If people don't occasionally walk away from you shaking their heads, you're doing something wrong.

Really, the only thing a psychiatrist can do that a good (fishing) guide can't is write prescriptions.

Successful trout fishing isn't a matter of brute force or even persistence, but something more like infiltration.

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.

Luckily, though, there are still a few guys around who will look you straight in the eye and say, eloquently and to the point, ‘It’s been too goddamned hot for too long and the river has gone off.’

I necessarily fear change except that it's so seldom for the better. It's just that I can live with any number of things going straight to hell as long as these streams continue to hold up. If this amounts to living in a fool's paradise, don't waste your time trying to explain that to the fool.

I still enjoy the company of most dogs more than that of most people, because dogs are capable of uncomplicated enthusiasm.