Nothing New Under the Stars

More than once it has been said that there is nothing new under the sun or stars. Most of what is pranced out before us as something unseen by humankind is in fact not really new at all. These amazing discoveries promise to change the way we think, live, eat, travel, play, sleep and well, you get the idea. When you boil down these advances to their fundamental roux and add them to the recipe of the day we find that all we have done is change the flavor slightly. The boiling pot before us is still gumbo.

The origins of fly fishing are said to date back to around 1425 when Dame Juliana Berner penned "The Treatyse of Fysshynge with an Angle" and her article was published in the "Book of St. Albans." I’m guessing that was like a very early edition of The Drake magazine. This is perhaps the first account written in a modern language, but it may not be a true timeline of the sport.

While in Paris many years ago I visited the Louvre museum and viewed an ancient Egyptian wall painting depicting the gathering of food for a grand feast. One of the figures pictured there looked to be angling with a rod and fly. The fly appeared to be a soft hackle, and it seemed to be working.