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. John Gierach More Quotes by John Gierach More Quotes From John Gierach 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 troutforget-youfishing The solution to any problem -work, love, money, whatever -is to go fishing, and the worse the problem, the longer the trip should be. John Gierach troutproblemfishing 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 mainstream-culturefishingthinking 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 poeticfishinghands 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. John Gierach fishingsealakes 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.' John Gierach phonesselfmen 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. John Gierach sealakesthinking If people don't occasionally walk away from you shaking their heads, you're doing something wrong. John Gierach away-from-youfishingpeople 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. John Gierach sealakesmistake 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. John Gierach sealakesrivers I still enjoy the company of most dogs more than that of most people, because dogs are capable of uncomplicated enthusiasm. John Gierach enthusiasmdogpeople If we carry purism to it's logical conclusion, to do it right {fishing} you'd have to live naked in a cave, hit your trout on the head with rocks, and eat them raw. But, so as not to violate another essential element of the fly-fishing tradition, the rocks would have to be quarried in England and cost $300 each. John Gierach troutrocksfishing Creeps and idiots cannot conceal themselves for long on a fishing trip. John Gierach troutfishinglong I know I'm a long way from greatness, but I am beginning to come at it in my own way. I can go through the basic motions pretty well, don't rely quite as religiously on specific fly patterns as I once did, have worked out ways of compensating for some of my most egregious weaknesses and have come to count heavily on timing because it's a hell of a lot easier to catch fish when the fish are biting. John Gierach patternsgreatnesslong Really, the only thing a psychiatrist can do that a good (fishing) guide can't is write prescriptions. John Gierach guidesfishingwriting 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. John Gierach weaponsrightspeople 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 fishinglongthinking Fish sense, applied in the field, is what the old Zen masters would call enlightenment: simply the ability to see what's right there in front of you without having to sift through a lot of thoughts and theories and, yes, expensive fishing tackle. John Gierach fishingsealakes Fishing in rainy conditions may make fisherman seem crazy to the great mass of unimaginative people, but then few fishermen care what they think John Gierach crazyseathinking From my own experience I can say that a bad back makes you hike slower, stove-up knees keep you from wading confidently, tendinitis of the elbows buggers your casting, and a dose of giardia can send you dashing to the bushes fifteen times in an afternoon, but although none of this is fun, it's discernibly better than not fishing. John Gierach sealakesfun
