John D. Voelker Quotes

• 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.

  John D. Voelker

  Lakes, Sea, Fishing

  48 Copy quote

• I fish because I love to . . . because I love the environs where trout are found . . . because I suspect that men are going along this way for the last time, and I for one don’t want to waste the trip . . . and, finally, not because I regard fishing as being so terribly important but because I suspect that so many of the other concerns of men are equally unimportant––and not nearly so much fun.

  John D. Voelker

  Fun, Men, Fishing

  20 Copy quote

• Fly-fishing is a magic way to recapture the rapture of solitude without the pangs of loneliness.

  John D. Voelker

  Loneliness, Rivers, Lakes

  13 Copy quote

• 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.

  John D. Voelker

  Dream, Lying, Sleep

  18 Copy quote

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

  John D. Voelker

  Animal, Fishing, Mushrooms

  13 Copy quote

• 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

  John D. Voelker

  Angel, Beer, Men

  12 Copy quote

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

  John D. Voelker

  Fun, Sea, Fishing

  9 Copy quote

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

  John D. Voelker

  Sea, Fishing, Rivers

  7 Copy quote

• ...buying a fly rod in the average city store, that is, joining it up and safely waggling it a bit, is much like seeing a woman's arm protruding from a car window: all one can readily be sure of is that the window is open.

  John D. Voelker

  Rivers, Lakes, Average

  13 Copy quote

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

  John D. Voelker

  Husband, Writing, Appreciate

  6 Copy quote

• The best time to go fishing is when you can get away.

  John D. Voelker

  Fishing, Get Away, Best Times

  9 Copy quote

• Spinning yarns is a protection against the nuttiness... the greed, the hate all around us.

  John D. Voelker

  Hate, Yarn, Greed

  11 Copy quote

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

  John D. Voelker

  Children, Rivers, Lakes

  9 Copy quote

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

  John D. Voelker

  Regret, Lakes, Sea

  9 Copy quote

• 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.

  John D. Voelker

  Winning, Persistence, Sea

  5 Copy quote

• Fly-fishing for wild trout on quiet waters must be one of the toughest and craziest ways to catch fish ever invented by man, as well as among the most frustrating and humiliating.

  John D. Voelker

  Men, Lakes, Sea

  5 Copy quote

• During my addled career as a trout fisherman I have gone on a lot of wild-goose chases, and I ruefully expect to go on a lot more before I hang up my waders

  John D. Voelker

  Fishing, Careers, Rivers

  6 Copy quote

• There is a lot of amiable fantasy written about trout fishing, but the truth is that few men know much if anything about the habits of trout and little more about the manner of taking them.

  John D. Voelker

  Men, Sea, Fishing

  8 Copy quote

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

  John D. Voelker

  Mother, Kids, Stories

  6 Copy quote

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