The First Steps
It was over 150 years between the first printing of The
Treastise of Fishing with an Angle and the next
significant literary work, The Compleat Angler
by Izaak Walton. In the pastoral landscape that was England
in the 17th century Izaak Walton strode impressively onto the
scene and left an imprint on angling and angling literature
that persists to this day. Perhaps no other book on angling is
as well known as his Compleat Angler, however I
would wager that of the many people who recognize the title
have never attempted to read the book.
By Neil M. Travis, Montana
Between Berners and Walton's time there were no major advances
in fly-fishing. Many of the techniques set forth by Walton are
mere restatements of the same techniques found in The Treatise.
Walton also leans heavily on the writings of other authors that
wrote during the 150 years between Berners and himself. There
were five fishing books published between the Treatise of Fishing
with an Angle and Walton's Compleat Angler.
In 1577 The Arte of Angling was published by an
unknown author, A Booke of Fishing with Hooke and Line,
by Leonard Mascall was published in 1590. In 1613 John Dennys
wrote The Secrets of Angling, which is remarkably
similar in style to Walton's work. The fifth work, The Arte
of Angling, by Thomas Barker was published in 1651, just
two years before The Compleat Angler. While much of
what appears in Walton's work appears to be heavily borrowed from
the works of several of these authors such plagiarism was common
practice during this period.
It is interesting to note that Walton wrote nothing particularly
original about fly-fishing or fishing in general; his book is the
best-known book on sport in the entire English literature. The
book centers on a conversation between Venator, a hunter, and
Piscator, an angler. These conversations take place over five
days, and include conversations between other individuals that
they encounter along the way. These conversations are
interrupted at various points by poems, anecdotes and songs.
These were troubled times in England. Charles I had been executed,
and England was torn by warfare between the Royalists and Cromwell.
In the midst of this upheaval Walton wrote his pastoral idyllic.
Espousing reverence for nature and high moral standards Walton
painted a picture of the perfect angler, a mixture of contemplative
scholar and a jovial adventurer.
It was a man by the name of Charles Cotton who truly made Walton's
later editions of The Compleat Angler of special
interest to fly-fishers. In the sixth edition of Walton's book
published in 1676 a second book, written by Charles Cotton,
entitled Being Instructions How to Angle for a Trout or Grayling
in a Clear Stream was added. This appendix contained an original
set of fly patterns that enshrined Cotton as the father of modern
Although his knowledge of entomology was plagued by all the
misunderstandings that were prevalent at the time he did
recognize that fly hatches came from larval forms that he
observed on the rocks and weeds in the river. He believed
in matching the hatch, and outlined a list of sixty-five
original patterns for the entire season on the Dove. If you
were to read Cotton's description about fly tying you would
find it surprisingly modern.
There were other authors during this period, but mostly they
were minor volumes when compared with Cotton's work. Notable
among these authors is Francois Fortin who published Les Ruses
Innocentes in 1660. Fortin was a friar, and he wrote the
first description of eyed hooks two centuries before Halford and
Hall perfected the necessary metallurgy and manufacturing techniques
to make them practical. His woodcuts contained a depiction of a
crude spindle-stick reel and a triangular landing net, which
apparently he invented centuries before the modern version that
is popular in England and France.
Robert Venables is another notable in 1662 he published his
Experienced Angler Venables was the first to
write about the fact that trout take time to adjust to a new
hatch, that they respond best after the flies have been hatching
for a while, and that trout can become selective when feeding
on a specific hatch. He wrote about upstream presentation, and
understood that a man fishing upstream could get much closed to
a fish and that a fish downstream from an angler could detect
his presence from a considerable distance. He experimented with
gut leaders that he took from musical instruments.
The last important contribution to seventeenth century angling
literature is The Angler's Vade Mecum written by
James Chetham and published in 1681. Although he was a great
plagiarist, copying much of his material from earlier writers
like Cotton, he did produce a practical manual on fly-fishing.
His patterns were keyed to seasonal hatch cycles, he listed
practical advice on materials for fly tying, and his original
patterns include the March Brown, Grannom, and the classic Blue
Dun. He believed in witchcraft, and his book contains such odd
things as ointments made from cadavers and human skulls.
Robert Howlett published his work The Angler's Sure Guide
in 1706, and marked the earliest eighteenth century work of note
on fly-fishing. Howlett's work is filled with tactical observations
that still are true today.
Richard Bowlker and his son Charles wrote what is perhaps the
most outstanding book of the eighteenth century. The Art
of Angling was first published around 1747, and went
through sixteen editions. Original credited to Richard Bowlker,
by the third edition the sole credit for the work was given to
Charles. Charles is credited as being the finest fly-fisherman
of his century. He wiped away the mythology of earlier fly-tying
practices, and made impressive contributions to the anglers
understanding of trout stream entomology. His versions of patterns
like the Blue Dun, Cowdung, Willow Fly, Grannom, Yellow Sally,
Green and Gray Drake, and the Black Gnat are very similar to
patterns still in use today. The fact that these flies have
survived over two centuries virtually unchanged is a remarkable
testament to the talent of Charles Bowlker.
Bowlker tied slender, sparsely tied patterns with hackle used
to suggest legs. Bowlker matched the size of his patterns based
on hook size, and his theories embraced the observation of natural
fly hatches in terms of color, form, shape, and size. His influence
can still be seen in flies tied by James Leisenring and the famous
Catskill School of fly tying started by Theodore Gordon. ~ Neil M. Travis, Montana/Arizona
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