Fishing Quotes
"Fish are, of course, indespensable to the angler. They give
him an excuse for fishing and justify the fly rod without which he would be a mere vagrant. But the average fisherman's average catch doesn't even begin to justify, as fish, its cost in work, time, and money. The true worth of fishing,as the experienced, sophisticated angler comes to realize, lies in the memorable contacts with people and other living creatures, scenes and places, and the living waters great and small which it provides." (The Best of Sparse Grey Hackle)
". . . it takes several years of serious fishing before a man learns enough to go through a whole season with an unblemished record of physical and spiritual anguish. " (Ed Zern)
" An elderly member of a distinguished fishing club . . . . .became so bored during the winter closed season that he used to take his fly boxes to bed. " (Conrad Voss Bark)
"Of prime importance is that we enjoy ourselves in the fishing of the flies, and in their tying." (Taff Price)
" I know literally thousands of fishermen, yet in all this multitude I can number only four men who can handle a bass fly rod the way it should be handled . . . " (John Alden Knight)
"Fish like an artist and per adventure a good Fish may fall to your share." (Charles Cotton)
"And there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh. And it shall come to pass that the fishers shall stand upon it...to spread forth their nets; their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many." (Ezekiel 47:9-10,King James Version)
"Depend upon it, brother angler, that there is no dogmatic rule to be laid
down for either maidens or fish. Take the word of one who hath experience
of both. You can't diagram them; you must study their humours as well as
you can, and suit your arts to your customer as near as may be. If that
fails try perseverance."
"It must, of course, be admitterd that large stories of fishing adventure are sometimes told by fisherman -- and why should this not be so? Beyond all question there is no sphere of human activity so full of strange and wonderful incidents as theirs." (Grover Cleveland)
"It has been said that one's true character is determined by what they do when no one is watching them. What would you do if you'd thrown every last fly in your fly box, including your complete assortment of hoppers, at a big Bow to no avail? Then you see a juicy grasshopper jump off the bank, only to be immediately inhaled by a big bow. Then several more hoppers land on your arms and began crawling all over you. What would you do? Stand there like an idiot, while muttering to yourself, "I don't use live bait", or would you grab one of those naturals and impale it on one of your flies? " No question what I'd do, and my character would not be impuned, for I'd do it, no matter who was watching me." (Character .v. Catching)
"The true worth of fishing, as the experienced angler comes to realzie, lies in the memorable contact with people and other living creatures, scenes and places, and the living waters great and small which it provides."
" The wind had picked up to thirty-five miles an hour and all the boats in Carroll Creek were being blown from "pillow to post". If you've ever stood on the deck of a bass boat with the waves hitting you in the kneecaps, you know what we were going through. It was very rough and just plain scary!" (Surrender at Lake Fork)
"Many's the time that I've said that I'd rather not fish at all if I had no other equipment than a spinning outfit. To me, using spinning tackle was strictly "sissy fishing". And no way would I ever lower myself to that level. Usually, somewhere down life's road, rash statements like that come back to haunt. Mine did !" (Outdoor Memories)
" I've been fishing in one spot, working it over and over for about an hour, because I know there's a big lunker bass with no luck. Finally, I give up in disgust and move to the other side of the cove. One of my "good friends" moves in and takes my spot. Five minutes later, he catches "my" seven pounder. Later, he asked me if I was mad at him. I said no, I'm used to stuff like that." (Outdoor Memories)
"I went straight home and tied that "little green weenie" on my the end
of my line and added a tiny split shot about 18" above it. Walking out
into my driveway, I tried my first cast with my new spinning rig. It
went straight up! Next cast went straight down, BAM! Splattered that
little green weenie all over the concrete. Third time I made a pretty
decent cast right out into the middle of the street into the back of a
pick up truck that was passing by!" (Outdoor Memories)
"It was awfully cold that December morning and speeding down the lake at sixty miles an hour made me even colder. I was glad we didn't have to fish at that speed." (Outdoor Memories Of The Heartwarming Kind)
" I waded to the shore where I sat and considered the inconsistency of anglers in general and the dumbness of one in particular. " (Ray Bergman)
" Contrary to common belief, it is not true that if you cut a worm fisherman in half, each half will grow into a complete fisherman. For which we should all be grateful. " (Ed Zern)
" And another thing that makes it easier to ice fish is that one need not worry about his backcasts." (Arthur R. MacDougall, Jr.)
" No sport affords a greater field for observation and study than fly fishing, and it is the close attention paid to minor happenings upon the stream that marks the finished angler. " (George M. L. La Branche)
" I cannot imagine anybody writing a whole book about maggots, whereas many a man has spent much of his life thinking and writing about fisherman's flies." (Artur Ransome)
" Why bother with such as worms, when trout will strike at a floating feather, a red berry, or a pine matchstick. " (Arthur R. MacDougal, Jr.)
