Fishing from the earliest times - Blog

CHAPTER VARISTOTLE—THE FIRST " SCALE-READER '' ; THE FIRSTTO DISCOVER THAT IN THE MUREX ITS YEARLYGROWTH IS INDICATED BY THE SHELL—SENSES OFFISH : EXPERIMENTS AS TO HEARING" Aristotle hath his Oare in every Water"If the passage quoted in my Introduction leftany doubt thatPlato was no admirer of fishing or fishermen, the following,from The Laws, VII. 823 (Jowett's translation), is conclusiveproof.And, now, let us address young men in the form of aprayer for their welfare : O Friends, may no desire of huntingin the sea, or of catching the creatures in the waters, ever takepossession of you, either when you are awake, or when youare asleep, by hooks, with weels, which latter is a very lazycontrivance, and let no desire of catching men, or piracy bysea, enter into your souls."Then Plato adds " : Only the best of hunting is allowed atall, which is carried on by men with horses, dogs, and men'sown persons," and is really hard exercise. " Fishing is not anoccupation worthy of a man well born or well brought up,because it demands more of address and ruse than force, andis not for young people, like hunting, the occasion of healthyexercise." ^1 Byron's view of fishing is not favourable—as his hnes in Don Juan, CantoXIII. prove" AngUng, too, that soUtary vice.Whatever Isaak Walton says or sings."He bore, possibly from failure to catch his boyish Aberdeenshire trout, a grudgeagainst Father Izaak," The quaint, old, cruel coxcomb in his gulletShould have a hook, and a small trout to pull it."106