your favourite flyfishing quotes

[Brooks]

Bill—love it! "Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life."

I guess I might augment it with "Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life. Take a man to 'Burning Man', and you'll wake up on a cement jailhouse floor with a drain hole in the middle, in a weird little town in the middle of Nevada, with a bunch of dirt-covered people wearing crazy costumes".

[steeliefool]

"Throw back the little ones...
And pan fry the big ones....
Use tact boys and reason....
And gently squeeze them..."
Steely Dan

[Short Tip]

Posted in '08, way back on page 2, but worth reviving.

“When all the rods and a lot of reels, lines, leader boxes, et cetera, had been sold, the gang paid at the cashier’s window for what they’d bought and then made a bee line for the rug room to test their rods. I put mine together, tested it for a moment or so, and then started to show it to men I knew. Not a man was interested in my rod. They all, without a single exception, tried to get me to look at theirs. Extraordinary, how self centered most men are. Have you noticed it? “

John Taintor Foote, "Fatal Gesture"

[trland]

…all good things, trout as well as eternal salvation, come by grace and grace comes by art and art does not come easy.
Norman Maclean

[bluesjay]

Hi Guys, I like PT48's, "Oh, I'll never leave Montana brother."

Jay Edwards

[406tom]

"I'm a solidly mediocre caster"....John Gierach

Tom

[GRASSNGLASS]

There's more B.S. in fly fishing than there is in a Kansas feedlot.

Lefty Kreh

[DrLogik]

Two come to my mind and I have both of them on my web site. Both sum up my philosophy on fishing now:

The catching of fish seems insignificant in these memories of the play of the elements. I don't remember much about it, but as I see it now, I believe that the fishing was simply an excuse to get out in the open, to breathe air that came to me directly over open spaces, to face nature when she bared her soul.
-Ray Bergman

There don't have to be a thousand fish in a river; let me locate a good one and I'll get a thousand dreams out of him before I catch him and, if I catch him, I'll turn him loose.
- Jim Deren The Angler's Roost NYC

[Hellmtflies]

"Talents are best nurtured in solitude: Character is best formed in the stormy billows of the world."
-Goethe

I have always read the above as " Fishing talents are best nurtured in solitude: Character is best formed during run-off."

[creakycane]

"The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive, but
attainable - - a perpetual series of occasions for hope."

John Buchan

[billems]

"Few of us shoot ourselves during an evening hatch."

Jim Harrison

This one gets my vote.

[LeoCreek]

"Few of us shoot ourselves during an evening hatch."

Jim Harrison

This one gets my vote, too. Love it!

While not my favorite necessarily, here's another one:

"Building a hydroelectric dam here would be like burning the Mona Lisa to cook a can of SPAM."
- Michael Checchio

[Bud]

“It’s an indicator dammit!”


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[Red64]

"One more cast, I know there are trout in this pool"! Said at 7:30PM while your fishing buddies are all packed up and past ready to go home.
Source, personal observation of a dear friend (still) who had to catch a fish. We all know such a person.

[billems]

Though not in the esteemed company previously cited, I have two of my own, from stories I wrote in the hook press: "The size of the fish is the size of the fish in your heart." And: "Moby Dick is the 'River Runs Through it' for maniacs."

[LeoCreek]

Here's another:

"If all you want is to make a good cast, then do it in your backyard. You're on the water for a reason - now land the trout, man!"
- David Coggins

[tyghguy]

A favorite quote I have used many times to steady the ship in rough water. By John Gierach

The solution to any problem work, love, money, whatever
is to go fishing
and the worse the problem
the longer the trip should be

This has always worked well for me

[jvh]

Don't catch em all, but catch all you can.

[JohnMD1022]

One of those harmless misfits you see in fishing who do no appreciable damage to the world at large and in the end have only cost themselves the normal life that they never wanted anyway."
No Shortage of Good Days by John Gierach
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[LeoCreek]

Not necessarily fly fishing related...but it could be, if your back cast catches your pipe or cigar in just the right wrong way:

"Time is relative, particularly when your head is on fire."
- Patrick McManus