Fly Fishing Quotes

• There is no greater fan of fly fishing than the worm.

  Patrick F. McManus

  Lakes, Sea, Fishing

  Patrick F. McManus (1984). “Never Sniff A Gift Fish”, p.157, Macmillan

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• Fly-fishing is the most fun you can have standing up.

  Arnold Gingrich

  Fun, Fishing, Standing

  70 Copy quote

• In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing. We lived at the junction of great trout rivers in western Montana, and our father was a Presbyterian minister and a fly fisherman who tied his own flies and taught others. He told us about Christ's disciples being fishermen, and we were left to assume, as my brother and I did, that all first-class fishermen on the Sea of Galilee were fly fishermen and that John, the favorite, was a dry-fly fisherman.

  Norman Maclean

  Brother, Father, Sea

  Norman Maclean, Barry Moser (1989). “A River Runs Through It”, p.1, University of Chicago Press

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• In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing.

  Norman Maclean

  Fishing, Lines, Our Family

  "A River Runs Through It" (1976)

  34 Copy quote

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• O, sir, doubt not that Angling is an art; is it not an art to deceive a trout with an artificial fly?

  Izaak Walton

  Art, Fishing, Doubt

  Izaak Walton, Charles Cotton (1859). “The Complete Angler”, p.28

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• The fishing was good; it was the catching that was bad.

  A. Best

  Lakes, Sea, Fishing

  49 Copy quote

• 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

  Fishing, Trout, Forget You

  131 Copy quote

• 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

  Kindness, Fishing, Giving

  Lee Wulff (1989). “The compleat Lee Wulff: a treasury of Lee Wulff's greatest angling adventures”, Dutton Adult

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• Fly-fishing is a magic way to recapture the rapture of solitude without the pangs of loneliness.

  John D. Voelker

  Loneliness, Rivers, Lakes

  13 Copy quote

• 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

  Hate, Inspiration, Men

  Herbert Hoover (1946). “Addresses Upon the Road: World War II, 1941-1945”

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• A trout is a moment of beauty known only to those who seek it.

  Arnold Gingrich

  Lakes, Sea, Fishing

  19 Copy quote
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  Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Inspirational, Uplifting, Sports

  98 Copy quote

• I think I fish, in part, because it's an anti-social, bohemian business that, when gone about properly, puts you forever outside the mainstream culture without actually landing you in an institution.

  John Gierach

  Thinking, Fishing, Mainstream Culture

  John Gierach (2001). “Death, Taxes, and Leaky Waders: A John Gierach Fly-Fishing Treasury”, p.303, Simon and Schuster

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• One great thing about fly fishing is that after a while nothing exists of the world but thoughts about fly fishing

  Norman Maclean

  Fishing, World, Great Things

  Norman Maclean (2009). “A River Runs Through It and Other Stories, Twenty-fifth Anniversary Edition”, p.18, University of Chicago Press

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• Most of the world is covered by water. A fisherman's job is simple: Pick out the best parts.

  Charles W. Waterman

  Jobs, Simple, Lakes

  51 Copy quote

• 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.

  Jack Ohman

  Reading, Lakes, Glasses

  47 Copy quote

• Creeps and idiots cannot conceal themselves for long on a fishing trip.

  John Gierach

  Fishing, Long, Trout

  John Gierach (2001). “Death, Taxes, and Leaky Waders: A John Gierach Fly-Fishing Treasury”, p.85, Simon and Schuster

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• 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

  Men, Fishing, Long

  Patrick F. McManus (1984). “Never Sniff A Gift Fish”, p.20, Macmillan

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• Rivers and the inhabitants of the watery element were made for wise men to contemplate, and fools to pass by without consideration.

  Izaak Walton

  Wise, Men, Lakes

  "The Compleat Angler".

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• I have fished through fishless days that I remember happily without regret.

  Roderick Haig-Brown

  Regret, Fishing, Remember

  42 Copy quote

• I love fishing. You put that line in the water and you don't know what's on the other end. Your imagination is under there.

  Robert Altman

  Sea, Fishing, Rivers

  "Robert Altman: What I've Learned" by Scott Raab, www.esquire.com. January 29, 2007.

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• If fishing is a religion, fly fishing is the high church.

  Tom Brokaw

  Fishing, Church, Ifs

  9 Copy quote

• Fly-fishing is solitary, contemplative, misanthropic, scientific in some hands, poetic in others, and laced with conflicting aesthetic considerations. It's not even clear if catching fish is actually the point.

  John Gierach

  Hands, Fishing, Poetic

  John Gierach (2010). “Dances With Trout”, p.210, Simon and Schuster

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• Bragging may not bring happiness, but no man having caught a large fish goes home through an alley.

  Ann Landers

  Home, Men, Sea

  15 Copy quote

• I go fishing not to find myself but to lose myself.

  Joseph Monninger

  Fishing, Trout, Loses

  7 Copy quote