FISHING

The ancient Chinese, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans caught fish with hook and line rods. But also the American Indians, who invented artificial wooden fish. By contrast, artificial flies are first documented in 2nd century Thrace. Metal glitter also has a long tradition, with the earliest evidence dating back to the 11th century. The first book on sport fishing, The Treatise on Fysshynge with an Angle, was written in England in 1496 by a nun named Juliana Berners. However, Isaac Walton's The Complete Angler, written in 1653, achieved greater fame. Fish at this time were caught only with a whip, i.e. with a rod without a reel. However, in Elizabethan England, various forms of floats and even telescopic fishing rods were known. The reel was also invented in England at the end of the 17th century and was modelled on the tiller. The invention of the reel heralded the great development of sport fishing in the 19th century.