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The old Cherokee chief sat in his reservation hut, smoking the ceremonial pipe, eyeing the two US government officials  sent to interview him.
 
 "Chief Two Eagles," one official began, "you have observed  the white man for many generations, you have seen his wars and his products, you have seen all his progress, and all  his problems."
 
 The chief nodded. The official continued, "Considering recent events, in Your opinion, where has the white man gone wrong?"
 
 The chief stared at the government officials for over a minute, and then calmly replied. "When white man found the land, Indians  were running it.
 
 * No taxes.
 * No debt.
 * Plenty buffalo
 * Plenty beaver
 * Women did the work
 * Medicine man free
 * Indian men hunted and fished all the time."
 
 The chief smiled, and added quietly, "White man dumb enough to think he could improve system like that."

Put backing on your line; even if you never use it.  It helps you dream.

" Of all the memories that have clung to the day's events, and of all the sights and sounds to which I was heir that morning, none so electrified me as did the first wild, panic-stricken shriek of that tiny, unprepared reel. If ever a thing inanimate screamed in abject terror it was that ounce or two of delicate and airy metal."

"The Banshee Shadow Flies" by Gordon Grand.

"Now that Trout are in my field of study, I much regret that I started life as an idiot."
Christopher Camuto

"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 McManus

"The difference between fly fishers and worm dunkers is the quality of  their excuses."

Unless one can enjoy himself fishing with the fly, even when his efforts are unrewarded, he loses much real pleasure. More than half the intense enjoyment of fly-fishing is derived from the beautiful surroundings, the satisfaction felt from being in the open air, the new lease of life
secured thereby, and the many, many pleasant recollections of all one has seen, heard and done.
Charles  Orvis, 1886

"Three-fourths of the Earth's surface is water, and one-fourth is land.  It is quite clear that the good Lord intended us to spend triple the amount of time fishing as taking care of the lawn. "
Chuck Clark

" Catch and Release fishing is a lot like golf.  You don't have to eat the ball to have a good time."

"I spend most of my life fishing, the rest I just waste."

"Three Men And A Baby"   What you get when four men go fishing and one comes back not catching anything.

Fishing rule #1: The least experienced fisherman always catches the biggest fish.
Fishing rule #2: The worse your line is tangled, the better is the fishing around you.
Fishing rule #3: Fishing will do a lot for a man but it won't make him truthful.

"For the tired and troubled, the fly rod is massage and spiritual therapy.  It works best in serene and beautiful places where life's meaning is uncluttered by material pursuits."

"For the adventurous, the fly rod helps even the match between angler and prey.  The delicate rod, gossamer leader and single hook help tilt the odds in the fish's favor, making victory all the sweeter.".

Ours is the grandest sport. It is an intriguing battle of wits between an angler and a trout; and in addition to appreciating the tradition and grace of the game, we play it in the magnificent out-of-doors.

~ Ernest G. Schwiebert, Jr.

There's a fine line between fishing and standing on the shore like an idiot.

~ Steven Wright

If people concentrated on the really important things of life, there'd be a shortage of fishing poles.

~ Doug Larson

The Essentials of a Good Fly-Hook: The temper of an angel and penetration of a prophet; fine enough to be invisible and strong enough to kill a bull in a ten-acre field.

~ G.S. Marryat

The traveler fancies he has seen the country. So he has, the outside of it at least; but the angler only sees the inside. The angler only is brought close, face to face with the flower and bird and insect life of the rich riverbanks, the only part of the landscape where the hand of man has never interfered.

~ Charles Kingsley

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

"Everyone ought to believe in something; I believe I'll go fishing."

