History of fly fishing

Medieval Europe

6.         In the beginning of the 13th century a German romance written in about 1210 by Wolfram von Eschenbach mentions the catching of trout and grayling using a “feathered hook”. The hero of the novel wades barefoot in a stream to catch trout and grayling with a fly. From 1360 onwards, across a vast geographical area from the Swiss plain to Syria, other texts identify fly fishing as the chosen method of commoners.

7.         In the early 15th century a manuscript, kept at the Bavarian abbey of Tegernsee, lists at least fifty different fly patterns for catching carp, pike, catfish, burbot and salmon as well as trout and grayling.

8.         In 1425 Dame Juliana Berner described fishing methods of the time in an article entitled “A Treatyse of Fysshynge Wyth an Angle” Dame Juliana Berner is believed to have been the abbess of a Benedictine nunnery in Sopwell. Her article was subsequently hand copied by monks until it was printed seventy years later  as part of the Book of St Albains, is absolutely decisive for the early development not only of fly fishing but of sport fishing in general. It is the earliest known printed work in English on fly fishing. It described in detail how fishing for trout and salmon was conducted with artificial flies. She had discovered, amongst other things, a seasonal regularity in the insects which she observed on her fishing waters. Her conclusion was that the fish’s choice of diet depended largely on the supply of hatching insects. With her observations of insect life as a starting point, she developed 12 different fly patterns, one for each month, which are so well described that they can be tied today without much trouble by a reasonably competent fly tier. The Book of St Albains was devoted to the greatest arts of the age, such as heraldry and hunting, and was written for nobles and gentlemen. This is how fishing with rod, line and fly was added to the great arts enjoyed for the sake of pleasure and a source of recreation.

9.         Fishing equipment in those days was described as consisting of relatively simple tied flies, long rods of ash, willow or hazel, and lines braided with horsehair. The rods which were about 15 feet long were made of two parts joined by iron or tin links. The line was twisted horsehair fixed to the top of the rod – no reel was used. It is unlikely that 15th Century fly fishermen used lines longer than 30 feet.

10.       In medieval times fish was a very important part of the diet. Fish was cooked in a pastry case in the ashes of a fire. It was stuffed with breadcrumbs, sultanas, fruit, herbs and spices – a bit like a sweet and sour stuffing. The poorer people would have eaten fish – probably salmon as it was incredibly common – and were probably heartily sick of eating it. It is reported that the first formation of a trade union occurred when the apprentices of London sent a petition to the Lord Mayor praying for them to stop being fed salmon and asking for proper fish to eat like pike or perch. They must have been successful because legislation was passed in the early 15th Century that you could not feed your apprentices with salmon more than three times a week!! 

15th Century Salmon Recipe

11.       Gut ye the Salmon. Take 12ozs of white breadcrumbs, 4 ozs apricots (roughly chopped) 4 ozs raisins, salt and pepper, 1 or 2 eggs to bind the stuffing, milk teaspoon of dried mixed herbs. Push all this in the belly of ye salmon. To make the salt doe that encases the fish, 3lbs of flour, 1 lb of salt and some water. Roll it out. Put your fish in the middle and seal it up. Put it into a hot fire until the pastry is black. Do not eat ye the pastry.

17th Century Fishermen

12.       In 1652 The Compleat Angler was written by Isaac Walton, then aged 60. It listed the twelve flies from the Treatyse. Through the conversation between the book’s two characters, Mr Piscator and Mr Venator, we get a good view of how fishing with a rod and hook was done at the time.

13.       The Compleat Angler may also be called the first true handbook of sportfishing. It describes not only the eating habits of fish and their resting places, nut also how to go about luring them onto the hook with all manner of baits, as well as how to serve up the catch. Today this book has been published in about 400 new editions in numerous languages

14.       In 1676 it was expanded with a section on fly fishing by Charles Cotton. He listed 65 trout flies. In Cotton’s day there were already marked regional variations in fly patterns, and it seems likely there had been significant development in the 16th Century. Charles Cotton’s fly fishing section is regarded as very significant for the progress and diversification of fly fishing until the beginning of the 19th Century. He can therefore be called something like the founding father of fly fishing

15.       Fishing equipment during the 17th Century was simple and not very different from that employed in the 15th Century. Progress in improving fishing equipment was very slow but in the mid 1660s things began to change. Pklagues and fires forced needlemakers, among others, to move out of London. Redditch became a centre of hookmaking, hooks were made more durable by hardening them and the old handicraft of smithing was transformed into a large scale operation. Hooks became thinner and lighter (though still thick and unwieldy compared to the present day) and running rings on rods first appeared towards the end of the 17th Century.

18th Century Advances

16.       It was first in 1747 that the intial book on flytying first appeared. The Art of Angling by Richard Bowlker. This is widely regarded as the first handbook on the subject and something of a trend maker. Not only did he present a list of his own flies, indicating some knowledge of entomology, but also gave direct instructions for special types of fishing, such as upstream fishing.

17.       The tackle trade was well established by now and was selling every conceivable article a fisherman might need – along with many that they didn’t. Small primitive reels began to be manufactured, with room for storing a small amount of line. At about the same time, it was discovered that lines could be tapered by twining in more horsehair at the middle that at the end. The new machines of the industrial revolution produced a variety of tapered manufactured lines. These could be cast with greater accuracy than those made of hand woven horsehair.  

18.       By the end of the century, many fishermen were buying their flies from tackle dealers, rather than tying their own. Trout and salmon flies saw very little change in the 18th Century. In 1790 a fisherman could turn up with Cotton’s selection in his fly box and few would have commented. Forty years later he would have been laughed at.

