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Mike
USA
265 Posts |
 Posted - 02/28/2011 : 21:44:45
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Reading through a old book on fly fishing called, Fishing in American Waters by Genio C. Scott, published in 1869. This picture leading off Section Two - Angling For Children, caught my eye. But the opening paragraph is priceless.
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"I sometime involuntarily ejaculate when I see people economize the necessaries of life in order to be able to support a carriage and dress the family fancifully, to take them on a drive in the country over dusty roads as an airing and exercise for the promotion of health."
He then leads into angling for youth as a better means of exercise and health by saying:
"The sport, which is not laborious soon renders the young student so ardent in its pursuit that he will get sufficient exercise, while his mind will be rendered logical by the realization of cause and effect, and his whole being will soon become attuned to the harmonies of nature. The pleasurable exercise and anxieties in the practice of angling rest and recuperate the mind, so that children are therby enabled to commit their school lesions to memory with greater ease, and to understand them more fully."
Got to love the way they used to write
Life is good! I started out with nothing and I still have half of it left! |
Edited by - Mike on 02/28/2011 21:47:24 |
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Flyfisher
USA
169 Posts |
Posted - 03/09/2011 : 10:03:41
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Speaking of books, I bought "The Colonial Angler's Manual of Flyfishing & Flytying", by Ken Reinard, @ recent Valley Forge FF Show after watching him demonstrate colonial fly tying.
First of all, the gentleman fly fisher back then made his own barbless hooks from wire or needles. The non-pointed end would be swaged flat on an anvil so as to tie the braided horsehair flyline to it since there was no hole in the hook. White horsehairs from the tail were preferred. The tyer would make the fly by holding the hook in his left hand & tie the fly w/his right hand (no vice!). A long cane rod was used to hold the braided horsehair flyline on the tip (no reel).
A colonial fly known as the Soldier Palmer is used today & is called the Wooly Bugger. 
According to the British, a man was not considered a fly fisherman until he landed a 20" trout w/a 3 braided horsehair flyline (tippet)!! 
Gentlemen were expected to use the proper method of angling such as:
0 It was unsporting to fish for trout upstream (because one wasn't facing them).
0 A winde (reel) was discouraged since it gave the fisherman an advantage.
0 Barbed hooks were unsportsmanlike because it hurt the fish.
0 It was improper/illegal to fish @ night; the penalty, if caught, was to be put in leg irons & handcuffs & jailed.
0 A skilled fly fisherman had a Gillie (helper) to net his fish.
A little known fact from Appendix A: "During a recess of the Constitutional Congress in 1778, George Washington returned to Valley Forge & fished for trout in Valley Creek". How 'bout 'dat!! 
Mike, if you liked the old language in the book that you read, you'll love the expressions in this book. There is one quote from Izaak Walton's "The Compleat Angler", first printed in 1653, as follows:
"And before you begin to angle, cast to have the wind on your back, and the sun, if it shines, to be before you and to fish down the stream; and carry the point or top of your rod downward, by which means the shadow of yourself, and rod too will be the least offensive to the fish; for the sight of any shade amazes the fish, and spoils your sport, of which you must take great care".
I really liked this book & insight into colonial fly fishing.
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BirkyDucks
USA
246 Posts |
Posted - 03/11/2011 : 14:44:04
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| mY FAVORITE OLD TIME BOOK IS ENTITELD A BOOK OF TROUT FLYS BY DR.PRESTON JENNINGS THIS WAS THE HATCH BOOK UP UNTIL ART FLICK WROTE HIS STREAMSIDE GUIDE . I OFTEN LOOK AT THIS BOOK AS PRESTON DESCRIBES THE DIFFRENT HATCHES OF THE PA AND NJ STREAMS APPARENTLY THE WATERS BACK THEN WERE QUITE FERTILE AND MANY SUPPORTED THE GREENDRAKE HATCH FOR INSTANCE HE WRITES ABOUT HOW IMPORTANT THAT HATCH WAS ON THE BROADHEAD . IT HAS SINCE VANISHED FROM THERE AS WELL AS MANY OTHER STREAMS IN HIS BOOK BUT AT THE TIME OF HIS WRITING ITWAS QUITE PROLIFIC ON THE BROADHEAD . I WOULD LIKE TO FIND AN EXPERT ON PRESTON JENNINGS AND HIS WORK AND GET HIM TO THE CLUB . |
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Fishing in America Waters
