Fly Fishing Quotes "Nothing grows faster than a fish from when it bites until it gets away."
~ Anonymous
"The difference between fly fishers and worm dunkers is the quality of their excuses."
~ Anonymous
"Only an extraordinary person would purposely risk being outsmarted by a creature often less than twelve inches long, over and over again."
~ Janna Bialek
"For the supreme test of a fisherman is not how many fish he has caught, not even how he has caught them, but what he has caught when he has caught no fish."
~ John H. Bradley
"If fishing is like religion, then fly-fishing is high church."
~ Tom Brokaw
"Three-fourths of the Earth's surface is water, and one-fourth is land. It is quite clear that the good Lord intended us to spend triple the amount of time fishing as taking care of the lawn."
~ Chuck Clark
"Fly-fishing may well be considered the most beautiful of all rural sports."
~ Frank Forester
"Creeps and idiots cannot conceal themselves for long on a fishing trip."
~ John Gierach
"A trout is a moment of beauty known only to those who seek it."
~ Arnold Gingrich
"To go fishing is the chance to wash one's soul with pure air, with the rush of the brook, or with the shimmer of sun on blue water. It brings meekness and inspiration from the decency of nature, charity toward tackle-makers, patience toward fish, a mockery of profits and egos, a quieting of hate, a rejoicing that you do not have to decide a darned thing until next week. And it is discipline in the equality of men - for all men are equal before fish."
~ Herbert Hoover
"The gods do not deduct from man's allotted span the hours spent in fishing."
~ Herber Hoover
"Fishing is the chance to wash one's soul with pure air. It brings meekness and inspiration, reduces our egoism, soothes our troubles and shames our wickedness. It is discipline in the equality of men--for all men are equal before fish."
~ Herber Hoover
"There is certainly something in angling that tends to produce a serenity of mind."
~ Washington Irving
"Fly-fishing may be a very pleasant amusement; but angling or float fishing I can only compare to a stick and a string, with a worm at one end and a fool at the other."
~ Samuel Johnson
"The traveler fancies he has seen the country. So he has, the outside of it at least; but the angler only sees the inside. The angler only is brought close, face to face with the flower and bird and insect life of the rich riverbanks, the only part of the landscape where the hand of man has never interfered."
~ Charles Kingsley
"I have many loves and Fly-Fishing is one of them; it brings peace and harmony to my being, which I can then pass on to others."
~ Sue Kreutzer
"If people concentrated on the really important things of life, there'd be a shortage of fishing poles."
~ Doug Larson
"To him, 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 from the book "A River Runs Through It"
"The Essentials of a Good Fly-Hook: The temper of an angel and penetration of a prophet; fine enough to be invisible and strong enough to kill a bull in a ten-acre field."
~ G.S. Marryat
"The two best times to fish is when it's rainin' and when it ain't."
~ Patrick F. McManus
"Scholars have long known that fishing eventually turns men into philosophers. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to buy decent tackle on a philosopher's salary."
~ Patrick F. McManus
"If fishing is interfering with your business, give up your business."
~ Alfred W. Miller
"I am not against golf, since I cannot but suspect it keeps armies of the unworthy from discovering trout."
~ Paul O'Neil
"There he stands, draped in more equipment than a telephone lineman, trying to outwit an organism with a brain no bigger than a breadcrumb, and getting licked in the process."
~ Paul O'Neil
"Calling Fly-Fishing a hobby is like calling Brain Surgery a job."
~ Paul Schullery
"Ours is the grandest sport. It is an intriguing battle of wits between an angler and a trout; and in addition to appreciating the tradition and grace of the game, we play it in the magnificent out-of-doors."
~ Ernest G. Schwiebert, Jr.
"Many go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after."
~ Henry David Thoreau
"The best time to go fishing is when you can get away."
~ Robert Traver
"There's a fine line between fishing and standing on the shore like an idiot."
~ Steven Wright
"O, sir, doubt not that Angling is an art; is it not an art to deceive a trout with an artificial fly?"
~ Isaak Walton
"And finally, I fish not because I regard fishing as being terribly important, but because I suspect that so many of the other concerns of men are equally unimportant, and not nearly so much fun."
~ John Volker
"Lo the angler. He riseth in the morning and upsetteth the whole household.
