Fishing

The history of fishing is very very old and begins when people of ancient times start fishing for feeding. At that time they used pieces of bones as hooks and wire vine as lines.
The first representation of a man with a fishing rod dates from about 2000 BC, in Egypt.
In the Ancient Greece, the philosophers Plato and Aristotle referred about angling in their writings, and the same made the historian Plutarch, giving tips about fishing lines.
Through the centuries the methods and tackles used for fishing evolved very slowly.

The first english book about fishing dates 1496 and its title was "A Treatyse of Fysshynge wyth an Angle". In this book, the author, Dame Julian Berners, describes the construction of hooks and rods for angling and how to tie knots in fishing lines. A consistent part is dedicated to how to make and use artificial lures and flies.
Almost 150 years after, in 1653, english angler Izaal Walton published "The Compleat Angler", considered the most important sportfishing book ever. Walton sets the basis and the philosophy of recreational anglers: catching fish by sport is far superior to other methods of fishing.
In the 20th century women took up the sport in increasing numbers and now they represent an important part of this sport.

Nowadays the art (and the sport) of fishing can be divided in 3 parts, depending on the environment where the activity is practiced: saltwater, freshwater and icewater fishing. Accordingly anglers use different techniques, tackles, rods, reels, lines, hooks, lures, baits and flies.
There is also the sport fishing technique par excellence, known as “fly fishing”, elaborated in Great Britain and now diffused all over the world. Fly fishing is a method born for catching trout and salmon, but employed today for a wide variety of species including pike, bass, grayling and carp. This technique is named “fly” cause the anglers use an artificial fly to fishing.

With the expression “fly fishing” we refer to ancient and different from other fishing techniques. Originally conceived to catch trouts and salmons, nowadays fly fishing is employed to catch pike, panfish, grayling, carp, bass in freshwater, but also sea species as snook, tarpon, triped bass, bonefish, redfish and many others.
In fly fishing anglers use artificial flies (often self made) to catch fishes. The fly line, often coated with plastic, is heavy to allow anglers to send the fly on the target. In fact an important role in this technique is delegated to line, so that we can say fly fishing a method of casting line rather than lure.
The anglers normally hold the rod in the main hand and with the other try to move the line, rolled up to the reel, forward and backward in order to create waves on the water.
Here you can find a list of “must have” to be a good fly fisherman.

The Rod

Fly fishing rod usually is thin, flexible and designed to cast an artificial fly (a hook tied with fur, feathers, foam, or other material, also synthetic).
Originally made of yew, green hart, and split bamboo, most modern fly rods are composed by fiberglass, carbon/graphite, or graphite/boron composites. Split bamboo rods are generally considered the most fragile, even if the most beautiful and classic and they require a great deal of care to last long.
A fly rod uses the weight of the fly line for casting, and lightweight rods are capable of casting the very smallest and lightest fly. Usually a monofilament segment called "leader" is tied to the fly line on one end and the fly on the other.
Each rod is sized to the fish, the wind and water conditions and also to a particular weight of line: larger and heavier line sizes will cast heavier, larger flies. Fly rods can mount a broad variety of line sizes.
Fly rods have a single, large-diameter line guide (aka stripping guide), with a number of smaller looped guides (aka snake guides) spaced along the rod to help control the movement of the relatively thick fly line. Many fly fishermen love building their custom rod.

The Reel

Centerpin reel is primarily used for fly fishing. It is quite simple in terms of mechanical construction, and little has changed from the design patented by Charles F. Orvis in 1874, even if recently, in order to fighting larger fish, improvements have been made.
Normally the anglers operates on reel by stripping line off it with one hand, casting the rod with the other hand.
Fly reel often had no drag at all, but only a click/pawl mechanism for keeping the reel from overrunning when line was pulled from the spool. So, in order to slow a fish, the angler simply applies hand pressure to the rim of the revolving spool (aka "palming the rim"). Nowadays this click/pawl mechanism has been modified to provide a limited adjustable drag.
Cause this reel is intended for smaller fish, it don’t possess a wide adjustment range or the power to slow larger fish.
Automatic fly reels use a coiled spring mechanism that pulls the line into the reel only with the flick of a lever. They tend to be heavy for their size, and have limited line capacity.
Saltwater fly reel is designed exclusively for use in the Ocean and has a diameter much larger than most freshwater fly reels, allowing a large line and backing capacity designed for the long runs of Ocean game fish. To prevent corrosion, saltwater fly reels often use aerospace aluminum frames and spools, electroplated and/or stainless steel components, with sealed and waterproof bearing and drive mechanisms.

Poppers and Flies

They are small lures indicated for panfish and, in general, for fish that feed on the surface (e.g. trout and bass). Artificial flies can vary a lot in morphological characteristics as size, colour, weight and pattern. They can be created by tying hair, fur, feathers, or other materials, natural or synthetic, onto a hook with thread. Nowadays the synthetic ones are the most used.
Normally the flies are categorized as imitative or attractive.
The first ones simulate natural food items. With the second ones anglers try to trigger instinctive strikes, by using a range of characteristics that do not necessarily mimic prey items.
In particular flies can float on the surface (dry flies), partially submerge or go under the surface (nymphs, streamers and wet flies).
A dry fly normally seems like an insect landing on, falling on or emerging from the water's surface (grasshopper, ant, beetle, dragonfly, mayfly, stonefly).
Other surface flies include poppers and bugs (mice, frogs).
Under surface flies are designed to resemble a wide variety of preym such as insectlarvae, nymphs, pupae, worms, baitfish, crayfish, etc...
Wet flies, known as streamers, are generally thought to imitate minnows, leeches or scuds.

The Tackle

Fly fishing tackle comprises the equipment necessary to fly anglers and includes:

• A wide types of fly rods that can differ in weights, lengths and material used;
• A wide types of fly reels are used to store fly line with a braking mechanism (aka drag) for fighting fishes;
• A wide types of fly lines, ranging from general use to specialized ones;
• Many terminal tackle, used to connect the fly to the fly line;
• A variety of accessories--tools, gadgets, clothing and apparel used by the fly angler. We can find equipments for maintenance and preparation of tackle, dealing the fish being caught. Naturally even the angler’s personal comfort and his safety while fishing are important, so that we can find sunglasses, glasses, small seats, fishing jacket with a lot of useful pockets. Finally tackle includes boxes used to store and carry artificial flies.