TACKLING HISTORY
Catching fish has been an important survival skill for millennia. Using handmade hooks and lines – crude by today’s standards – early sailors roaming far from home and supplies relied upon the sea to provide its bounty. Captain Cook’s crew lined the gunnels and fished from the Endeavour whenever at anchor, their catch an important source of fresh protein. However, fishing recreationally – seeking fish as a way of relaxing, enjoying nature, and testing one’s skills – remained limited until the 19th century as most of the population worked from dawn to dusk, with little time for recreation of any kind.
Shortly after the invention of the printing press, Dame Juliana Berners published Treatyse of Fysshynge wyth an Angle in 1496, a guide to bait-fishing that also included detailed instructions for using and making fly fishing tackle. Recreational fishing then took an inspired leap forward in 1653 when Englishman Izaak Walton first published his groundbreaking book The Compleat Angler, subtitled The Contemplative Man’s. This is the most famous sporting book ever published and, although relatively unknown today, in the centuries since its release it is one of the most reprinted titles ever written in English.