"It is the constant - or inconstant - change, the infinite variety in fly - fishing that binds us fast. It is impossible to grow weary of a sport that is never the same on any two days of the year." (Theodore Gordon)
"Trout fishing is always the best in the hardest to reach places, those with the steepest, crookedest, bumpiest, narrowest roads, or no roads at all. That's where the bugs are thickest, but who cares about roads or bugs when you can catch big trout all day! Rough roads and bugs go together like cheese and crackers."
The following quotes were provided by members of a mailing group I am on which is Virtual Fly Box .
Tom, (writing): I say, Bob, I�m rubbing in the local colour for the benefit of the folk at home � could you help me to correct fishing expressions � just to give the thing an atmosphere?� Bob: �I�ve heard a lot one time or another, old man, but the only one I remember is �Pass the Flask�.�
�You�ve got to get up early in the morning to catch in that river, said two local onlookers on their way home. It�s a battle of wits in there, and it�s a battle the fish usually win.�
�Friends of the fisherman who hooked an Austin A40 in the Exeter Canal last week are already sick of hearing about the Cadillac that got away because it had bigger fins.�
�Fishing may be termed a disease with some men, but it is not necessarily catching� (Tony Spezio)
�I pray that I live to fish until my dying day, and when it comes to my last cast, I then most humbly pray, when in the Lords great landingnet and peacefully asleep that I be judged BIG ENOUGH TO KEEP!� (Roger Eppard)
�I agree. For any type of fishing, the best way to avoid frustration is to master bait.� (Duane McDowell)
� Could it be that trout fishing is only an excuse to enjoy God�s great gift of the out of doors.� (Jody Moore)
� Through fishing and hunting, we are confronted with the fact that we are part of the web of life and the natural world, NOT apart from the natural order of things, as our daily lives may often suggest. (Ed Engleman)
A toast: One final cast for luck, and the rally last throw in honour of a fair lady. If they don�t rise to that, then they are no gentlemen! (Hendrik Pretorius)
� Behold the fisherman.
He riseth up early in the morning
And disturbeth the whole household.
Mighty are his preparations.
He goes forth full of hope,
Returning when the day is far spent-
Smelling of strong drink and the
Truth is not in him.� (Kevin Andeson � from a plaque from his Grandfather)
�Lo, the fisherman�s wife. All she wants is the spare bedroom back.
It�s covered with rods and reels, flies and vests, hooks and leaders, etc.
For a trip six months from now. Not a safe place to step or sleep or rest!
�But honey! I want to be prepared,� he says. So Lo the fisherman�s wife.�
(Jody Moore)
� Some men catch fish. Others simply feed them.� (James J. Hood � from Bass Pro Shops)
�My first question to a newbie nymph fisher is; �can you fish worms?�
Best advice I can give someone like that is to do that same thing with a nymph. Dry flies, a different story.� (Gert)
�I would maintain that any fly fisherman, or any fisherman for that matter, is missing out on a lot of knowledge and understanding if they don�t first develop at least a working knowledge of bait fishing. I�m not sure any of us really master anything to do with fishing.� (Bob VanAmburg)
� For the man who has everything, trout fishing is the greatest gift.� (Jody Moore)
�I�ve never seen a stupid Carp, but I�ve seen more than my share of stupid people.� (Troy Allgood)
� No truer words have been said. We all learn from each other. The youngins keep us �old farts� honest, ( well, sort of ) ;~) your questioning and curious minds bring on many new innovations and ideas; that gift both young and young at heart with more enjoyment from the sport.� (Bob Haering)
�I love trout season. It�s a great warm up for when bass start biting. � (Jason Tinling)
� Trout fishing is like raising children; you never know what�s going to happen next !�
� Good fly fishing friends should meet face to face, rod to rod� (Jimmy D. Moore)
� Fly Fishing is the most fun you can have standing up.� (Larry Johnson)
�I fly fish to get away from the hellishness of life. I would go insane if I didn�t.� (Stevie Vance)
� And no matter how the individual enthusiast may make his personal comparison between fishing for Grayling and other game fish, he is certain to agree that, on suitable days in autumn and winter, the Grayling provides most contenting enjoyment. What more can be asked of a fish?� (Keith Passant)
�Trout fishing heals a man�s heart and soothes his soul.� (Jody Moore)
�I don�t lie about the size of the fish I catch, I just remember them bigger� (Alan Di Soma)
�There are �indicator� plants and there are �indicator people�. When you see Cedar, you know there�s alkaline, limestone based soil around. When you see Fly Fishers, you know there�s fish around � well, not always.� (Jimmy D. Moore)
�Fishermen are not liars, just poor estimators�
�There are certainly no liars in the crew, but as a general course, subtract about thirty percent.� (Gert Jensen)
� I imagine that no art has ever been learned from books. Fly fishing is no exception.� (Don Johnson)
�Whether catch or release or not, the fish keep growing long after they�ve been caught.� (Ian Mitchell)