Let's Go Fishing - A Beginner's Guide to Angling and Fly Fishing, with Tips on Equipment, When and Where to Fish, How to Make Your Own Flies, How to Cast and Much More

FISHING AS A SPORT.

"Come, then, harmless Recreation,

Holding out the Angler’s Reed;

Nurse of pleasing Contemplation,

By the stream thy wand’rings lead."

The Anglers.

"An honest sport that is without debate."—JOHN DENNYS.

Angling in England and other countries—Angling compared with hunting and shooting—Enthusiasm of anglers—Rationale of angling—Effect of field-sports on character—Character of anglers in Izaak Walton’s time and afterwards—Modern anglers—London anglers—Metropolitan angling clubs—Angling contests—Anglers lovers of nature—Devout anglers—The virtues of anglers—Angling best recreation for brain-workers—Lady anglers.

IT may be taken for granted that centuries before Anthony and Cleopatra amused themselves with angling, fishing was regarded by many persons as a sport, and not only as a means of capturing certain of the feræ naturæ with an eye to the pot. But in no country under the sun has fishing, as a sport, ever attained the popularity it enjoys at the present time in the British Isles. We are pre-eminently an angling nation, more so now than ever we were, for I estimate that, in proportion to the increase of population, the number of anglers has increased by five hundred to a thousand per cent. during the last quarter of a century. There are anglers and angling clubs in Paris and its neighbourhood, and elsewhere in France. There are some hundreds of enthusiastic fishermen for small fry in Belgium, Germany, Holland, Switzerland, Italy, and even Spain; while in the United States the formation of angling societies, and the increasing interest taken in piscatorial matters, show that angling will, ere long, become one of the most popular pastimes on the other side of the herring-pond. But we are still far ahead of all others in our love of angling as a sport, and are still the only veritable pêcheurs à la ligne. Inheriting a taste for the angle from our Anglo-Saxon forefathers, we have cultivated it till angling has become one of the most popular of our pastimes and recreations; and the peoples of other countries in this, as in many other matters of sport, are gradually following our example, and paying us the compliment of adopting the English methods of angling with float, spinning bait, and fly. An Englishman whipping a continental stream is now no longer in danger of being hauled before the local authorities on the charge of having dealings with the devil, as was once a fellow-countrymen (if tradition speaks truly) at Heidelberg, because an alarmed populace were eye-witnesses to the fact that he caught fish in the Neckar without baiting his hook, the crass Fatherlanders being innocent of the use of the artificial fly. In having thus become a nation of anglers, we give evidence of our civilization, for angling for mere sport’s sake is a mark of civilization, which several other pastimes can hardly be said to be; for instance, as Lacépède says, Il y a cette difference entre la chasse et la pêche, que cette dernière convient aux peuples les plus civilisés.

So numerous a body have anglers become in this country of late years, that they no longer fear the jeers and scoffs which used to be levelled at their amusement; and the cynical are almost afraid to pretend to pity them. But even now there are some found who question whether there is any real sport in fishing as compared, for instance, with hunting and shooting. The simplest answer to such persons is the fact that thousands do find sport, and that too of the most exciting and pleasurable kind, in its pursuit. Because one person or another can see nothing in it, and the pastime is capable of being described in a ludicrous manner, it does not follow that it is a poor sport. Some persons can see nothing in shooting, others in hunting; and certainly if any sport or pastime is capable of being turned into ridicule it is modern hunting, in which some twenty to thirty couple of savage hounds, accompanied by hundreds of horsemen, go forth to effect the capture of a poor little animal like the fox, or still more feeble and timid hare, when either might be easily shot, trapped, or snared? But the truth is that, to a great extent, it is unreasonable to compare one sport with another, for instance, hunting or shooting with fishing, with a view to special exaltation or depreciation. The whole thing is a question de gustibus; and furthermore, there is no reason why a man may not derive intense pleasure in the pursuit of all the three field sports most popular in this country. Indeed I know many men who are equally enthusiastic as to all these pastimes, and follow each with equal zeal and enjoyment, as time and opportunity give facilities for one or the other. Each has its features, and each supplies its votary for the time being with the amusement and enjoyment he is in search of. The bold, impetuous rider is by no means disqualified from beating his turnips and stubbles as a plodding, careful shot; or a sportsman who is either the former or the latter, or both, from being a patient, contemplative angler.

Still, if I were asked, Which of the three sports creates the most enthusiasm? I should say at once angling; and, Which yields the keenest sensation of pleasure? I should undoubtedly give the same answer. The hooking, playing, and eventual landing of a big fish is facile princeps the most intense sporting excitement we are capable of. Our first partridge, our first brush (or even the first kiss at love’s beginning, as Campbell has it), are as nothing compared to our first salmon or our first big trout, while for ever afterwards a big bag, or the run of the season, are not painted in the memory with such unfading colours as a memorable take of fish. The fact that a disappointment in losing a good fish is one of the greatest of sporting trials, makes success all the more pleasurable. In Foster’s recent life of Swift we find that the Dean, in a letter to Pope, wrote thus: I remember, when I was a little boy, I felt a great fish at the end of my line, which I drew up almost on the ground, but it dropped in, and the disappointment vexes me to this very day. So intense are the emotions which fishing excites.

