Fishing from the earliest times - Blog

ANCIENTINTRODUCTIONPART IFISHING" And first for the Antiquity of Angling, I shall not say much ; butonely this : Some say, it is as ancient as Deucalion's Floud : andothers (which I like better) say that Belus {who was the inve^iter ofgodly and vertuous Recreations) was the Inventer of it : and someothers say {for former times have had their Disquisitions about it)that Seth, one of the sons of Adam, taught it to his sons, and thatby them it was derived to Posterity. Others say, that he left itengraven on those Pillars, which hee erected to preserve the knowledge0/ Mathematicks, Musick, and the rest of those precious Arts, whichby God's appointment or allowance, and his noble industry werethereby preserved from perishing in Noah's Floud."— Isaak Walton,The Compleat Angler." You see the way the Fisherman doth takeTo catch the Fish ; what Engins doth he make ?Behold how he ingageth all his wits.Also his Snares, Lines, Angles, Hooks, and Nets.Yet fish there be, that neither Hook, nor Line,Nor Snare, nor Net, nor Engin can make thine ;They must be grop't for, and be tickled too,Or they will not be catch't, whate'er you do."John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress.for his book.)(The Author's Apology" Elle extend ses filets, elle invente de nouveaux moyens de succes,elle s' attache un plus grand nomhre d'hommes. Elle pSnetre dan lesprofondeurs des abimes, elle arrache aux angles les plus secrets, ellepoursuit jusqu'aux extremites du globe les objets de sa constanterecherche."—G. E. Lacepede, Hist. Nat. des poissons." What song the Sirens sang, or what name Achilles assumed, whenhe hid himself among women, though puzzling questions are 7iot beyondall Conjecture."— Sir Thomas Browne, Urne-Buriall.The craft of Fishing possesses an ancestry so ancient, oraccording to a Polynesian legend so literally abysmal, that forthose who have their business on the waters, deep or shallow,3