Came across an interesting article about the history of Fishing and Fly Fishing in the Boy Scouts.
In the article, it mentions the original requirements to earn the Angling merit badge in 1911.
Could you have earned this badge as a youth? Or even an adult? Turns out, only 1 Scout actually did.
*Catch and name ten different species of fish: salmon or trout to be taken with flies; bass, pickerel, or pike to be caught with rod or reel; muskellunge to be caught by trolling.
*Make a bait rod of three joints, straight and sound, 14 oz. or less in weight, 10 feet or less in length, to stand a strain of 1½ lbs. at the tip, 13 lbs. at the grip.
*Make a jointed fly-rod 8–10 feet long, 4–8 oz. in weight, capable of casting a fly 60 feet.
*Name and describe twenty-five different species of fish found in North American waters and give a complete list of the fishes ascertained by himself to inhabit a given body of water.
*Give the history of the young of any species of wild fish from the time of hatching until the adult stage is reached
The complete article can be found on the American Museum of Fly Fishing website HERE
