Some History

Archaeologists are fairly certain that the fish hook, as a specific invention, appeared around 30,000 years ago. These early hooks were made of bone or wood.

The use of feathers and fur to make a bait that is attractive to fish can be traced back to ancient Egypt and China. Such a fly was described by Claudius Aelianus, a Greek-speaking Roman author, in AD240. In his book De Natura Animalium, he describes the use of hooks dressed with feathers by the people along the Astraeus River in Macedonia.

North American Indians used flies tied on bone hooks and the Eskimos used flies made of polar bear hair.

In the 15th Century, Dame Juliana Berner's Treatyse of fysshinge wyth an Angle, containing twelve fly patterns, was incorporated into the Book of St Albans in 1496. The writer gave a detailed account of how trout and salmon were caught with artificial flies. She commented on the trout’s diet being seasonally dependent upon swarming insects – this gave rise to the use of what we now call dry flies (flies which are designed to float on, or in, the surface of the water). ...continue