"It has been said that one's true character is determined by what they do when no one is watching them. What would you do if you'd thrown every last fly in your fly box, including your complete assortment of hoppers, at a big rainbow to no avail? Then you see a juicy grasshopper jump off the bank, only to be immediately inhaled by a big bow. Then several  more hoppers land on your arms and began crawling all over you. What would you do? Stand there like an idiot, while muttering to yourself, "I don't use live bait", or would you grab one of those naturals and impale it on a fresh hook from your streamside kit? " No question what I'd do, and my character would not be impuned, for I'd grab that grasshopper right off, no matter who was watching me."
By Jimmy D. Moore - "Character vs Catching - 1999

"Generally speaking, perch and bluegills are easy to catch, except when it comes to getting big ones.  Because of this, people who fish for them are often looked upon by trout and bass anglers as lowbrow fisherman.  The odd thing about this is that many of the anglers who don't do well with trout and bass are the ones who are most likely to act superior to the panfishermen.  An while the may themselves have an urge to catch some of these plebian fish, they don't give it a try because they're afraid ob being scorned by the elite, the stars of the trout and bass world."
"Fishing with Ray Berman"  edited by Edward C Janes

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

We had held the world in our hand when we held a four-and-a-half-ounce fishing rod.
Norman McLean, A River Runs Through It

"When the word began to get out, the idea of tying imitations of aquatic worms was not met with universal approval in the fly fishing community.  It seems that worms had somehow gotten a bad name.  I think a fishing pal of mine hit it on the head when he said, " It just pisses them off that you can catch trout, I mean really big trout, on a fly that a five-year old can tie in twenty seconds! "

Ed Engle - talking about John Gierach's comment on the San Juan Worm
Fly Fishing The Tailwaters (1991)

"There ain't no provate property you can't fish if you know how to hunker a spell with the man what owns it."

"The two best times to fish is when it's rainin' and when it ain't."

Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, you lose him for an entire weekend!!!

"In my opinion fishing should not be competitive or comparative.  Rather, it should be contemplative-a sport to build up the soul and refresh the mind, so that after a day or more on the lake or stream a person goes back to the ob of making a living with renewed vigor and new ideas."
 "Fishing with Ray Bergman"  edited by Edward C Janes

"Trout Don't Live In Ugly Places"

-Alex Hibala, Monument, CO 

. . . In flyfishing there is the promise of constant improvement but perfection can rarely be attained. Therein lies the challenge of flyfishing; to improve, to attain a state of grace. There is also the comradeship with other flyfishers. There is the sharing, both literally and figuratively, of sustenance. This shared experience makes our own experiences so much richer. Because of this comradeship, we are fishing for our friends as well as with our friends. I fish with the friends who accompany me, but I also fish for my new friends I have met in this virtual flyshop. So my friends, that is why I flyfish. Until we meet again in this virtual flyshop, I remain,

- Henry H. Kanemoto, on Flyfish@ 1996

"My wife wonders why all women do not seek anglers for husbands. She has come in contact with many in her life with me and she claims that they all have a sweetness in their nature which others lack."
Ray Bergman, author of Trout, and Just Fishing

"The gods do NOT deduct from man's alloted span the hours spent in fishing"   

Herbert Hoover

"When I go fishing I ... want to get away from it all, for it is silence and solitude even more than it is fish that I am seeking ... As for big fish, all is relative. Not every tuna is a trophy."
William Humphrey

"Fly fishing is for those who hold that the fun in the race of life is in the running, not just the winning, that existence is its own justification, that a day spent in a stream or a pond with a goal in mind is a joy even if the goal is not achieved, though a greater joy if it is."
Jon Margolis and Jeff MacNelly, How to Fool Fish with Feathers

"To ask certain questions is to answer them. The answer to 'Should we punt?' is always yes. The answer to "Is that Sinatra or one of the other guys?' is always one of the other guys. The answer to 'Is this fly too big?' is always yes."
 Jon Margolis and Jeff MacNelly, How to Fool Fish with Feathers

"After the doctor's departure Koznyshev expressed the wish to go to the river with his fishing rod. He was fond of angling and was apparently proud of being fond of such a stupid occupation."
Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

I knew there was a reason why I should be fishing for bluegills, a dumb fish for a dumb fisherman!

