A woman probably has been fly fishing for as long as men. The first book about fishing published in the English language was written by women. Following is quoted from The Origins of Angling a book written by John McDonald in 1957.Surprisingly, what is thought to be the first published essay on sport fishing. The Treatise of Fishing with an Angle. Is also believed to have been written by women: Dame Juliana Burners’, by legend a nun and a noblewomen and the first of her gender to write a work published in English. McDonald goes on to translate the Treatise from old English into modern readable English. The book describes many aspects of fishing and the fishing tackle used in 1496 when the manuscript was published. There is even a chapter about how to forge a fish hook from a needle. Why not needles were most likely a women tool. Evidently steel hooks weren’t readily available.
The people were fishing with fly’s part of the time during this era. The original twelve fly patterns to appear in the English language are in the Treatise. The book is very informative and well organized. Angle means angel. Hence the words angling and angler. The oldest artefact that could be called flies are bird feathers and hair attached to bone or ivory hooks and are thousands of years old. Some were probably made by women. It just seems natural. Certainly Dame Juliana tied and caught fish with her own flies more than 500 years ago. There is no doubt that women can excel at the sport of fly fishing. They probably always have, when given a chance. This page is an attempt to make the sport of fly fishing more accessible to women.
