I have fished through fishless days that I remember happily without regret.

I still don't know why I fish or why other men fish, except that we like it and it makes us think and feel.

There will be days when the fishing is better than one's most optimistic forecast, others when it is far worse. Either is a gain over just staying home.

Anglers...exaggerate grossly and make gentle and inoffensive creatures sound like wounded buffalo and man-eating tigers.

I have never seen a river that I could not love. Moving water... has a fascinating vitality. It has power and grace and associations. It has a thousand colors and a thousand shapes, yet it follows laws so definite that the tiniest streamlet is an exact replica of a great river.

Our tradition is that of the first man who sneaked away to the creek when the tribe did not really need fish.

I have fished through fishless days that I remember happily without regret.