"I look into ... my fly box, and think about all the elements I should consider in choosing the perfect fly: water temperature, what stage of development the bugs are in, what the fish are eating right now. Then I remember what a guide told me: 'Ninety percent of what a trout eats is brown and fuzzy and about five-eighths of an inch long.'"
 Allison Moir

"And when he struck his first cod, and felt the fish take the hook, a kind of big slow smile went over his features, and he said, “Gentlemen, this is solid comfort.”  
Stephen Vincent Benet - 1932

 "If our father had had his say, nobody who did not know how to catch a fish would be allowed to disgrace a fish by catching him."
A River Runs Through It

"Dix chasseurs et dix pêcheurs font bien vingt menteurs."

Translated to English it means:

"Ten hunters and ten fishermens makes twenty liars"

"Rivers and the inhabitants of the watery elements are made for wise men  to contemplate and for fools to pass by without consideration."
Anonymous

"One reason Paul caught more fish than anyone else was that he had his flies in the water more than anyone else. "Brother," he would say, "there are no flying fish in Montana. Out here, you can't catch fish with your flies in the air."
A River Runs Through It

"For the rich there's therapy for the rest of us there's Fly Fishing." 

- Anonymous

"If the old boy [Izaak Walton] occasionally stretched the truth, it strikes me that it makes him an even more appropriate father figure for a cult whose members are often given to hyperbole".
Robert Diendorfer 1977

"It has been said that one's true character is determined by what they do when no one is watching them. What would you do if you'd thrown every last fly in your fly box, including your complete assortment of hoppers, at a big Bow to no avail? Then you see a juicy grasshopper jump off the bank, only to be immediately inhaled by a big bow. Then several more hoppers land on your arms and began crawling all over you. What would you do? Stand there like an idiot, while muttering to yourself, "I don't use live bait", or would you grab one of those naturals and impale it on one of your flies? " No question what I'd do, and my character would not be impuned, for I'd do it, no matter who was watching me."
Character vs Catching
from "Outdoor Memories"
By Jimmy D. Moore

"To be a complete and expert angler, you must wear a "Goofy" or at least a "Ratty" hat. "

"There is no more graceful and healthful accomplishment for a lady than fly-fishing, and there is no reason why a lady should not in every respect, rival a gentleman in the gentle art."
W.C. Prime, 1888

It is well known that no person who regards his reputation will ever kill a trout with anything but a fly. It requires some training on the part of the trout to take to this method. The uncultivated, unsophisticated trout in unfrequented waters prefers the bait; and the rural people, whose sole object in going a-fishing appears to be to catch fish, indulge them in their primitive taste for the worm. No sportsman however, will use anything but the fly, except when he happens to be alone.

- Charles Dudley Warner, 1862

"Just as in cooking there's no such thing as a little garlic, in fishing there's no such thing as a little drag."
H.G. Tapply The Sportsman's Notebook (1964)

"Who ever said "A bad day of fishing is always better than a good day at work." Never had their boat sink."
Anonymous

The traveller fancies he has seen the country. So he has, the outside of it at least; but the angler only sees the inside. The angler only is brought close, face to face with the flower and bird and insect life of the rich river banks, the only part of the landscape where the hand of man has never interfered.
 Charles Kingsley, 1890

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

To me heaven would be a big bull ring with me holding two barrera seats and a trout stream outside that no one else was allowed to fish in and two lovely houses in the town; one where I would have my wife and children and be monogamous and love them truly and well and the other where I would have my nine beautiful mistresses on nine different floors.
Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)

If we carry purism to it's logical conclusion, to do it right 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

"Ladies, when you're fly fishing and nature calls, life is not fair."
Anonymous

"Just as in cooking there's no such thing as a little garlic, in fishing
there's no such thing as a little drag."
H.G. Tapply The Sportsman's Notebook (1964)

