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As a rule, men are very forgiving
when you fish badly. It’s only when you fish well that they get truly upset.
They seem to have this thing with competition in general and numbers in
particular. … I keep a journal of my trips, and I have noticed that when I fish
alone, I will log “a couple” or “a lot” of fish, but when I fish with men,
someone will have tallied up the exact number of fish and their weights and
sizes.
Mallory Burton, “Fishing With the
Boys” in May-June 1994 Flyfishing
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Today I went out on the same pond,
confidently expecting to repeat yesterday’s magic. Today the sky was clear, the
sun bright and the wind even stronger than it had been the day before. There was
only a sparse hatch and the flies were a different size and color than the ones
I’d seen yesterday. I fished the same places where I had done so well yesterday
and caught nothing. Another angler, fishing nearby, hooked one fish after
another and played them through long runs off a screaming reel. … All of them
were big fish. With other anglers, I looked on enviously and muttered in
frustration.
Yesterday had been my day; today
belonged to someone else. Tomorrow it would be another angler’s turn.
But I’ll always remember yesterday’s
magic, and if I’m lucky maybe one day soon my turn will come again.
Steve Raymond, “Yesterday’s Magic”
in July-October 1994 Flyfishing
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A
sportsman is one who, in his own mind, is quite satisfied he has attained the
peak of his sporting opportunities and has, at the same time, given due
consideration to his friends.
Frank Sawyer, The Nymph and the
Trout
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It
is not often possible to interest a nymphing trout with a dry fly, [but] a fish
taking floaters well, will also take a nymph even more readily. The eyes of a
rising trout though interested mostly on what is happening on the surface area
also keen enough to see movement beneath it. If you care to watch one you can
soon learn that should a nymph move beneath the surface in a trout’s vision
whilst a fly is floating over him, the fish will most often taken the nymph in
preference.
The nymph fisherman then has the advantage over the dry-fly man in that the fish
is more likely to take an offering beneath the water than upon it. But the
advantage gained in one way is lost in another. A fish taking floaters readily
can usually be caught with a dry-fly pattern. The dry fly man has the advantage
of being able to see the head of his fish appear as he takes, or at least a rise
form which gives all the indication necessary. Indeed he gets a signal very
plain to see and if the fish is missed, well it is just too bad. Actually this
fisherman has but one thing to occupy his mind – just one indication to tell him
his fish has been deluded into taking – a rise form. One thing is very certain –
fish cannot take a fly from the surface without breaking it, and so telling you
that he has done so. Underwater it can be very different. While after fish which
are plainly visible, one learns just how a nymph is taken and it becomes
increasingly obvious that sometimes the indication shown is so slight that
without very keen attention, a trout can have your nymph in his mouth and spit
it out without you knowing a chance has been missed.
Frank Sawyer, The Nymph and the
Trout
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"The trip to a day of
fishing is invariable a great pleasure, but in some ways the trip back after
some successful sport is greater still."
Robert Deindorfer in
"The Armchair Angler"
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"The farther you travel
to fish, the worse the fishing will be. However, it will improve immediately
after you leave to return home, thus the old saying: The fishing is always
better the day before you get there and the day after you leave."
"But in early November
of 1968 - it was shortly before Election Day - I looked over the list of
presidential candidates and it was clear to me that if ever there was a time for
a man to go fishing, this was it."
Max Shulman in "The
Armchair Angler"
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"It
seemed to me that my good fortune was almost overwhelming when I caught my first
fish. ... Since that early day the expectancy and thrill of capture, whether
of a trout, a lordly salmon, or a six-inch bluegill, has lessened none in its
intensity, and I hardly expect that it ever will."
John Atherton in
"The Armchair Angler"
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Flies have a strong, marvelous
power, and each is meaningful as a point of contact with nature. Embodied in the
fly is a message that reflects the tyer's point of view about nature. By
creating an enduring fly, you convey your message to future fly fishers.
~Nori Tashiro
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Every angler has a favorite hatch of
flies on his home rivers, and that favorite echoes his experience in the
timeless cycle of the seasons.
~Ernest Schwiebert
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If a particular pattern doesn't take
fish, it soon becomes obsolete, no matter how pretty or well tied it is.
~Walt Dette
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A trout is vulnerable to the
fisherman because he eats. That is the theme of our inquiry.
~Vincent Marinaro
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Advanced fly tying techniques aren't
about knowing the obscure, they're about understanding the simple.
~Neil Patterson
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Fortunately, fly tying is a craft
that has not been overtaken by the machine and computer age. The individual is
still important in fly tying.
~Helen Shaw
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It [flytying] is a relief to the
uneasy mind by calming the disorders that disappointments might have caused, and
by cheering the hearts of those who pursue it as relaxation and enjoyment.
~William Blacker
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And if the angler catches the fish
with difficulty, then there is no man merrier than he is in his spirits.
~Juliana Berners
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Casting a dry fly boils down to a
matter of putting it on the water so that it doesn't startle the fish and so
that it will float in a manner that appears natural.
~Bernard "Lefty" Kreh
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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
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The great point, then, in fly
dressing, is to make the artficial fly resemble the natural insect in shape, and
the great characteristic of all river insects is extreme lightness and neatness
of form.
~W.C. Stewart
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The trout fly of today grew out of
the trout fly of yesterday. From a dim ancient and medieval background it
emerged in the late Middle Ages, multiplied, and divided into schools from which
the flies of today take their character.
~John McDonald
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We will probably go to the
other extreme now. Nothing but midges will do. We will have to take record fish
on the three-ounce rods and infinitesimal or imperceptible flies if we with to
be honored. It is certainly an exploit worthy of emulation to take large fish
with the finest tackle and smallest flies, but there is reason in all things. We
know of nothing more absurd than a fine large man being played by a fish.
Theodore Gordon |
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Fly fishing appears to be a
complete historical anachronism and the prime example of a non-social pursuit,
with nothing practical going for it. … Fly fishing is thus the complete
antithesis of our modern workaday world; therein lies both its appeal and its
historic timeliness.
The Rat Race Syndrome
By: Bob Terrill in
Flyfishing the West April 1981 |
