Â
The Art of Angling is as Old as the Human Race.
    The art of angling no doubt had its origin in man’s necessities. The earliest record of mankind makes reference to the taking of fish for food. There are frequent allusions to it in the Bible. Job, in the oldest book of all, says: “Canst thou draw out a leviathan with a hook or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down? Can’t thou put a hook in his nose?” Homer, in the “Illiad,” speaks of fishing in these lines: As bearing death in the fallacious bait. From the bent angle sinks the leaden weight.
    And it is recorded in the “Odyssey:”
    As when the angler, his long rod in hand, On a protecting rock assumes his stand, Casts to the fiery fry the baited snare, Then flings the wriggling captives in the air.
    The Romans, Greeks and other races of early days around the Mediterraneun practiced the art of angling. Plutarch tells of a prank played by the fair Egyptian, Cleopatra, while out fishing with Antony, “They wagered on their angling, and her divers did hang a salt fish on his hook, which he with fervor draw up.”
    The ruined walls of Herculaneum and Pompeli abound in frescoes of fishermen. All along the track of history are found traces of this gentle recreation, showing the gradual improvement from the hook of bone and rude equipment of the cave man to the elegant accessories and belongings of the modern angler.
Post a Comment