Flyfishing is like sex, everyone thinks there is more than there is, and that everyone is getting more than their share.
 Henry Kanemoto

Final Words
"An old man in his final breaths called in his family and said "I must apologize to you all. I suppose I haven't been the perfect father and husband. I shamefully admit that I spent as much of my life as I could in the woods and on the streams. I was rarely at home during the fishing seasons and I'll admit that I spent too much time at the fly shop, and too much money on rods and lines and reels." He paused here to rest for a minute, then continued. "I've been a terrible father and I hope you all forgive me." Then he paused again and looked around. Then he closed his eyes and smiled and said in a half whisper to himself, "and on the other hand....I have caught a helluva lot of trout."
 Anonymous

"Bass fishermen watch Monday night football, drink beer, drive pickup trucks and prefer noisy women with big breasts.  Trout fishermen watch MacNeil-Lehrer, drink white wine, drive foreign cars with passenger-side air bags and hardly think about women at all.  This last characteristic may have something to do with the fact that trout fishermen spend most of the time immersed up to the waist in ice-cold water."
Anonymous

"Fly-fishers are usually brain-workers in society. Along the banks of purling streams, beneath the shadows of umbrageous trees, or in the secluded nooks of charming lakes, they have ever been found, drinking deep of the invigorating forces of nature - giving rest and tone to over-taxed brains and wearied nerves- while gracefully wielding the supple rod, the invisible leader, and the fairy-like fly."
James A. Henshall, MD, 1855

"The trout fly does not resemble any known species of insect. It is a "conventionalized" creation, as we say of ornamentation. The theory is, that, fly-fishing being a high art, the fly must not be a tame imitation of nature, but an artistic suggestion of it. It requires an artist to construct one; and not every bungler can take a bit of red flannel, a peacocks feather, a flash of tinsel thread, a cock's plume, a section of hen's wing, and fabricate a tiny object that will not look like any fly, but will still suggest the universal conventional fly. "
- Charles Dudley Warner, 1862

"Somebody just back of you while you are fishing is as bad as someone looking over your shoulder while you write a letter to your girl." 

- Ernest Hemingway

"There's a big difference between a dry fly dancing through a riffle and a weighted fur ball dragging on the bottom."
Anonymous

Some act and talk as though casting were the entire art of Fly-fishing, and grade an angler solely by the distance he can cover with his flies. This is a great mistake and pernicious in it's influence. Casting is but a method of placing a fly before the trout without alarming it, and within its reach. It is merely placing food before a guest. The selection of such food as will suit, and so serving it as to please a fastidious and fickle taste, still remain indispensably necessary to induce its acceptance.
- Henry P. Wells, "Fly-Rods and Fly-Tackle", 1885

Fly fishing is such great fun, I have often felt , that it really ought to be done in bed. Not that high frolic is the only thing the pursuit of fish and the pursuit of females have in common; these ancient sports have more going for them than just that - as I'll now try to tell why. First off, just as both diversions are best conducted in decent privacy, away from distracting crowds, so too the most gratifying results are best obtained by subtlety rather than by force, by seduction rather than rape. Again, just as both pastimes quickly pall when the conquest is too easy, so too the lures used in the wooing, whether jewels or jassids, must be presented with the utmost skill and grace. 

- Robert Traver - Trout Magic, 1974

"The time must come to all of us, who live long, when memory is more than prospect. An angler who has reached this stage and reviews the pleasure of life will be grateful and glad that he has been an angler, for he will look back on days radiant with happiness, peaks of enjoyment that are no less bright because they are lit in memory by the light of a setting sun.'
Viscount Grey of Falloden - 1899

A gray-haired baitfisher is very rare, while the passion for fly-casting, whether for trout or salmon, grows by what it feeds upon, and continues a source of the highest pleasure even after the grasshopper becomes a burden. 
- George Dawson, 1888