Mighty are his preparations.
He goeth forth with great hope in his heart – and when the day is far spent he returneth, smelling of strong drink, and the truth is not in him. "
~ Anonymous
"Fly-fishing is the most fun you can have standing up."
~by Arnold Gingrich, 1969~
"Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in. Its thin current slides away, but eternity remains."
~by Henry David Thoreau~
"Fly-fishers are usually brain-workers in society. Along the banks of purling streams, beneath the shadows of umbrageous trees, or in the secluded nooks of charming lakes, they have ever been found, drinking deep of the invigorating forces of nature - giving rest and tone to over-taxed brains and wearied nerves - while gracefully wielding the supple rod, the invisible leader, and the fairy-like fly."
~by James A. Hensall, MD, 1855~
"Listen to the sound of the river and you will get a trout."
~Irish proverb~
"Some go to church and think about fishing, others go fishing and think about God."
~by Tony Blake~
"All the romance of trout fishing exists in the mind of the angler and is in no way shared by the fish."~by Harold F. Blaisdell, The Philosophical Fisherman, 1969~
"The fishing was good; it was the catching that was bad."
~A.K. Best~
"Bragging may not bring happiness, but no man having caught a large fish goes home through an alley."
~Author Unknown~
"The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope."
~by John Buchan~
"There is no greater fan of fly-fishing than the worm."
~by Patrick F. McManus, Never Sniff a Gift Fish, 1979~
"Our tradition is that of the first man who sneaked away to the creek when the tribe did not really need fish."
~by Roderick Haig-Brown, about modern fishing, A River Never Sleeps, 1946~
"If you've got short, stubby fingers and wear reading glasses, any relaxation you would normally derive from fly fishing is completely eliminated when you try to tie on a fly."
~by Jack Ohman, Fear of Fly Fishing, 1988~
"My biggest worry is that my wife (when I'm dead) will sell my fishing gear for what I said I paid for it."
~by Koos Brandt~
"Unless one can enjoy himself fishing with the fly, even when his efforts are unrewarded, he loses much real pleasure. More than half the intense enjoyment of fly-fishing is derived from the beautiful surroundings, the satisfaction felt from being in the open air, the new lease of life secured thereby, and the many, many pleasant recollections of all one has seen, heard and done."
~by Charles F. Orvis, 1886~
"I look into ... my fly box, and think about all the elements I should consider in choosing the perfect fly: water temperature, what stage of development the bugs are in, what the fish are eating right now. Then I remember what a guide told me: 'Ninety percent of what a trout eats is brown and fuzzy and about five-eighths of an inch long.'"
~by Allison Moir, "Love the Man, Love the Fly Rod", in A Different Angle: Fly Fishing Stories by Women~
"In the lexicon of the fly-fishermen, the words rise and hooked connote the successful and desirable climax; landing a fish is purely anticlimax."
~by Vincent C. Marinaro-1950~
"The climax in the poem of trouting, is the spring of the split bamboo."
~by Lewis France-1884~
"If I'm not going to catch anything, then I 'd rather not catch anything on flies"
Bob Lawless. "...buying a fly rod in the average city store, that is, joining it up and safely waggling it a bit, is much like seeing a woman's arm protruding from a car window: all one can readily be sure of is that the window is open."
Anatomy of a Fisherman by Robert Traver "Why does a salmon rise? Why does a small boy cross the street just to kick a tin can?"
Lee Wulff, The Atlantic Salmon "It is only the inexperienced and thoughtless who find pleasure in killing fish for the mere sake of killing them. No sportsman does this."
W.C. Prime, 1888 "They say you forget your troubles on a trout stream, but that's not quite it. What happens is that you begin to see where your troubles fit into the grand scheme of things, and suddenly they're just not such a big deal anymore."
John Gierach
"Game fish are too valuable to only be caught once."
Lee Wulff
"The finest gift you can give to any fisherman is to put a good fish back, and who knows if the fish that you caught isn't someone else's gift to you?" Lee Wulff "Something to think about: If you fish the wrong fly long and hard enough, it will sooner or later become the right fly."
John Gierach "If I fished only to capture fish, my fishing trips would have ended long ago."
Zane Grey
"What a tourist terms a plague of insects, the fly fisher calls a great hatch."
