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Good old angling quotes

8K views 133 replies 71 participants last post by  BriGuy 
#1 ·
I'll start.




“No life, my honest Scholar, no life so happy and so pleasant as the life of a well governed Angler; for when the lawyer is swallowed up with business, and the statesman is preventing or contriving plots, then we sit on cowslip banks, hear the birds sing, and possess ourselves in as much quietness as these silent silver streams, which we now see glide so quietly by us.”

--Izaak Walton, 1653





And Angling too, that solitary Vice
Whatever Isaac Walton sings or says –
The Quaint, old, cruel Coxcomb in his gullet
Should have a hook, and small trout to pull it.

--Lord Byron, 1823
 
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#30 ·
Another Geirach quote.....he's by far my favorite author. I always have a Gierach paperback with me on fishing trips.

And never fall into that statistical macho trap that’s so prevalent in fly-fishing these days. If you keep score, you can be beaten, but if you refuse to compete you can leave the impression that you have long since risen above that kind of crap. When someone says to you, “I caught forty-eight trout and ten of them were twenty inches or better. How’d you do?” say, “Yeah, we got some. Couple nice ones, too.
 
#31 ·
And never fall into that statistical macho trap that's so prevalent in fly-fishing these days. If you keep score, you can be beaten, but if you refuse to compete you can leave the impression that you have long since risen above that kind of crap. When someone says to you, "I caught forty-eight trout and ten of them were twenty inches or better. How'd you do?" say, "Yeah, we got some. Couple nice ones, too.
That's a good one. I read a bunch of Gierach a while back and didn't realize that was a quote of his. But, it's kinda my standard response when asked, "yeah, we got a few"...
 
#56 ·
Another Geirach quote.....he's by far my favorite author. I always have a Gierach paperback with me on fishing trips.

And never fall into that statistical macho trap that's so prevalent in fly-fishing these days. If you keep score, you can be beaten, but if you refuse to compete you can leave the impression that you have long since risen above that kind of crap. When someone says to you, "I caught forty-eight trout and ten of them were twenty inches or better. How'd you do?" say, "Yeah, we got some. Couple nice ones, too.
I love this. What book should I start with of theirs?
 
#36 ·
There's another Gierach one I can't remember completely but it goes something like...

First you want to catch fish. Then lots of fish. Then big fish. Then lots of big fish. Then once you've proved whatever it is you wanted to, you come back around and fish how you want.

I know I butchered it......
That's the gist of it...

These days, I'm in that last category most of the time, but on Sunday, I'll be trout fishing and focusing on the second stage....ha!
 
#39 ·
There are few fish in fresh water that cannot be taken with artificial flies, for the insects that drop upon the surface of the water are natural food for every form of freshwater fish save those that linger in the mud of the bottom such as catfish, bullheads, eels, suckers, carp, and other fish, that after all, are hardly worth the catching.

Boy Scouts Angler Merit Badge booklet.....1930
 
#42 ·
Gierach got me into Thomas McGuane, and a quote of his (on fishing) went something like:
"A better man might be content to commune with nature just by being there. But I must have a game to play."
That's insightful, thanks. It does describe me. When the doctor told me I couldn't race anymore I pretty much lost interest in the bike even though I'd enjoyed the training so much.
 
#44 ·
An early, extensive list of “angling virtues” is provided by Gervase Markham:

. . . a skilful angler ought to be a general scoller, and seen in all the Liberal Sciences, as a Grammarian to know how either to write or discourse of his art in true and fitting terms, either without affectation or rudeness. He should have sweetness of speech, to perswade and entice others to delight in an exercise so much laudable. He should have strength of arguments to defend and maintain his profession, against envy or slander.
He should have knowledge in the Sun, Moon, and Stars, that by their aspects he may guess the seasonableness or unseasonableness of the weather, the breeding of storms, and from what coast the winds are delivered. He should be a good knower of countries, and well used to High-wayes, that by taking the readiest paths to every Lake, Brook and River, his Journies may be more certain and less wearisome. He should have knowledge in proportions of all sorts, whether Circular, Square, or Diametrical, that when he shall be questioned of his diurnal progresses, he may give a Geographical description of the angles and channels of Rivers, how they fall from their heads, and what compasses they fetch in their several windings. He must also have the perfect art of numbering. . . .

GERVASE MARKHAM, COUNTRY CONTENTMENTS (1615), reprinted in THE OPEN ROAD: A LITTLE BOOK FOR WAYFARERS (Lucas, ed., 1909) at 142-43 (idiosyncratic spelling in original).
 
#48 ·
Besides my sig...
The Angler's Song
Words by Izaak Walton
(Music by Henry Lawes)

Man's life is but vain,
For 'tis subject to pain
And sorrow, and short as a Bubble;
'Tis a Hodg Podg of Businesse,
And money and care,
And care and money, and trouble.

But we'll take no care,
While the weather proves fair,
Nor will we vex now though it Rain;
We'll banish all sorrow
And sing till tomorrow,
And angle and angle again.
 
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