"Smoked carp tastes just as good as smoked salmon when you ain't got no smoked salmon."
Patrick F. McManus

You Might be a Fly Fisherman if -- (by Jimmy D. Moore©)

1) You have one of those large demo flies dangling from your rear view mirror because you think it makes a good conversation piece.
2) Your wedding party had to tie tin cans to your drift boat..
3) You call your fly rod "sweetheart" and your wife "midge".
4) Your local fly shop has your credit card number on file.
5) You keep your wading staff by your favorite chair to change the TV channels with.
6) You name your black lab "Scott" and your cat "Sage".
7) Byard has a private line just for you.
8) You have your name painted on a parking space at the launch ramp.
9) You have a photo of your 10 lb. rainbow on your desk at work instead of your family.
10) You consider vienna sausage and crackers a complete meal.
11) You think MEGABYTES means a great day fishing.
12) You send your kid off to the first day of school with his shoes tied in a "blood knot".
13) You think there are four seasons--Fly tying & dreaming, Fly tying and waiting,        Fly tying and getting your equipment ready and Finally, Fishing,
but you have to tie some extra flies, just to be safe.
14) You trade your wife's van for a smaller vehicle so your pontoon boat and drift boat will fit in the garage.
15) Your kids know it's Saturday---Because both boats and your float tube are gone.

"During your time on earth, you shouldn't be afraid to do something that's not in the exact path you originally chose, especially if it includes allot of fishing..."
"Treasury of Fly Fishing"  edited by Tom Paugh

"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.  It's a nice
position.  No one considers you to be  dangerous, but very little is
expected of you."
John Gierach, "Pike" from "Even Brook Trout Get the Blues"

"Fly fishing is for those who hold that the fun in the race of life is
in the running, not just the winning, that existence is its own
justification, that a day spent in a stream or a pond with a goal in
mind is a joy even if the goal is not achieved, though a greater joy if
it is."
-- Jon Margolis and Jeff MacNelly, How to Fool Fish with Feathers

"Right here we have one of the most common reasons for angling failures- intolerance for things we can't control.  Impatience makes us do things carelessly, heedlessly and by so doing we only aggravate the condition which caused our irritation in the first place.  No one ever accomplished much by letting impatience upset his judgment."
"Trout"  Ray Bergman

Undoubtedly, our differences would not have seemed so great if we had not been such a close family. Painted on one side of our Sunday school wall were the words, God Is Love. We always assumed that these three words were spoken directly to the four of us in our family and had
no reference to the world outside, which my brother and I soon discovered was full of bastards, the number increasing rapidly the farther one gets from Missoula, Montana.
A River Runs Through It

"A.K.taught me most of what I know about fly-tying.  It turned out to be a classic paradox- a simple job with endless complications-but the upshot is, tying flies is like splitting wood neatly or plowing a  straight furrow: If there's an art to it, it's in the work itself rather than in the product."
"Dances With Trout"  John Gierach

"My wife says I'm hard of hearing.  All husbands who have been around the block a time or two, know it's called "selective hearing".  I hear what I want to hear. I can hear a trout rise. I can hear a spinner hit the water. I can hear the drumming of a grouse at half a mile, but I danged well can't hear her when she wants me to make the bed, or paint the house, etc. etc.  I secretly  had my hearing tested just to be sure.  The doc says it is great, a 7 % loss in my left ear and a 10% loss in my right.  Very typical of anyone who does a lot of hunting with a shotgun.   But I'm not about to tell my wife that."  ;-)
"LAST IN LINE AND OTHER PERSONAL DISCRIMINATIONS" [1995], Jimmy D. Moore

