, author of the earliest essay on recreational fishing. The early evolution of fishing as a
recreation is not clear, but there is anecdotal evidence for
fly fishing in
Japan as early as the
9th century BCE, and
Claudius Aelianus (175–235 CE) describes fly fishing in
Macedonia in his work
On the Nature of Animals. For the early Japanese and
Macedonians, however, fly fishing was likely to have been a means of survival, rather than recreation. It is possible that antecedents of recreational fly fishing arrived in
England with the
Norman Conquest of 1066. it is clear that recreational fishing had fully arrived with the publication of
The Compleat Angler. The earliest English essay on recreational fishing was published in 1496, shortly after the invention of the
printing press. The authorship of this was attributed to
Dame Juliana Berners, the prioress of the
Benedictine Sopwell Nunnery. The essay was titled
Treatyse of Fysshynge wyth an Angle, and was published in the second
Boke of Saint Albans, a treatise on
hawking,
hunting and
heraldry. These were major interests of the nobility, and the publisher,
Wynkyn de Worde, was concerned that the book should be kept from those who were not gentlemen, since their immoderation in angling might "utterly destroy it". During the
16th century the work was much read, and was reprinted many times.
Treatyse includes detailed information on fishing waters, the construction of rods and lines, and the use of natural baits and artificial flies. It also includes modern concerns about conservation and angler etiquette. The earliest English poetical treatise on angling,
The Secrets of Angling by
John Dennys (who was said to have been a fishing companion of
Shakespeare), was published in 1613. 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." In a
United States context, The Outdoor Industry Association, states that fishing participation has continued its 11-year upward trajectory, adding 300,000 participants and reaching its highest number of participants since 2007. At the same time, the participation rate dipped slightly by 0.1%, bringing the fishing rate to 16.4%. This was due to the increasing population of the United States.
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. from the 1760s. Cotton's additions completed the instruction in fly fishing and advised on the making of
artificial flies where he listed sixty five varieties. Charles Kirby designed an improved fishing hook in 1655 that remains relatively unchanged to this day. He went on to invent the Kirby bend, a distinctive hook with an offset point, still commonly used today. During the 18th century, the fishing industry 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 from three successive monarchs starting with King
George IV. 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.
Expansion 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.
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. '' by
Alfred Ronalds had a great influence on the development of fly fishing when it was first published in 1836. He combined his knowledge of fly fishing with his skill as an engraver and printer, to lavish his work with 20 colour 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. By the mid to late 19th century, expanding
leisure opportunities for the middle and lower classes began to have its effect on fly fishing, which steadily grew in mass appeal. The expansion of the
railway network in Britain allowed the less affluent for the first time to take weekend trips to the seaside or to rivers for fishing. Richer
hobbyists ventured further abroad. The large rivers of Norway replete with large stocks of
salmon began to attract fishers 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. 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. In addition, fishing from kayaks is regarded by some as an effort to level the playing field, to a degree, with their quarry and/or to challenge their angling abilities further by bringing an additional level of complexity to their sport == Sport fishing ==