Perhaps fishing is, for me, only an excuse to be near rivers.

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.

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

Perhaps fishing is, for me, only an excuse to be near rivers.

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.

A fisherman is always hopeful -- nearly always more hopeful than he has any right to be.

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