"For the most part, fly-tying is a practical business.  You want the flies to work, you want them to be as durable as the materials will allow, and you want to be able to tie them quickly and easily enough that  you can use them up thoughtlessly.
Okay, fine, but then sooner or later the elements of style begin to creep in.  You may begin to tie flies that are prettier than they'd have to be just to fish for reasons that aren't immediately evident. The bodies on your dry flies become trimmer, and not necessarily because trout like them better that way.  There are hundreds of colors of commercial dubbing on the market, but non of them are quite right, so you begin to dye and blend your own.  It's great when someone tells you you tie a pretty fly, but that's not precisely why you do it."
"Dances With Trout"   John Gierach

"I've noticed that professional fly tiers, like artist, can sometimes get cranky.  or maybe it's the crankiness that comes first, giving them the predisposition to be meticulous and single-minded.  for the most of us, making our own flies is just a comfortable part of the process of fusing, a way to get inside of thing in a nonscientific, somewhat intuitive and, okay, maybe even artistic way."
"Dances With Trout"  John Gierach

"The place for your lure is in the water and not in the air and yet I see many anglers expending more energy in casting that they ever do in actually fishing their fly.  I'm inclined to be that way myself and often find it very necessary to curb the impulse"
"Trout"    Ray Bergman

"After all, fly-fishing is one small part of American culture where it's still assumed that experience and a little age naturally bring wisdom."
"Dances with Trout"  John  Gierach

"Depend upon it, brother angler, that there is no dogmatic rule to be laid down for either maidens or fish. Take the word of one who hath experience of both. You can't diagram them; you must study their humours as well as you can, and suit your arts to your customer as near as may be. If that fails try perseverance."

"There are trout fisherman who never seem to reach the released tempo of effective trouting.  One sees them hurrying from pool to pool in a rush to cover as much stream mileage as time will allow  Others may stay at one pool and flail the water for hours without interruption, impatient over the lack of rises.  True, there is a magnetic attraction the the stream ahead, the next riffle.  There is a hungry desire to round the next bend where a bigger trout must be waiting.  This is a part, an important part, of trout fishing, this spirit to explore, to seek the new.  Just as it is an important part to return to old, treasured spots,.  But how much of the in-between flavor we miss if we overlook the little things?  In fact, a man is trout fishing only if each day's success is not measured by he creel alone."
"Treasury of Fly Fishing"  edited by Tom Paugh

"My wife said I have so many fly rods and reels that I cannot possibly use them all.  My reply was that I had rods and reels to fish, rods and reels to tinker with and then my fine crafted rods and reels to "fondle and admire, while dreaming of trout fishing during the cold winter months.  You can imagine what kind of look she gave me."
Jimmy D. Moore

"Trout fishing gives a man time for meditation, a chance to absorb the meaning of a bleu sky and pines sighing to the breeze.  Tiny mosses on a streamside boulder, just placed right for resting, hold tiny scarlet flags above tier soft green, in a cluster of forget-me-nots a shimmering green tiger beetle waves his antannae to a nether world of charm a man need to know."
"Treasure of fly Fishing"  Edited by Tom Paugh

"When, I wonder, are folks going to learn that it is a dangerous thing to attempt to lay down hard and fast rules about fishing? It's been tried man times, always with embarrassing repercussions.  NO sooner does a fellow arrive at a nice, neat set of common-sense rules of fishing and, still worse, make these rules a matter of public record, than the fish hold a meeting, conspire, and proceed to upset the applecart."
"Treasury of fly Fishing"  edited by Tom Paugh

"I don't want to get into the ethics of fishing for bedding bass, except to say that I really don't think it's right. However, to be completely truthful, I have done it a time or two, so I guess that makes me a hypocrite or at least a "half-o-crit."  Whatever. What would you do if you came on to a ten pound plus momma bass sitting on her bed ? I dare say you'd do the same as I did. You'd try to catch her, and the heck with ethics, since you were going to put her back anyway. Right? Right!"
Jimmy D. Moore - Outdoor Memories - "One Stubborn Bass"

"While dry flies need to be in fairly good repair: a bedraggled wet fly or streamer will often do better than a new one.  I never discarded a fly that's fished wet until the hook is almost bare.  I've had good fishing with them when only parts of the body, hackle, and wings remain."
"Fishing with Ray Bergman"  edited by Edward C Janes

"When I was young, I danced with nymphs. Now I only fish them."
Jimmy D. Moore, Dances With Wulfs, September, 2002

"It has been said that the flies we tie mirror the fly tyer. Maybe that explains why my flies are always so good looking."
Jimmy D. Moore

"Some of the best fishing ever done, was done without water, using only the printed word."

