fourteen feet length with a twisted line attached at its tips were probably used in England. The earliest English poetical treatise on Angling by
John Dennys, said to have been a fishing companion of
Shakespeare, was published in 1613,
The Secrets of Angling. Footnotes of the work, written by Dennys' editor, William Lawson, make the first mention of the phrase to 'cast a fly': "The trout gives the most gentlemanly and readiest sport of all, if you fish with an artificial fly, a line twice your rod's length of three hairs' thickness... and if you have learnt the cast of the fly." The art of fly fishing took a great leap forward after the
English Civil War, where a newly found interest in the activity left its mark on the many books and treatises that were written on the subject at the time. The renowned officer in the
Parliamentary army,
Robert Venables, published in 1662
The Experienced Angler, or Angling improved, being a general discourse of angling, imparting many of the aptest ways and choicest experiments for the taking of most sorts of fish in pond or river. Another Civil War veteran to enthusiastically take up fishing was
Richard Franck. He was the first to describe salmon fishing in Scotland, and both in that and trout-fishing with
artificial fly he was a practical angler. He was the first angler to name the
burbot, and commended the salmon of the
River Thames.
The Compleat Angler was written by
Izaak Walton in 1653 (although Walton continued to add to it for a quarter of a century) and described the fishing in the
Derbyshire Wye. It was a celebration of the art and spirit of fishing in prose and verse; 6 verses were quoted from
John Dennys's earlier work. A second part to the book was added by Walton's friend
Charles Cotton.
Development from the 1760s. The 18th century was mainly an era of consolidation of the techniques developed in the previous century. Running rings began to appear along the fishing rods, which gave anglers greater control over the cast line. The rods themselves were also becoming increasingly sophisticated and specialized for different roles. Jointed rods became common from the middle of the century and
bamboo came to be used for the top section of the rod, giving it a much greater strength and flexibility. The industry also became commercialized - rods and tackle were sold at the
haberdashers store. After the
Great Fire of London in 1666, artisans moved to
Redditch which became a centre of production of fishing related products from the 1730s.
Onesimus Ustonson established his trading shop in 1761, and his establishment remained as a market leader for the next century. He received a
royal warrant and became the official supplier of fishing tackle to three successive monarchs starting with King
George IV over this period. Some have credited Onesimus with the invention of the
multiplying winch, although he was certainly the first to advertise its sale. Early multiplying reels were wide and had a small diameter, and their gears, made of
brass, often wore down after extensive use. His earliest advertisement in the form of a trading card date from 1768 and was entitled
To all lovers of angling. A full list of the tackles he sold included artificial flies, and 'the best sort of multiplying brass winches both stop and plain'. The commercialization of the industry came at a time of expanded interest in fishing as a recreational hobby for members of the
aristocracy. The impact of the
Industrial Revolution was first felt in the manufacture of fly lines. Instead of anglers twisting their own lines - a laborious and time-consuming process - the new
textile spinning machines allowed for a variety of tapered lines to be easily manufactured and marketed. British fly-fishing continued to develop in the 19th century, with the emergence of fly fishing clubs, along with the appearance of several books on the subject of fly tying and fly fishing techniques. '' by
Alfred Ronalds had a great influence on the development of fly fishing when it was first published in 1836.
Alfred Ronalds took up the sport of fly fishing, learning the craft on the rivers
Trent,
Blythe and
Dove. On the River Blythe, near what is today
Creswell Green, Ronalds constructed a bankside fishing hut designed primarily as an observatory of trout behaviour in the river. From this hut, and elsewhere on his home rivers, Ronalds conducted experiments and formulated the ideas that eventually were published in ''
The Fly-fisher's Entomology'' in 1836. He combined his knowledge of fly fishing with his skill as an
engraver and printer, to lavish his work with 20 color plates. It was the first comprehensive work related to the
entomology associated with fly fishing and most fly-fishing historians credit Ronalds with setting a literature standard in 1836 that is still followed today. Describing methods, techniques and, most importantly,
artificial flies, in a meaningful way for the angler and illustrating them in colour is a method of presentation that can be seen in most fly-fishing literature today. The book was mostly about the aquatic insects—
mayflies,
caddisflies and
stoneflies—that
trout and
grayling feed on and their counterpart artificial imitations. About half the book is devoted to observations of trout, their behaviour, and the methods and techniques used to catch them. Most of this information, although enhanced by Ronalds' experiences and observations, was merely an enhancement of Charles Bowlker's
Art of Angling (first published in 1774 but still in print in 1836). In Chapter IV -
Of a Selection of Insects, and Their Imitations, Used in Fly Fishing - for the first time is discussed specific artificial fly imitations by name, associated with the corresponding natural insect. Organized by their month of appearance, Ronalds was the first author to begin the standardization of angler names for artificial flies. Prior to ''The Fly-fisher's Entomology
, anglers had been given suggestions for artificial flies to be used on a particular river or at a particular time of the year, but those suggestions were never matched to specific natural insects the angler might encounter on the water. According to Ernest Schwiebert: "Ronalds is one of the major milestones in the entire literature of fly-fishing, and with his Entomology'' the scientific method has reached angling in full flower. Ronalds was completely original in its content and research, setting the yardstick for all subsequent discussion and illustration of aquatic fly hatches.
