FROM LAND AND PIER 181 



when the untutored fish of those days swallowed the bait, he 

 lifted them out by means of that ash sapling and no longer 

 fouled the rocks. 



Great was the pride of this barbaric personage, for he had 

 made one step towards civilisation. He had become an 

 Inventor. And the men of his tribe flattered him by making 

 similar rods, for there were no patent laws in those days. 

 Soon, wherever the rockiness of the coast was such that the 

 line could not be cast out or recovered without entanglement 

 or injury, there might men be seen with poles, some of them 

 huge, almost as weaver's beams ; for in those days there were 

 giants in the land. 



For the origin of rod fishing in the sea we must, then, go 

 back to the first man who found he could not work a hand 

 line on a rough rocky coast. I would venture almost to assert 

 that he was the first angler as we now understand the word, 

 for the old meaning one who fished with the angle or hook 

 has long since fallen into disuse. The angler of to-day is a 

 knight of the rod and none other. We do know with cer- 

 tainty that for many years rods have been used for sea fishing 

 on the rock-bound coasts of Scotland and Ireland. The 

 people in the remote parts of the Outer Hebrides are at least 

 two centuries behind the rest of the world. As I found them 

 using rods for fishing from the rocks, it is a fair conclusion 

 that rods were used in sea fishing on other portions of the 

 globe at least two centuries ago. 



From boats we undoubtedly can fish without using a rod, 

 and, moreover, fill our baskets ; but from the shore, unless it 

 be a sandy or muddy one, there is often no possibility of 

 fishing on the bottom with weighted gear unless a rod is used. 

 I have already shown in the previous chapter how, under certain 

 conditions, the fly fisher using the term as a salmon angler 

 understands it may have really good sport in salt water. 