PURIST: dry flies only, barbless hooks, and releases a great supper for a baloney sandwich.

The fisherman has a harmless, preoccupied look; he is a kind of vagrant, that nothing fears. He blends himself with the trees and the shadows. All his approaches are gentle and indirect. He times himself to the meandering, soliloquizing stream; he addresses himself to it as a lover to his mistress; he woos it and stays with it till he knows its hidden secrets. Where it deepens his purpose deepens; where it is shallow he is indifferent. He knows how to interpret its every glance and dimple; its beauty haunts him for days.

- John Burroughs, 1886

You may always know a large trout when feeding in the evening. He rises continuously, or at small intervals-in a still water almost always in the same place, and makes little noise--barely elevating his mouth to suck in the fly, and sometimes showing his back fin and tail. A large circle spreads around him, but there are seldom any bubbles when he breaks the water, which usually indicates the coarser fish.

- Sir Humphrey Davy, 1868

"THE PURIST"

I fish with a Pflueger Pack Rod. He fishes with a Sage or a Scott.
Doesn't make any difference to the fish that we caught.
Fish don't care what rod we use and faced with a choice
they'd probably not choose.

The "purist" fishes a Betty McNall or other perfect fly.
I fish with a Black Ant or Elk Hair Caddis
cause they're so easy to tie.

"Expand your horizons, that's where it's at",
he says as he ties on a number 16 Claret Gnat.
"Don't be fishing those trash flies, my boy.
Why don't you try a Ferret Faced Rob Roy."

To go along with his game, I say I might try a Chauncey,
or a Colorado King, or maybe a Coachman with the Royal Fan Wing.
He's thinking, "another purist I've found",
when I mention that I love the Royal Blue Crown.

He raises his eyebrows as he ponders all that.
Then he ties on a pretty Brass Hat.
I say a Royal Cubbage is also good,
but sometimes I prefer a Fire Coachman Trude.

He says to himself, "A purist for sure, boy this is great."
But when I tie on a Chernobyl Foam Ant,
we both know he's taken my bait.

"A foam ant! Why would a purist like you stoop to something as trashy as
that?" he says as he removes his tattered old hat.

I say with an evil glint in my eyes, "Gotcha, my Friend. I'm not a
purist. I'll just fish my ants and Little foam flies. You fish your
classics and I'll fish my trash and when the end of the day comes we'll
see who was brash."

Jimmy D. Moore
Woodway, Texas
Copyright October 5, 2001

"In my opinion, the bluegill is one the best fighters in the panfish category. he fights with spirit, speed and vigor right up to the finish.  .... sometimes bluegills will rise to dry flies, but on the whole I find them more ready to take wet flies, streamers and nymphs."
"Fishing with Ray Bergman"  Edited by Edward C Janes

