where does fishing come from?

Question

We're doing a carnival and we need history and facts!

Answer 1

History of Fishing
The history of fishing goes back nearly as far as the fish. Fishing history dates back to when people of ancient times began fishing for food, when pieces of bone were used as hooks and lengths of vine as line. The oldest known painting of an angler using a rod or staff comes from Egypt and history dates it from about 2000 BC. Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle mentioned angling in their writings, and another Greek writer, Plutarch, gave tips about fishing lines. In the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, Roman rhetorician Claudius Aelian wrote about Macedonian trout anglers using artificial flies as lures.

The methods and tackle used for fishing evolved slowly through the centuries, and not until the late 15th century did sportfishing as it is now known really begin. In 1496 the book A Treatyse of Fysshynge wyth an Angle gave specific details for the first time in English about the use of the fishing rod. Written by Dame Juliana Berners, the prioress of an abbey near Saint Albans, England, the book describes the construction of hooks and rods for angling. The manuscript also describes how to tie knots in fishing lines and how to make and use artificial lures and flies to take advantage of the feeding habits of game fish. Dame Juliana's precepts were the basis of angling knowledge in England for about 150 years.

In 1653, English angler Izaak Walton published The Compleat Angler, or the Contemplative Man's Recreation, the single most influential book ever published about sportfishing. In The Compleat Angler Walton addresses the art of constructing tackle, the science of basic aquatic biology, and the philosophy of recreational anglers. Based on a lifetime of observations, Walton's book describes the craftsmanship involved in making fishing tackle and ponders the methods anglers must use to catch game fish. Walton also gives detailed accounts of feeding habits and life cycles of different species. He believed that the true angler is one who fishes for the love of fishing and that catching fish by sporting means is far superior to other methods of fishing.

Since Walton's time, anglers have continually improved their fishing gear, tactics, and knowledge of fish behavior. At the same time, many of the sport's proponents have realized the necessity of protecting fish habitats so that the sport may continue. Notable anglers and writers who have helped to popularize the sport include two Americans: Lee Wulff, whose books contain anecdotes and intricate details about fly fishing, and A. J. McClane, the author of numerous fishing guidebooks.

Through the years, men have dominated sportfishing, but in the late 20th century women took up the sport in increasing numbers. Books by American fly-fishing instructors such as Joan Wulff have resulted in fly-fishing schools, organizations, and specially designed tackle for women. The increased participation of women has been an important part of an overall rise in tourism and business associated with sportfishing.

http://www.activeangler.com/articles/beginners/articles/history/

Chapter I - The Early History Of Fishing

FISHING, also called ANGLING, is the sport of catching fish, freshwater or saltwater, typically with rod, line, and hook. Like hunting, fishing originated as a means of providing food for survival.

Fishing as a sport, however, is of considerable antiquity. An Egyptian angling scene of about 2000 BC shows figures fishing with rod and line and with nets. A Chinese account of about the 4th century BC refers to fishing with a silk line, a hook made from a needle, and a bamboo rod, with cooked rice as bait. References to fishing are also found in ancient Greek, Assyrian, Roman, and Jewish writings.

Today, fishing, often called sport fishing to distinguish it from commercial fishing, is, despite the growth of towns and the increase of pollution in many sources, one of man's principal relaxations and is, in many countries, the most popular participant sport.

The problems of the modern angler are still those of his ancestor: where to find fish, how to approach them, and what sort of bait to use. The angler must understand wind and weather. Fishing remains what it has always been, a problem in applied natural history.

The history of angling is in large part the history of tackle, as the equipment for fishing is called. One of man's earliest tools was the predecessor of the fishhook, a gorge: a piece of wood, bone, or stone an inch or so in length, pointed at both ends and secured off-center to the line. The gorge was covered with some kind of bait. When a fish swallowed the gorge, a pull on the line wedged it across the gullet of the fish, which could then be pulled in.

With the coming of the use of metals, a hook was one of the first tools made. This was attached to a handline of animal or vegetable material, a method that is efficient only when used from a boat. The practice of attaching the line in turn to a rod, at first probably a stick or tree branch, made it possible to fish from the bank or shore and even to reach over vegetation bordering the water.

For thousands of years, the fishing rod remained short, not more than a few feet in length. The earliest reference to a longer, jointed rod is from Roman times, about the 4th century AD. At that time also, Aelian wrote of Macedonians catching trout on artificial flies and described how each fly was dressed (made). The rod they used was only 6 feet (1.8 metres) long and the line the same length, so that the method used was probably dapping, gently laying the bait on the surface of the water.

http://www.oldmaster85.com/history_of_fishing.htm

Answer 2

The earliest known fisherman were 30 to 40,000 years ago the Neolithic Cavemen and women

16000 BC Fishing First boat was made by cavemen out of animal skins pulled over wooden frames.

Any time you drop a line in the water, you’re practicing an ancient skill that’s as old as mankind, maybe even older. The fact is no one really knows how long humans have been casting the waters, but archeologists believe our predecessors, Neolithic cavemen (and perhaps even cave-fisher-women), wet lines up to 30 to 40,000 years ago. Since there was a noticeable shortage of tackle shops back then, all the fishing equipment was handmade. Thirty millennia ago, wood, thorn, bone, antler and claw were the materials of choices. Sadly no artifacts made of these materials have survived. All are long gone, decayed by time and weather. But many wonderful cave drawings depicting fishermen from this period have discovered and dated by experts, some of the most notable are in Sweden. What does it mean? It proves that fish stories are as old as the sport itself.

Answer 3

Fishing has existed since the beginning of time - almost ten thousand years.

Remember - Jesus said to go fishing. He said nothing about cutting the grass or cleaning out the garage.

Answer 4

Fishing came from the quest for food. Now it is mostly for enjoyment. But I just can't pass up a plate full of fresh fried fillets!

Answer 5

Hunger!