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Originally Posted by JohnR
Uhhh, I would think the act of fishing - perhaps even with a hook - predates the english language ... Hmmm, we need one a dem scholary like poepple to luuk it up
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Actually you are right. Fishing is a very ancient skill, practiced by many prehistoric people including the Polynesians, Eskimos, Aztecs, and guys from Brockton. Early on, techniques were very crude, usually involving big rocks, spears, or rudimentary nets made out of flaxen rope. But about 6000 BVS (before Van Staal), the famous Japanese sage, Gam Atzu, discovered that people would sell their children for a ready source of sushi, or good ponography but that's another matter. Quick to meet demand, Gam invented bronze, from which he fashioned the first real fish hooks. Within a milenium, this new invention spread through the known world, although in Brockton they failed to hear about it and persisted trying to perfect hydro-oriented fish-calls instead. Fishing, however, remained primarily a commerical pursuit until approximately 2000 BVS, when the Romans brought venereal disease and fish hook technology to England. As would be expected, the resultant glut of skanky women lead to a demand for other recreational pastimes. Since NASCAR was not yet available, many men turned their attention towards the pursuit of the noble trout and salmon. Using bits of feathers and expensive bamboo, they became gay and we won't talk about them anymore. The rest, hairy chested, loud farting, and mostly wasted fellows that they were, set sail for the new world where they found the rivers so full of Basse they could walk on them (once those pesky Indians were packed off to Foxwoods). Again finding themselves short of available womenfolk or, in the case of Long Island, because of the available womenfolk, many took to the beaches to kill some time before the hunting and witch burning seasons began. It was there that the first fishing clubs were born, out of the need for big beer companies to dispose of excess inventory. This worked so well that, within 200 years, the fishery was exhausted and people switched to using plugs since they weren't catching anything anyways. Of course, nice plugs are expensive, so all these guys had to get jobs and pay taxes, which made big government possible in order to save the seals and piping plovers. Which is where we are today, except for those Brockton guys who are still confused about the skanky women bit, and that's why we call it "angling". I hope you found this helpful, and if you have any more questions, go ask someone else please. Thanks.