And as the angler is the most enthusiastic of sportsmen, so do none persevere with it so long. The well-known picture of the old gouty fisherman in his night-cap and dressing-gown, and one foot on a rest, indulging in his favourite sport in a tub which had been brought up to his bedroom, is but a little exaggeration of his animus. There is a good story told of an old courser on his deathbed beckoning his eldest son to him, and whispering low in his ear, "Jack, always look for a hare on an oat arish directly after harvest. Here was the ruling passion strong in death; and for some time I looked on an old courser as more wedded to his sport than any other man; but I am now sure he cannot be compared with the old angler. The shooting-man and hunting-man come at last to contemplate their last" season, and deliberately withdraw from their sport; but hardly ever so the angler; and herein consists a special advantage in angling, for in some form or other it may be pursued as an amusement to the very end of life. If Cicero were writing now De Senectute, he would certainly mention angling as among the pleasures and privileges of old age.

I have already quoted in my second Note a passage from Dame Juliana Berners, in which the worthy prioress upholds fishing as the best of sports. I cannot resist quoting one from old Burton, who, in his Anatomy of Melancholy, I have a shrewd idea, is a much greater plagiarist than is generally supposed. He says (evidently with the passage from the Book of St. Alban’s in his mind, and perhaps eye),—

"‘Fishing is a kinde of hunting by water, be it with nets, weeles, baits, angling, or otherwise, and yields all out as much pleasure to some men, as dogs, or hawks, when they draw their fish upon the bank,’ saith Nic. Henselius, Silesiographiæ, cap. 3, speaking of that extraordinary delight his countrymen took in fishing and making of pooles. James Dubravius, that Moravian, in his book De Pisc., telleth, how travelling by the highway-side in Silesia, he found a nobleman booted up to the groins, wading himself, pulling the nets, and labouring as much as any fisherman of them all: and when some belike objected to him the baseness of his office, he excused himself, that if other men might hunt hares, why should not he hunt carpes P Many gentlemen in like sort, with us, will wade up to the armholes, upon such occasions, and voluntarily undertake that to satisfie their pleasure, which a poor man for a good stipend would scarce be hired to undergo. Plutarch, in his book De Soler. Animal., speaks against all fishing, as a filthy, base, illiberall imployment, having neither wit nor perspicacity in it, nor worth the labour. But he that shall consider the variety of baits, for all seasons, and pretty devices which our anglers have invented, peculiar lines, false flies, severall sleights, &c., will say, that it deserves like commendation, requires as much study and perspicacity as the rest, and is to be preferred before many of them; because hawking and hunting are very laborious, much riding, and many dangers accompany them; but this is still and quiet; and if so be the angler catch no fish, yet he hath a wholesome walk to the brook side, pleasant shade, by the sweet silver streams; he hath good air, and sweet smels of fine fresh meadow flowers; he hears the melodious harmony of birds; he sees the swans, herns, ducks, water hens, cootes, &c., and many other fowle with their brood, which he thinketh better than the noise of hounds, or blast of horns, and all the sport that they can make."

Man has an innate desire to capture alive or dead the feræ naturæ. The chief source, however, of the pleasure of success in sport among civilized men is the consciousness that human skill and perseverance has proved superior to the instinct and various powers of the animal. Even the untutored savage has some idea of hunting as a sport, apart from its being a means of subsistence, and his pleasurable anticipation of the happy hunting-grounds consists, I take it, in the assurance that he will not only always have wherewithal to satisfy his hunger, but that his time will be always delightfully employed. A child catches flies, not, I think, from any innate cruelty, but from an instinct of sport. The fact that success in angling is mainly the result of skill, should give it high rank among our field pastimes.

A great deal of nonsense has been written as to the brutalizing effects of field-sports. Doubtless some years ago many sportsmen were brutal, as indeed some are now; but these were the product of a brutal age, and were not made brutal by their sports. However much we may smile at the expression sweetness and light, there is certainly a great deal more of these commodities now than there was fifty or even twenty-five years ago. Squire Western is now an anachronism. Many of the most refined scholars, earnest philanthropists, and cultured gentlemen among us are sportsmen in some line or other, not a few in that of angling.

It may be true, as Sydney Smith said, that an English country gentleman was assailed directly after breakfast with a desire to go out and kill something; and it may be admitted he is still so assailed; but the spirit in which he kills is a sufficient defence, if any were needed, of the desire.

