John D. Voelker Quotes

Most fisherman, including this one, cling to their pet stupidities as they would to a battered briar or an old jacket; and their dogged persistence in wrong methods and general wrong-headedness finally wins the a sort of grudging admiration, if not many fish.

Most fishermen swiftly learn that it’s a pretty good rule never to show a favorite spot to any fisherman you wouldn’t trust with your wife.

One of the first rules in fishing is that there are few rules in fishing that resourceful trout do not manage to break.

I look at trees, hunt mushrooms, and watch animals. Fishing is what gets me out into the woods so I can notice these things.

I’m a fisherman who likes to observe and tell yarns, and so I told stories about things that I knew about.

The truth is that trout fishermen scheme and lie and toss in their sleep. They dream of great dripping trout, shapely and elusive as mermaids, and arise cranky and haggard from their fantasies. They are moody and neglectful and all of them a little daft. Moreover they are inclined to drink too much.

The true fisherman approaches the first day of fishing season with all the sense of wonder and awe of a child approaching Christmas.

Fishing is such great fun, I have often felt, that it really ought to be done in bed

To paraphrase a deceased patriot, I regret that I have only one life to give to my fly-fishing.

A writer judging his own work is like deceived husband – he is frequently the last person to appreciate the true state of affairs.

There is no subsititue for fishing sense, and if a man doesn’t have it, verily, he may cast like an angel and still use his creel largely to transport sandwiches and beer

I listened to a lot of stories when I was a kid. My mother told me stories, and I loved them.