Patrick F. McManus
~ Anonymous
"The difference between fly fishers and worm dunkers is the quality of their excuses."
~ Anonymous
"Only an extraordinary person would purposely risk being outsmarted by a creature often less than twelve inches long, over and over again."
~ Janna Bialek
"For the supreme test of a fisherman is not how many fish he has caught, not even how he has caught them, but what he has caught when he has caught no fish."
~ John H. Bradley
"If fishing is like religion, then fly-fishing is high church."
~ Tom Brokaw
"Three-fourths of the Earth's surface is water, and one-fourth is land. It is quite clear that the good Lord intended us to spend triple the amount of time fishing as taking care of the lawn."
~ Chuck Clark
"Fly-fishing may well be considered the most beautiful of all rural sports."
~ Frank Forester
"Creeps and idiots cannot conceal themselves for long on a fishing trip."
~ John Gierach
"A trout is a moment of beauty known only to those who seek it."
~ Arnold Gingrich
"To go fishing is the chance to wash one's soul with pure air, with the rush of the brook, or with the shimmer of sun on blue water. It brings meekness and inspiration from the decency of nature, charity toward tackle-makers, patience toward fish, a mockery of profits and egos, a quieting of hate, a rejoicing that you do not have to decide a darned thing until next week. And it is discipline in the equality of men - for all men are equal before fish."
~ Herbert Hoover
"The gods do not deduct from man's allotted span the hours spent in fishing."
~ Herber Hoover
"Fishing is the chance to wash one's soul with pure air. It brings meekness and inspiration, reduces our egoism, soothes our troubles and shames our wickedness. It is discipline in the equality of men--for all men are equal before fish."
~ Herber Hoover
"There is certainly something in angling that tends to produce a serenity of mind."
~ Washington Irving
"Fly-fishing may be a very pleasant amusement; but angling or float fishing I can only compare to a stick and a string, with a worm at one end and a fool at the other."
~ Samuel Johnson
"The traveler fancies he has seen the country. So he has, the outside of it at least; but the angler only sees the inside. The angler only is brought close, face to face with the flower and bird and insect life of the rich riverbanks, the only part of the landscape where the hand of man has never interfered."
~ Charles Kingsley
"I have many loves and Fly-Fishing is one of them; it brings peace and harmony to my being, which I can then pass on to others."
~ Sue Kreutzer
"If people concentrated on the really important things of life, there'd be a shortage of fishing poles."
~ Doug Larson
"To him, 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 from the book "A River Runs Through It"
"The Essentials of a Good Fly-Hook: The temper of an angel and penetration of a prophet; fine enough to be invisible and strong enough to kill a bull in a ten-acre field."
~ G.S. Marryat
"The two best times to fish is when it's rainin' and when it ain't."
~ Patrick F. McManus
"Scholars have long known that fishing eventually turns men into philosophers. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to buy decent tackle on a philosopher's salary."
~ Patrick F. McManus
"If fishing is interfering with your business, give up your business."
~ Alfred W. Miller
"I am not against golf, since I cannot but suspect it keeps armies of the unworthy from discovering trout."
~ Paul O'Neil
"There he stands, draped in more equipment than a telephone lineman, trying to outwit an organism with a brain no bigger than a breadcrumb, and getting licked in the process."
~ Paul O'Neil
"Calling Fly-Fishing a hobby is like calling Brain Surgery a job."
~ Paul Schullery
"Ours is the grandest sport. It is an intriguing battle of wits between an angler and a trout; and in addition to appreciating the tradition and grace of the game, we play it in the magnificent out-of-doors."
~ Ernest G. Schwiebert, Jr.
"Many go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after."
~ Henry David Thoreau
"The best time to go fishing is when you can get away."
~ Robert Traver
"There's a fine line between fishing and standing on the shore like an idiot."
~ Steven Wright
"O, sir, doubt not that Angling is an art; is it not an art to deceive a trout with an artificial fly?"
~ Isaak Walton
"And finally, I fish not because I regard fishing as being terribly important, but because I suspect that so many of the other concerns of men are equally unimportant, and not nearly so much fun."
~ John Volker
"Lo the angler. He riseth in the morning and upsetteth the whole household.
Mighty are his preparations.
