The Unreasonable Virtue of Fly Fishing by Mark Kurlansky

Author:Mark Kurlansky
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Fly-tying, a fairly stable craft for centuries, began to undergo changes in the 1800s. Far more books were being published then than in previous centuries, and that included books on fly fishing. New ideas, and with them new flies, were being presented.

William C. Stewart’s 1857 The Practical Angler: or, The Art of Trout-fishing, more particularly applied to clear water, had a tremendous influence on fishing and fly-tying. In his book, Stewart promoted (but did not invent) the concept of casting upstream. With this type of cast, the fly is caught in a strong downstream drift, and so appears to have a great deal of natural movement. Flies with tails and longer wings and hackles began to be developed to accommodate upstream casting.

It is not certain how much influence Stewart had on Thaddeus Norris, often called “the father of American fly fishing,” but Norris also championed upstream casting. He promoted the idea that American rivers and fish were different from English rivers and fish. His 1864 The American Angler’s Book defined American fly fishing and presented new ideas on casting and tackle, including fly-tying. Before Norris, Americans fished with British flies. Now, they started tying and fishing with distinctly American flies. These new American flies were more imaginative than the British flies and often did not strictly imitate real insects.

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