Fly fishing is likely not the greatest thing in the world. Surely, other things rank higher (
birth of children,
wedding days,
graduation, winning the
lotto, etc), but it truly is a very fun and
relaxing thing to do. My main point: the
evidence actually points to fly fishing having originated with the ancient
Romans, who tied bits of
feathers to primitive
hooks and used them to catch
fish.
As an additional aside, the definitive book on fly fishing was written almost 350 years ago. The Compleat Angler, or the Contemplative Man's Recreation, which Izaak Walton wrote when he was 60, appeared in 1653 (Cite: previous sentence from http://encarta.msn.com/find/Concise.asp?ti=02035000). Of course, techniques and materials have changed in the ensuing almost 350 years, but largely, the "sport" remains very much the same as was described by Walton.
One final note. The book, obviously, is long out of copyright. It can be found at the Guttenburg project at the following link:
http://promo.net/cgi-promo/pg/t9.cgi?entry=683&full=yes&ftpsite=ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/