your favourite flyfishing quotes

tedgolden · Post by **tedgolden** » 04/27/09 08:17

"The arrival of the Herter's catalog was like Christmas with bullets."

DrakeBob · Post by **DrakeBob** » 04/28/09 09:14

"Dad, I love fishing! It's like there is always a surprise!"

- my daughter, then age 6, upon catching her first brown trout with bobber and worm on a local river that is classic bucketmouth water

RStouff · Post by **RStouff** » 05/09/09 07:07

This thread is incomplete, without Harry Middleton.

"Each night as I haul myself onto the back of county garbage truck no. 2, there is a familiar wind, some thread of moonglow or starlight, a splatter of dark rain on my skin, something that stirs my memory, and again, if even for a brief moment, I am on some mountain river, some stretch of bright water, full of possibilities, including the possibility of trout, perhaps one that, when hooked, will haul me in and out of time, in and out of life's mysterious and frightening, wondrous and incomprehensible continuum, even to the edges of the universe."

WLYBGR · Post by **WLYBGR** » 10/26/09 18:32

But DAD, I don't want to go yet! This is easy, I want to catch another one. Here Dad I'll show you how!

Kassidy caught 2 fish in 1\2 hr. and all I got was 3 ticks!!!

I also like all of Gierach's especially the one Tiptop quoted.That says it all for me.WLYBGR

adam trahan · Post by **adam trahan** » 10/26/09 22:20

Take the quotes you love onstream with you. That's what I do.

caneguy · Post by **caneguy** » 10/27/09 03:33

I hope I am not repeating, my favorite is "Fishing is not about catching fish"

Cornmuse · Post by **Cornmuse** » 11/26/09 06:35

"There's a phrase in Hungarian, nincs miert, that means literally "there is no why." Perhaps it's as futile and foolish, at this late date, to ask "why fly fishing?" as it is to ask "why jazz?" As Fats Waller said: "Lady, if you've got to ask, you'll never know."

- Arnold Gingrich

Fairbanks · Post by **Fairbanks** » 11/30/09 17:18

"The fishings only part of it"

-Dana Lamb

leadwingcoachman · Post by **leadwingcoachman** » 11/30/09 17:57

From Lee Wulff from "Trout on a Fly"

"Every camp operator worth his salt has a few fish in special spots saved for paraplegics and politicians"

I know this quote is so not politically correct, but it just brings me back to another time. A time when a man like Wullf could say what he wanted to say and not worry about the way he said it, and people wouldn't judge him by what he said but would respect him for what he did.

Plus it makes me laugh.

BlackHillsBill · Post by **BlackHillsBill** » 12/01/09 17:26

In these lines from his poem "The Fish at Paupak," Loren Eiseley said as well probably
as it can be put why some of us have continued for so long to pursue fish in their waters
and in their places, which have during the time we've done it contained our own lives.

Maybe the Christians knew when they made his sign in the catacombs,
the fish's mark for something ill understood but waiting,
containing man as part of his element, not the reverse.

gloucesteroldspot · Post by **gloucesteroldspot** » 12/03/09 09:11

Inscription from a gravestone in an English churchyard and adopted by 'BB' as frontispiece to all his fishing books:

'The wonder of the world, the beauty and the power, the shapes of things, their colours, lights and shades; these I saw. Look ye also while life lasts.'

From W.M.Hill:

'Our women like to say that all men are boys. Hopefully, they're right. But they have never understood angling boys and can't help at all when sometimes we glance up quickly, peering across blurred meadows at small visions long gone.'

SnooKen · Post by **SnooKen** » 12/03/09 15:10

"Fishing is about being on the other end of a stick plunged into eternity, into primordial life." Pat says he likes this one.

Finn · Post by **Finn** » 12/04/09 17:17

Here's one I heard on local Radio today:

Fisherman are not as Masculine as Hunters nor as Feminine as Soccer Players.

slate river · Post by **slate river** » 12/05/09 12:09

Honey I'm thinking about going fishing tomorrow..."CAN I COME?"

Mrs. Slate River

PYochim · Post by **PYochim** » 12/06/09 06:36

Not necessarily fishing related, but the statement by Bob Nunley about "shoving a red worm up a bear's butt" caught my attention.

Oxbow · Post by **Oxbow** » 12/10/09 13:22

"It's not about the size of the fish but the way you move your rod." Thats from me to my friends when they start telling me about the days catch.

OtherFishermanFromVT · Post by **OtherFishermanFromVT** » 10/13/22 12:31

"Fly fishermen are not born liars. We have a training program."

Brooks · Post by **Brooks** » 10/13/22 16:07

“Shut up and row”

I guided part-time years ago for a Salmon River, Idaho, steelhead outfitter. A cantankerous old-school grump. That was his company slogan, on his shirts and hats.

Bill Terry · Post by **Bill Terry** » 10/13/22 17:27

Thanks for reviving this thread. There are many wonderful quotations in it. My favorites are a bit self-mocking:

"Angling ... I can only compare to a stick and a string, with a worm at one end and a fool at the other." (Samuel Johnson)

"Behold the fisherman! He awaketh early and disturbeth all. He maketh mighty preparations and fareth forth full of hope. He returneth late, smelling of strong drink, and the truth is not in him." (The origin is unknown, and I have read several versions of it. I like this one best.)

RPL wrote: ↑
03/09/09 13:54
"Give a man a fish, and he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he'll sit in a boat and drink beer all day."

Not about fishing, but the maxim above reminds me of 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."

PT48 · Post by **PT48** » 10/13/22 17:47

"Oh, I'll never leave Montana brother."

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