[Jim Eddie]

I know this has been done before, then so has everything else in fishing 

Here are a few of my favourite fishing quotes, starting with my most favourite one , what are your favourite quotes ?

"I fish because I love to; because I love the environs where trout are found, which are invariably beautiful, and hate the environs where crowds of people are found, which are invariably ugly; because of all the television commercials, cocktail parties, and assorted social posturing I thus escape; because, in a world where most men seem to spend their lives doing things they hate, my fishing is at once an endless source of delight and an act of small rebellion; because trout do not lie or cheat and cannot be bought or bribed or impressed by power, but respond only to quietude and humility and endless patience; because I suspect that men are going along this way for the last time, and I for one don't want to waste the trip; because mercifully there are no telephones on trout waters; because only in the woods can I find solitude without loneliness; because bourbon out of an old tin cup always taste better out there; because maybe one day I will catch a mermaid; and, finally, not because I regard fishing as so terribly important but because I suspect that so many of the other concerns of men are equally unimportant - and not nearly so much fun."

Robert Travers pen name of an American judge and author.

Here is another one of his on buying fly rods;

"...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"


 

Jim
 

[Jim Eddie]

This quote is from Viscount Grey of Falladon 1862 - 1933 when he could no longer fish through loss of sight.

“Fishing grows deep roots that twine themselves through the whole person; and as we change with age and time , so these roots , as from richer or less wholesome soil , bear fruit that is different from the fruit of former years ; but memory remains and diffuses its potent influence through the fisher’s present experience ; and the passing of time brings both loss and gain , brings sharp sorrows and  deep joy, brings change above all things , except that the rise of a trout and the hooking of him and the beauty of him in the bankside grass ; these remain a constant delight and enrichment.”

 

Jim

[Jim Eddie]

A few more

“Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters.”
Norman Maclean, - A River Runs Through It - 1976

“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.”
Author Paul O'Neil

“Now I am . . . like anyone with a strong preference for the fly rod, totally indifferent to how large a fish I catch by comparison with other fishermen. So when a fifteen-year-old called Fred, fishing deep in midsummer with a hideous plastic worm, caught a four and a half pounder . . . I naturally felt no resentment beyond wanting to break the kid's thumbs.”
Vance Bourjaily 1981

“When it comes to cults, fly-fishing isn't much different than most. Simply put, this means that enough is never enough. With luck you can reach a pleasant level of mellow fanaticism and maybe even hold down a regular job at the plant. But there is a trout bum that lurks in every one of us and I think we all secretly know that a sparse little lean-to under the bridge, say on Henry's Fork of the Snake River, is never more than a cast away.”
Author Ed Engle
 


 

Jim

[Jim Eddie]

Capitalism Explained
“A business man was at the pier of a Mexican coastal village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the boat were several large Yellowfin tuna. The business man commented on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them. The Mexican replied only a little while. The business man then asked why didn't he stay out longer and catch more fish? The Mexican said he had enough to support his family's immediate needs. The business man then asked, "but what do you do with the rest of your time?" The fisherman said, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a siesta with my wife, Maria. I have a full and busy life, senior." The business man scoffed. "You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds of the bigger boat you could buy several boats. Soon you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman, you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then Los Angeles and eventually New York City where you would run your expanding enterprise. "But what then, senior?" The business man laughed and said, "That's the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company's stock to the public and become very rich. You would make millions." "Millions' senior? Then what?" The business man said, "Then you would retire and move to a small fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids and take a siesta with your wife.

Author Wyse Ortha

Rest in Peace
This past fall I was fishing 'The Pool' on a small river in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia for Atlantic Salmon. I need not say where, as we all know "The Pool", and its reputation. A number of bright, large salmon had moved in overnight and the fishing promised to be memorable. When I arrived, I noticed only one other person. He was an older gentleman, in his seventies I speculated, and he had just started down the pool. His casts were long and graceful with so little effort. The rhythm of his movements and the beauty of the scene were hypnotic. His experience and dedication to the art were obvious and I was moved to sit quietly on the bank and just watch. After five or six casts, and on his last retrieve, there was a huge swirl of water and we both saw the dorsal fin of what was surely a 20 lb. Atlantic Salmon. I knew from previous experience that this was a taking fish, likely to be hooked on the next cast. Just then however, a funeral procession started across the bridge about seventy yards downstream. The elderly gentleman reeled in his line and stepped out of the water. He stood at military attention with his rod smartly at his side and doffed his cap waiting there until the slow procession passed across the bridge and out of sight. He quickly replaced his cap and began stripping line as he made his way back into the water. I was moved by this display and yet curious. I approached the gentleman and remarked that he must have known the deceased quite well to have possibly lost the opportunity to hook and land the large fish he had raised. He replied "Yes, and if she had lived until next Tuesday, we would have been married 53 years."

 

Jim

[Noel Kelly]

Great quotes Jim and a lot to agree with in all of them. That lean-to under the bridge sounds very good right now, far far away from broken feckin airplanes and twelve hour shifts    
I have a few good uns I will stick up when I get half a chance.

[Rob Brownfield]

I'll got for funny ones...

"There is no greater fan of flyfishing than the humble worm!"


"The two best times to fish are when its raining, and when its not"


"I once gave up fishing. It was the most terrfying weekend of my life"

"I am not against golf, since I cannot but suspect it keeps armies of the unworthy from discovering trout"

"Fishing is a delusion entirely surrounded by liars in old clothes"

[Duncan McRae]

Jim

Some cracking quotes there.Reading them has really brightened up my day.

Duncan

[Dutchfly]

This is the one I allways use 

The fishing was good, it was the catching that was bad.

CU

Jeroen

[Jim Eddie]

Jim

Some cracking quotes there.Reading them has really brightened up my day.

Duncan

Glad to hear that duncan 

 

Jim

[Paul Garrigan]

“There's a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot.” - Steven Wright


"My Biggest worry is that when I'm dead and gone, my wife will sell my fishing gear for what I said I paid for it." - Koos Brandt

I like this thread! its cheered me up today! 

[Bronzebommer]

“There's a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot.” - Steven Wright


"My Biggest worry is that when I'm dead and gone, my wife will sell my fishing gear for what I said I paid for it." - Koos Brandt




I can relate to this!

[Mike Barrio]

Great quotes guys, this is fun to read ............. Nice one Jim

Best wishes
Mike

[Dutchfly]

Dutch fishingwriter, the late Rein van Rutten, also gave us a memorable quote:

If you're not catching, you're not really fishing

CU

Jeroen

[Jim Eddie]

A few based on the Chinese proverb ;

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day , teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day. ~Author Unknown

Give a man a fish and he has food for a day; teach him how to fish and you can get rid of him for the entire weekend. ~Zenna Schaffer

Give a man a fish, and he can eat for a day. But teach a man how to fish, and he'll be dead of mercury poisoning inside of three years. ~Charles Haas

Give a man a fish, and you'll feed him for a day; give him a religion, and he'll starve to death while praying for a fish. ~Author Unknown

Give a man a fish, and you'll feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and he’ll move to New Zeeland  Author Unknown

Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and somewhere some woman is going to have to learn how to clean and gut that fish, then how to prepare it, and finally, how to put up with those never ending "fish stories" about the one that got away. Author Unknown , but I’ll bet its one of the fairer sex 

 

Jim

[piperboyjamie]

If fishing was easy it would be called catching.

Jamie