19th Century and the Victorian Age

19.       Up until now, reels had hardly altered since Walton’s day. Between 1805 and 1810 the first quality reels in the US were made by George Snyder from Paris, Kentucky. Within a few years, other firms had started up for the further perfection of the multiplying reel. These “Kentucky” reels distinguished from British reels by the fact that they worked!!!.

20.       By the onset of the 19th Century, the rod’s length had been considerably shortened from 16-18 down to 11-12 feet. Experiments with different materials such as greenheart, hickory and bamboo were conducted. In the mid 1840s an American violin maker managed to construct the first split cane rod by gluing bamboo ribs together. This was a real breakthrough as a perfect rod material had now been found along with a superior method of construction in order to build really strong, practical rods.

21.       Split cane rods compared with earlier types, were light and pliable. In addition, they cast significantly better than their predecessors. However they were still heavy and hard to handle as casting tools. Despite their overall advantage, it was to be some years before their production could be streamlined to make mass manufacture profitable. The American Charles Orvis, Hiram Leonard and an Englishman names Hardy began production of quality rods. By 1850, tapered reel lines were pretty much standard issue and it was quite routine for fishermen to reverse a fly line when one end was worn.

22.       It was not only the development of the fly rod which started things moving in the mid 19th Century. Lines were also greatly improved. The introduction of oiled silk lines enabled casting lengths to be tripled. More or less simultaneously the horsehair was replaced by silk gut. Today’s modern fly fishing began to take shape.

23.       Fly fishing underwent substantial changes during this period. The development of better equipment, the increased interest in entomology, the creation of new fly patterns all helped. However fly fishing was, and remained a way of fishing surrounded by a certain mysticism – an attitude which persisted far into our own century.

24.       Fly fishing tended to become more of a science. Insect breeding, entomology, classification and attempts to imitate the insect in the artificial fly became a matter of great concern. During the second half of the 19th Century, the first of the great debates in fly fishing began to emerge about how the fly should be presented – upstream, across, downstream. These were regarded as important questions. Around 1860 dry fly fishing began to become ever more popular and this new technique gathered more and more enthusiasts – to the detriment of other methods. 

25.       A schism developed in the fly fishing world, fostered by Frederic M Halford, (considered the father of dry fly fishing) which said that only dry fly fishing was the appropriate way to fish with a fly. Wet fly fishing or nymph fishing were considered to be a destructive and immoral form of fly fishing

The 20th Century

26.       With equipment continually improving and American fishing tackle coming to England around 1900. Nymph fishing began to arise invented by George E M Skues. Skues is said to have been a clever dry fly angler, although not a narrow minded or fanatical one, in contrast to Halford. He asked himself why fish with dry flies when the fish take food in or under the water surface? The idea of fishing with a wet fly when the quarry did not take insects on the water surface was at the time, heretical to many fly fishermen in conservative England. Nonetheless he pursued his research on the theory that fish were more interested in the hatching insect than in the ones already hatched. In 1910 he published his book Minor Tactics of the Chalk Stream and it was a revolution in thinking. His concepts were regarded as logical, well thought out and in some respects obvious. Yet the “old school” choked on their whisky at the mere mention of Skues. If this attitude existed only in the chalk stream areas of Hampshire and Kent, people in Northern England (and outside England) had fished for centuries with wet flies – given that sometimes this was the only way to take fish!

27.       In the mid 1900s further proponents of the nymph and wet fly method emerged. These were Frank Sawyer MBE and Major Oliver Kite. Frank Sawyer MBE was a river keeper on the Hampshire Avon and responsible for inventing one of the most famous fly patterns known – the Pheasant Tail nymph. Kite one of Sawyer’s own disciples was fascinated by nymph fishing and wrote Nymph Fishing in Practice (1963) which is still considered to be the most complete treatment of upstream nymph fishing.

Salmon Flies

28.       Until the mid 18th Century salmon flies were the same patterns as for trout but bigger and on stronger hooks. Then in early 19th Century “Irish” flies began to be imported into Scotland. The first contingent were seen on the Tweed around 1810 and were so successful that they swept the old patterns away within a few years. Many now well-known salmon fly patterns can be traced back to that time. Just like Jock Scott (tied on a boat between England and Norway in 1845 and containing 42 different parts), the first classic salmon flies were colourful and elaborately dressed. The connection between these salmon flies and the Victorian era in British history is not hard to see. Ladies’ interest in showy clothes and feathered hats made the importation of exotic feathers and furs a profitable business. Salmon fishing gentlemen did their part to expand their area of use. Patterns such as Thunder and Lightning, Silver Doctor, Black Doctor, Silver Wilkinson and other fully dressed flies derive from the same period. These flies are still available today.

29.       In the space of fifty years the salmon fly had been transformed from a workmanlike object into a jewel – and there was more to come. By the 1890’s, a vast selection of patterns were available and the well-equipped salmon fisherman’s fly box was a riot of colour. The selection of materials in use was breathtaking: tying silks, floss silks, seal’s fur, pig’s wool and mohair, chenilles of various kinds, and tinsels; then the hackles; white. Yellowish white, white furnace, black, blue dun, blue furnace, red furnace, cuckoo; feathers; golden pheasant, blue and yellow macaw, scarlet macaw, toucan, Indian crow, jungle cock, green parrot, bustard, guinea fowl, mallard, teal, pintail, widgeon, jay, ibis, turkey, swan, peacock and ostrich.

30.       The introduction of rainbow trout and stocked fisheries into Britain has transformed fly fishing – as has new and better data flows worldwide.  New fly patterns have emerged using new materials alongside new methods of fishing. Better access and communication has meant that a lot of the old fashioned snobbery and elitism has largely gone. Fly fishing is now practiced by a wide range of people around the world – irrespective of income – and is now one of the most widely practiced sports in the world. It is also a multi billion pound industry.