Fly Fishing: History

music
ambience: Stream

Fly fishing started 500 years ago as a pastime for a wealthy aristocracy. Today it’s evolved into a sport enjoyed by all levels of society. I’m Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by DuPont.

“The attraction of fly fishing is that you are imitating with a weightless lure an aquatic insect that is the food of a broad class of fish, which includes trout and salmon, and that you are fooling the fish into thinking that it is a natural insect.”

Austin Mac Francis is the author of Land of Little Rivers — the Story of Catskill Fly Fishing. The Catskills is the region where the sport took hold in America. What continues to attract people to fly fishing is the unique set of challenges it presents.

“You have to master a number of skills. Putting a worm on a hook and lowering it into the water is at the lower end of the sporting challenge in fishing. And mastering the skill of casting, tying your own fly, which many fly fishers do, deciding which fly to put on, which is, in and of itself, a big challenge, and then presenting the fly in a way that it floats naturally in the food lane of the trout, are all, to come together and work right, you have to practice and master this wonderful sport.”

“We strip line off the reel and develop enough line here and then lay it out, and there’s the fly and now it’s floating back down to the fish. Fish comes up, turns away, wrong fly.”

Pulse of the Planet is presented by DuPont, bringing you the miracles of science, with additional support provided by the National Science Foundation. I’m Jim Metzner.

Fly Fishing: History

Fly fishing is now popular at all levels of society, but the sport started 500 years ago as a pastime for wealthy aristocrats.

Air Date:05/26/2022

Scientist:

Transcript:

Fly Fishing: History music ambience: Stream Fly fishing started 500 years ago as a pastime for a wealthy aristocracy. Today it's evolved into a sport enjoyed by all levels of society. I'm Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by DuPont. "The attraction of fly fishing is that you are imitating with a weightless lure an aquatic insect that is the food of a broad class of fish, which includes trout and salmon, and that you are fooling the fish into thinking that it is a natural insect." Austin Mac Francis is the author of Land of Little Rivers -- the Story of Catskill Fly Fishing. The Catskills is the region where the sport took hold in America. What continues to attract people to fly fishing is the unique set of challenges it presents. "You have to master a number of skills. Putting a worm on a hook and lowering it into the water is at the lower end of the sporting challenge in fishing. And mastering the skill of casting, tying your own fly, which many fly fishers do, deciding which fly to put on, which is, in and of itself, a big challenge, and then presenting the fly in a way that it floats naturally in the food lane of the trout, are all, to come together and work right, you have to practice and master this wonderful sport." "We strip line off the reel and develop enough line here and then lay it out, and there's the fly and now it's floating back down to the fish. Fish comes up, turns away, wrong fly." Pulse of the Planet is presented by DuPont, bringing you the miracles of science, with additional support provided by the National Science Foundation. I'm Jim Metzner.