Roots

Contrary to popular belief, fly fishing did not get its start in the movie about the river running through it. Dr. Andrew N. Herd's site, "A Fly Fishing History," gives an extensive look a the origins of "the quiet sport."

Here is an excerpt that talks about the Macedonian way of catching fish:

Now though the fishermen know this, they do not use these flies at all for bait for fish; for if a man’s hand touch them, they lose their natural colour, their wings wither, and they become unfit food for the fish. For this reason they have nothing to do with them, hating them for their bad character; but they have planned a snare for the fish, and get the better of them by their fisherman’s craft. They fasten red (crimson red) wool around a hook, and fix onto the wool two feathers which grow under a cock’s wattles, and which in colour are like wax.