The Greeks were fond of angling, and Homer mentions the art several times while with the Romans, who understood fly fishing, it amounted to almost a passion and at least one prominent citizen of that great city was ruined financially by spending too much money on elaborate fish ponds. The poet Oppian saved his father from the wrath of the Emperor Severus by writing a book on angling and many other classical writers were interested in the subject.
Fly Fishing. Although fly fishing was probably practiced much earlier the first mention of it is made by Elian in his " History of Animals," written about 230 A. d. He describes a fly with a purple body and red hackles which was cast with a rod about eight feet long on a line of the same length and trout fisher-
