Ye olde fisherwoman
At recent fly casting sessions run by the Christchurch Fishing and Casting Club there was a keen group of women ready to tackle the skills of the game.
The club, initially in conjunction with Hagley College, has run numerous “Fly fishing for women” courses over the last 30 years. When I first joined a club one elderly gentleman member, a founder of the club, assured me that men went fishing to get away from women. He berated me, as the then President, for allowing them in. He deeply lamented females’ intrusion into the sport; He has since passed on, as has his attitude. Numerous women now ply the country’s waterways in search of Salmo trutta (Linnaeus) and Onchorhynchus mykiss (Walbaum); the brown and rainbow trout.
This signature fish, brown trout, was first described, and named, in a scientific publication by the father of modern biological taxonomy, Carl Linnaeus, in 1758. Its fishing history goes back many centuries before that however, as do the records on how to catch this prize sports fish. And, it was not only men who enjoyed the challenges.
In 1496 Dame Juliana Berners published, in England, A Treatyse of Fysshynge with an Angle. In 1979 in was reprinted in “modern English” under the title A Treatise of Fishing with a Hook. It documents the “gentleman’s” art of fly fishing.
Pictures: Original and modern translations
Dame Juliana’s Fly Tying tools – in Old English
“And for to haue knowlege of your Instrumentes : lo theym here in fygure portrayd.”
There is more legend than fact known of Dame Juliana. Reputed to be a nun, and a noblewoman, she was however definitely a writer on fishing and hunting. Her didactic poem on hunting, entitled The Book of St Albans, was earlier published by her, in 1486.
She was convinced that fishing was the perfect sport. He book states, almost “sermon like”:
In his proverbs, Solomon informed us that a fine spirit causes a long and flourishing life. What are the causes and means that induce a man (or woman) to have a good disposition?
Therefore I shall now select four pleasing amusements, and proper sports, which are hunting, hawking, fowling and fishing.
And the best of these is fishing, because it is a healthy sport!
Dame Juliana also advised on the precursors of a good disposition: a cheerful mind, reasonable exercise and a moderate diet. One had to also avoid all bad company, all brawling places, and all other places that may give one any reason for melancholy.
In her words hunting was too laborious (labouring and sweating full sorely). Hawking was laborious and annoying (hawks often flew off), and fowling was utterly foolish. In the morning, the fowler walks in the dew, wet shod (no waders then), sore and cold.
Her perfect sport was thus angling. She claims that, beyond a doubt that fishing with a rod and line gives a long and happy life. The angler has neither cold nor disease, save that which he may cause himself, she states. Catching nothing is not a problem for the angler has had a healthy walk, good air and scent of meadow flowers which give him a good appetite.
Dame Juliana even went as far as defining those who should participate in fly fishing i.e. “All those who are free and of gentle birth”. Even then the “riff raff” were not wanted in the sport.
The farmers of the day, along the
For if you take his goods away, you rob him, a right shameful deed for any noble man to do. If he does this practice he is to be considered a thief and a beggar, who are punished for their evil deeds by being captured and hung by the neck”.
We all feel the same way about poachers today. She was also clear that fishermen were not to profit by money from the sport, and not to be too greedy in his catch or his actions will cause him to destroy his sport and that of other men. – The logic that today underlies our fishing regulations. Various accounts of the history of fishing literature describe her as a woman of keen intellect and an accomplished practitioner and avid devotee of outdoor sports, including angling and hunting.
Despite its antiquity, Treatyse remains a remarkable work for its detail and vision. A comprehensive guide for the anglers of its time, the book contains substantial information on fishing destinations, rod and line construction, and selection of natural baits and preferred artificial fly dressings categorized by the season of their optimum utility. Perhaps most remarkable are the essays on the virtues of conservation, respecting the rights of streamside landowners, and angler’s etiquette. These concepts would not come to be commonly accepted and advocated in the angling world until 400 years after the publication of the Treatyse, yet today they embody the ethical bedrock of sport fishing.
Numerous women’s
Of special interest is her list of the 12 perfect flies (note, our equivalent month are added in italics):
- March. (Our September). Dun Fly – dun wool and partridge feather wings
- March. Dun Fly 2 – body of black wool and wings of black drakes feathers and those from under the jay’s wings and tail
- April. (October). The Stone Fly – body of black wool with yellow under wings and tail. The wings are from drake feathers
- May. (November). The Ruddy Fly – body of red wool with black silk ribbing. Wings from drake and the rear underside of a red capon
- May. The Yellow Fly – body of yellow wool with wings of red cock’s hackle and slightly yellow drake
- May. The Black Looper – body of black wool, lapped about the head with peacock’s tail. Wings from a brown capon
- June. (December). Dun Cut – black wool body with a yellow list on each side. Wings from a buzzard feather and bound with black hemp.
- June. Moorish Fly – dark body with wings from blackish drake mail feathers
- June. Tawny Fly – body of tawny wool with wings of whitish mail of the wild drake
- July. (January). The Wasp Fly – body of black wool ribbed with yellow silk; wings of the feathers of a drake or a buzzard
- July. The Shell Fly – greenish wool body, ribbed with the head of the peacock’s tail and the wings from a buzzard
- August (February). Drake Fly – black wool body ribbed with black silk. Wings from the mail of the black drake. It also has a black head.
If anyone ties these and is successful then let the writer, or the editor, know. There are modern equivalents to almost all of these flies. A copy of her original stonefly is attached.
Let’s wait and see if any of our current crop of new female anglers want to rise to Dame Juliana’s “guru” status. This is the challenge. New Zealand formerly had Patti Magnano Madsen, for half of each year anyway, England had the Queen Mother, and the USA has Joan Wulff and Lucille Ball. Perhaps we can mentor the new Kiwi female stars.
Rex N. Gibson
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