We know the kind of man Walton was, and we learn from him the kind of men his contemporaries were, who belonged to the gentle army of anglers. There was William Perkins, "a learned divine, and a pious and painful preacher, of whom Walton says that he bestowed commendation on angling. I notice, by the way, that of Perkins, Sir John Hawkins, in a note to his edition of Walton (1760), remarks that he had lost the use of his right hand, and that therefore Walton used extreme caution in speaking of him as he could hardly be supposed capable of baiting his hook. It is possible that this was the case; but I may mention that John Keene, one of the Staines professional fishermen, has long been without one of his arms, and yet, of my personal experience, can shove a punt, fix his ripecks, put a worm or other bait on a hook in the most artistic manner, fish in every style, and make tackle with his solitary hand. Then again there was Dr. Whitaker, the Regius Professor of Divinity at Cambridge, a dear lover and great practiser, as Walton says, of angling. Another historical angler of Walton’s time was Dr. Alexander Nowel, spoken of by Walton as a man noted for his meek spirit, deep learning, prudence, and piety, and as a dear lover and constant practiser of angling as any age can produce." What further Walton says of him is worth quoting in his own words:—

His custom was to spend besides his fixed hours of prayer, those hours which, by command of the Church, were enjoined the clergy, and voluntarily dedicated to devotion by many primitive Christians, I say, besides those hours, this good man was observed to spend a tenth part of his time in Angling; and, also, for I have conversed with those which have conversed with him, to bestow a tenth part of his revenue, and usually all his fish, amongst the poor that inhabited near to those rivers in which it was caught, saying often, ‘that charity gave life to religion:’ and at his return to his house, would praise God he had spent that day free from worldly trouble; both harmlessly and in recreation that became a Churchman. And this good man was well content, if not desirous, that posterity should know he was an Angler; as may appear by his picture, now to be seen and carefully kept, in Brazen-nose College, to which he was a liberal benefactor. In which picture he is drawn leaning on a desk, with his Bible before him; and on one hand of him, his lines, hooks, and other tackling, lying in a round; and on his other hand are his Angle-rods of several sorts; and by them this is written, ‘that he died 13 Feb., 1601, being aged ninety-five years, forty-four of which he had been Dean of St. Paul’s Church; and that his age neither impaired his hearing, nor dimmed his eyes, nor weakened his memory, nor made any of the faculties of his mind weak or useless.’ It is said that Angling and temperance were great causes of these blessings; and I wish the like to all that imitate him, and love the memory of so good a man.

By the way, the remark of Walton that Dean Nowel made that good, plain, unperplexed Catechism which is printed with our good old service-book, is not correct. Nowel drew up two admirable catechisms, the greater and the less, which were allowed and received by the Church in the reign of Elizabeth, and of one of which Whitgift says, I know no man so well learned, but it may become him to read and study that learned and necessary book. But the Catechism as it now stands in the Prayer Book was not the work of the cld and reverend angler.

Sir Henry Wotton, Provost of Eton College, was another of Walton’s contemporaries, and an intimate friend; an ardent fisherman, who discoursed well in prose and verse on the art. Thus again Walton of this worthy,—

This man, whose very approbation of Angling were sufficient to convince any modest censurer of it, this man was also, a most dear lover, and a frequent practiser of the art of Angling; of which he would say, ‘it was an employment for his idle time, which was then not idly spent;’ for Angling was, after tedious study, ‘a rest to his mind, a cheerer of his spirits, a diverter of sadness, a calmer of unquiet thoughts, a moderator of passions, a procurer of contentedness; and that it begat habits of peace and patience in those that professed and practised it.’ Indeed, my friend, you will find Angling to be like the virtue of humility, which has a calmness of spirit, and a world of other blessings attending upon it.

Long after he was seventy years of age did Wotton sit quietly on a summer’s evening, on a bank a-fishing, and sang the praises of the angle.

Then again there was Dr. Sheldon, Warden of All Souls’ College, Oxford, the founder of the Sheldonian Theatre, and Archbishop of Canterbury, whom Walton speaks of as a noted fisher for umber and barbel. His skill, he says, is above others, and of that the poor that dwell about him have a comfortable experience.

Dr. Leigh, who was Master of Balliol College, Oxford, Sir John Hawkins informs us, made angling the recreation of his vacant hours, though turned of ninety. He died in 1790.

I might have gone back farther, and mentioned other anglers of more ancient days, like Anthony and Cleopatra. The Emperor Augustus was an angler, and so was Caracalla, whose exploits in the Virginia Water of the Cæsars Oppian has happily chronicled.

We gather, too, from some scurrilous verses by the witty and venomous Lord Rochester, beginning

"Methinks I see our mighty Monarch stand,

His pliant angle trembling in his hand,"

that our Charles the Second was one of the fraternity.

More lately among those of notable anglers we have the names of Sir Humphry Davy, Archdeacon Paley, Sir F. Chantrey, Brinsley Sheridan, Sir Anthony Carlisle, Professor Wilson, and Sir John Soane, all men of eminence.

Modern anglers are of course a very