Technological improvements Modern reel design had begun in England during the latter part of the 18th century, and the predominant model in use was known as the '
Nottingham reel'. The reel was a wide drum which spooled out freely, and was ideal for allowing the bait to drift a long way out with the current. Geared multiplying reels never successfully caught on in Britain, but had more success in the United States, where similar models were modified by
George Snyder of
Kentucky into his bait-casting reel, the first American-made design, in 1810. The material used for the rod itself changed from the heavy woods native to England, to lighter and more elastic varieties imported from abroad, especially from
South America and the
West Indies.
Bamboo rods became the generally favoured option from the mid-19th century, and several strips of the material were cut from the cane, milled into shape, and then glued together to form light, strong, hexagonal rods with a solid core that were superior to anything that preceded them.
George Cotton and his predecessors fished their flies with long rods and light lines, allowing the wind to do most of the work of getting the fly to the fish. . Tackle design began to improve from the 1880s. The introduction of new woods to the manufacture of fly rods made it possible to cast flies into the wind on
silk lines, instead of
horse hair. These lines allowed for a much greater casting distance. However, these early fly lines proved troublesome as they had to be coated with various dressings to make them float and needed to be taken off the reel and dried every four hours or so to prevent them from becoming waterlogged. Another negative consequence was that it became easy for the much longer line to get into a tangle – this was called a 'tangle' in Britain, and a 'backlash' in the US. This problem spurred the invention of the regulator to evenly spool the line out and prevent tangling. The founding of
The Orvis Company helped institutionalize fly fishing by supplying angling equipment via the circulation of his tackle catalogs, distributed to a small but devoted customer list. In 1888, Foster Hardy, of
Hardy Brothers Ltd., invented a new reel that used a unique
ball bearing system with an adjustable click-check drag and a full-cage frame. This smoother reel was first introduced in Hardy’s 1891 catalogue , its name,
the "Perfect" reflected the company's ambition to create the ideal fly reel.
Albert Illingworth, 1st Baron Illingworth, a textiles magnate, patented the modern form of fixed-spool spinning reel in 1905. When casting Illingworth's reel design, the line was drawn off the leading edge of the spool, but was restrained and rewound by a line pickup, a device which orbits around the stationary spool. Because the line did not have to pull against a rotating spool, much lighter lures could be cast than with conventional reels. The large rivers of
Norway replete with large stocks of
salmon began to attract fishermen from England in large numbers in the middle of the century - ''Jones's guide to Norway, and salmon-fisher's pocket companion'', published in 1848, was written by Frederic Tolfrey and was a popular guide to the country. However, there was nothing to prevent the successful employment of wet flies on these chalk streams, as
G. E. M. Skues proved with his nymph and wet fly techniques. To the horror of dry-fly purists, Skues later wrote two books,
Minor Tactics of the Chalk Stream, and
The Way of a Trout with a Fly, which greatly influenced the development of wet fly fishing. In northern England and Scotland, many anglers also favored wet-fly fishing, where the technique was more popular and widely practiced than in southern England. One of Scotland's leading proponents of the wet fly in the early-to-mid 19th century was W.C. Stewart, who published "The Practical Angler" in 1857. In the United States, attitudes toward methods of fly fishing were not nearly as rigidly defined, and both dry- and wet-fly fishing were soon adapted to the conditions of the country. Fly anglers there are thought to be the first anglers to have used artificial lures for
bass fishing. After pressing into service the fly patterns and tackle designed for trout and salmon to catch largemouth and smallmouth bass, they began to adapt these patterns into specific bass flies. Fly anglers seeking bass developed the spinner/fly lure and bass popper fly, which are still used today. In the late 19th century, American anglers, such as
Theodore Gordon in the
Catskill Mountains of
New York, began using fly tackle to fish the region's
brook trout-rich streams such as the Beaverkill and Willowemoc Creek. Many of these early American fly anglers also developed new fly patterns and wrote extensively about their sport, increasing the popularity of fly fishing in the region and in the United States as a whole. " The first successful transfer of Brown Trout ova (from the Itchen and Wye) was accomplished by
James Arndell Youl, with a consignment aboard
The Norfolk in 1864. Rainbow Trout were not introduced until 1894.
Alfred Ronalds' daughter Maria Shanklin established Australia's first significant fly tying business. It was the development of inexpensive fiberglass rods, synthetic fly lines, and monofilament leaders, however, in the early 1950s, that revived the popularity of fly fishing. In recent years, interest in fly fishing has surged as
baby boomers have discovered the sport. Movies such as
Robert Redford's film
A River Runs Through It, cable fishing shows, and the emergence of a competitive
fly casting circuit have added to the sport's visibility. ==Methods==