He goeth forth with great hope in his heart – and when the day is far spent he returneth, smelling of strong drink, and the truth is not in him. "
~ Anonymous
"Fly-fishing is the most fun you can have standing up."
~by Arnold Gingrich, 1969~
"Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in. Its thin current slides away, but eternity remains."
~by Henry David Thoreau~
"Fly-fishers are usually brain-workers in society. Along the banks of purling streams, beneath the shadows of umbrageous trees, or in the secluded nooks of charming lakes, they have ever been found, drinking deep of the invigorating forces of nature - giving rest and tone to over-taxed brains and wearied nerves - while gracefully wielding the supple rod, the invisible leader, and the fairy-like fly."
~by James A. Hensall, MD, 1855~
"Listen to the sound of the river and you will get a trout."
~Irish proverb~
"Some go to church and think about fishing, others go fishing and think about God."
~by Tony Blake~
"All the romance of trout fishing exists in the mind of the angler and is in no way shared by the fish."~by Harold F. Blaisdell, The Philosophical Fisherman, 1969~
"The fishing was good; it was the catching that was bad."
~A.K. Best~
"Bragging may not bring happiness, but no man having caught a large fish goes home through an alley."
~Author Unknown~
"The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope."
~by John Buchan~
"There is no greater fan of fly-fishing than the worm."
~by Patrick F. McManus, Never Sniff a Gift Fish, 1979~
"Our tradition is that of the first man who sneaked away to the creek when the tribe did not really need fish."
~by Roderick Haig-Brown, about modern fishing, A River Never Sleeps, 1946~
"If you've got short, stubby fingers and wear reading glasses, any relaxation you would normally derive from fly fishing is completely eliminated when you try to tie on a fly."
~by Jack Ohman, Fear of Fly Fishing, 1988~
"My biggest worry is that my wife (when I'm dead) will sell my fishing gear for what I said I paid for it."
~by Koos Brandt~
"Unless one can enjoy himself fishing with the fly, even when his efforts are unrewarded, he loses much real pleasure. More than half the intense enjoyment of fly-fishing is derived from the beautiful surroundings, the satisfaction felt from being in the open air, the new lease of life secured thereby, and the many, many pleasant recollections of all one has seen, heard and done."
~by Charles F. Orvis, 1886~
"I look into ... my fly box, and think about all the elements I should consider in choosing the perfect fly: water temperature, what stage of development the bugs are in, what the fish are eating right now. Then I remember what a guide told me: 'Ninety percent of what a trout eats is brown and fuzzy and about five-eighths of an inch long.'"
~by Allison Moir, "Love the Man, Love the Fly Rod", in A Different Angle: Fly Fishing Stories by Women~
"In the lexicon of the fly-fishermen, the words rise and hooked connote the successful and desirable climax; landing a fish is purely anticlimax."
~by Vincent C. Marinaro-1950~
"The climax in the poem of trouting, is the spring of the split bamboo."
~by Lewis France-1884~
"If I'm not going to catch anything, then I 'd rather not catch anything on flies"
Bob Lawless. "...buying a fly rod in the average city store, that is, joining it up and safely waggling it a bit, is much like seeing a woman's arm protruding from a car window: all one can readily be sure of is that the window is open."
Anatomy of a Fisherman by Robert Traver "Why does a salmon rise? Why does a small boy cross the street just to kick a tin can?"
Lee Wulff, The Atlantic Salmon "It is only the inexperienced and thoughtless who find pleasure in killing fish for the mere sake of killing them. No sportsman does this."
W.C. Prime, 1888 "They say you forget your troubles on a trout stream, but that's not quite it. What happens is that you begin to see where your troubles fit into the grand scheme of things, and suddenly they're just not such a big deal anymore."
John Gierach
"Game fish are too valuable to only be caught once."
Lee Wulff
"The finest gift you can give to any fisherman is to put a good fish back, and who knows if the fish that you caught isn't someone else's gift to you?" Lee Wulff "Something to think about: If you fish the wrong fly long and hard enough, it will sooner or later become the right fly."
John Gierach "If I fished only to capture fish, my fishing trips would have ended long ago."
Zane Grey
"What a tourist terms a plague of insects, the fly fisher calls a great hatch."
Patrick F. McManus