John Gierach Quotes
The solution to any problem -work, love, money, whatever -is to go fishing, and the worse the problem, the longer the trip should be.
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.
Maybe your stature as a fly fisherman isn't determined by how big a trout you can catch, but by how small a trout you can catch without being disappointed.
Cell phones have changed us from a nation of self-reliant pioneer types into a bunch of men standing alone in supermarkets saying, ‘Okay, I’m in the tampon aisle, but I don’t see it.'
I used to like fishing because I thought it had some larger significance. Now I like fishing because it's the one thing I can think of that probably doesn't.
If people don't occasionally walk away from you shaking their heads, you're doing something wrong.
The best fisherman I know try not to make the same mistakes over and over again; instead they strive to make new and interesting mistakes and to remember what they learned from them.
I still enjoy the company of most dogs more than that of most people, because dogs are capable of uncomplicated enthusiasm.
It's an odd fact of life that whichever side of the stream you're on, two-thirds of the best water is out of reach on the other side.
Fishing in rainy conditions may make fisherman seem crazy to the great mass of unimaginative people, but then few fishermen care what they think
Something to think about: If you fish the wrong fly long and hard enough, it will sooner or later become the right fly.
Really, the only thing a psychiatrist can do that a good (fishing) guide can't is write prescriptions.
Lawyers are like nuclear weapons. By all rights they shouldn't exist, but if some people have them, then you'd better have one, too, just in case.
Accurately recalling an entire day of fishing is like trying to push smoke back down a chimney, so you settle on these specific moments.
Fly tackle has improved considerably since 1676, when Charles Cotton advised anglers to 'fish fine and far off,' but no one has ever improved on that statement.
Successful trout fishing isn't a matter of brute force or even persistence, but something more like infiltration.
We do have to think seriously about conservation now, although it is chilling to realize there are catch-and-release fishermen alive today who don't know how to clean and fry a fish.
Sure, it was your idea and your fly, but he caught the big fish. Remember, fairness is a human idea largely unknown in nature.