"The river flowed smooth and dark beneath the fringing alders. Here and there on the surface little rings broke the reflections and occasionally a splash showed white against the bank. A boy was lying prone, peering over the grass into the clear water. His breath came quickly as he saw a big tail appear in the center of a ring, waving slowly from side to side before it quietly sank again. There was life in the air as well; tiny gauze-winged forms were rising and dipping over the water, sometimes lightly touching its smooth surface. The boy looked upward to watch them. He raised himself and grasped an alder branch for support. He felt a delicate touch on his hand and, turning saw the insect resting there, its wings slowlyopening and closing. It was an exquisite creature. The wings were nearly transparent, of iridescent pearly color. The up-curved body was shaded darker on the back, tapering to the slender whisks of a tail long and curved.The eyes protruded prominently and were colored a wonderful violet. It held out its long front legs in an almost supplicating attitude,and all its legs were marked with color, speckled and delicately shaded. What an incredibly beautiful thing, he thought. No wonder trout rose to it so avidly. He looked up at the branch again. There were several of those lovely flies resting there, and one seemed different from the others.The boy stood up and looked more closely. He saw an insect, darker and duller in color, its back split down the middle, and from its body was emerging another, the delicate, bright one he had already seen. With a sudden movement, it pulled itself clear. The wings were not erect but seemed to be folded close to the back. As he watched, he saw them begin to open. The metamorphosis took place quickly before his eyes,and in a few moments there was another fly, complete, shining, drying itself in the sun. He looked away and when his eyes returned again it was gone. The splashes in the stream continued. It is no wonder that, with the impact of that introduction, I became a fly fisherman. Surely, I thought, an art based on imitations of such lovely fragile creatures must offer a great deal, especially if the angler could create them after his own fashion."

John Atherton, The Fly and The Fish, 1971

Alfred W. Miller, known to all as Sparse Grey Hackle, and known for the fine H.L. Leonard and Garrison split bamboo fly rods he fished, was not a fan of modern fly rod technology. Sparse, one fellow member joked recently at the Angler's Club, when are you going to fish fiberglass? The old man took a thoughtful swallow of straight Laphroaig, a special pot-still whiskey so strong it numbs the tongue. "I'll fish fiberglass, Sparse muttered behind his steel rimmed spectacles, the morning after some concertmaster plays a concerto at Carnegie Hall on a plastic violin!"

- Ernest G. Schwiebert, "Trout" - 1975

"A gray-haired baitfisher is very rare, while the passion for fly-casting, whether for trout or salmon, grows by what it feeds upon, and continues a source of the highest pleasure even after the grasshopper becomes a burden."

- George Dawson, 1888

"My little green weenie and the split shot thuded against the back window of the pick up and I knew I was in trouble because I recognized the pick up as  belonging to the "Grouch of the Neighborhood". As I was running down the street chasing the pick up and reeling in, trying tosave my line and little green weenie, Ole Sam hit the brakes so hard that the old pick up almost stood on its nose.  I couldn't stop as quick as he did and if I hadn't jumped real high, I would have had "GMC" stamped across my chest. I landed with a "whoomp" in the bed with the green weenie and slid up to the cab among assorted other stuff lying in the bed of the truck.

Sam got out and I thought, "He's gonna beat the hell out of me", but Sam was really quiet as he asked if I was OK.  Nervously I assured him that I was.  Then he saw the little green weenie that I was now holding in my hand.  With a big smile, he said, " I use those on my spinning outfit too, with six pound test mono.  Only way to catch bass in super clear water." 

Ole Sam and I became fast friends and and fished together for five years until lung cancer took him four years ago.  When you got to know Sam, he wasn't a grouch at all - just a big ole teddy bear." 

Jimmy D. Moore
Outdoor Memories - "Heathen Converted"

"We are finding out that the quantity of game killed is not the proof of sportsmanship and tha the method of getting them is."
"Treasury of Fly Fishing"  edited by Tom Paugh

"Then, too, some big fish-usually the big fish- gets away and you dream all winter long that he is waiting for you at the foot of the rapid or beneath the great cedar log where he broke away- waiting just for you.  Why is he waiting for you, why some other fellow may not have caught him, you can't explain, but you believe he is waiting for you- now don't you?  Of course there are certain advantages in fishing a new stream: you see new country and solve new problems,, but there is nothing quite like fishing the old stream.  It is first love; it is getting back home again- that's what it is."
"Treasury of fly Fishing"  edited by Tom Paugh
March 1906 article

 
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