View Full Version : Greatest Angling Quotations
There was a thread earlier in the year about classic light hearted quotes form the bank, but I wonder what everyone's favourite quote from the angling literature is ? For example some of my favourites are Sheringham's "The float is pleasing in appearance, and even more pleasing in disappearance" and one that I recite after a long hard blank is the romantic B.B. classic "The wonder of the world, the beauty and the power, the shape of things, their colours, lights and shades; these I saw. Look ye also while life lasts". DOC
rhornegold
08-10-2001, 21:20
But there is a thing about floats which I have noticed most sorrowfully and cannot explain.
The one which looks nicest, and sits best in the water, and reveals most bites, always is to be found on the line of the other man.
To comprehend this, one must, I fancy, plumb deeper depths than those of angling.
H. T. Sheringham.
rhornegold
08-10-2001, 21:24
Fishing itself is all that matters, and there is no one style and no one fish that is superior in itself to any other.
Anon.
rhornegold
08-10-2001, 21:33
Carp Fishing
Having laid out your rods (you may as well use two while you are about it, with a different bait on each) you are at liberty to smoke, meditate, read, and even I think, sleep...
You and the rods and the floats gradually grow into the landscape and become part of it. It is like life in the isle of the Lotus.
H. T. Sheringham.
One for us all :
"I am, Sir, a Brother of the Angle".
Izaak Walton, The Compleat Angler
"No man can lose what he never had"
Izaak Walton, The Compleat Angler
rhornegold
08-10-2001, 21:48
As Husbands
Most anglers are not over-particular of their attire, yet they are not ragged or slovenly in thier habits and appearance, for the very reason that they school themselves to be careful of their tackle and take pride in it... Anglers make good Husbands and fathers, and women do well to marry anglers, knowing that in each there is something of the boy.
B.B.
rhornegold
08-10-2001, 22:02
If you have no grease with you, and your rings are full of ice, do not cut out the ice with a pen-knife, but get your man to put the rings one by one in his mouth, and so thaw the ice.
John Bickerdyke.
"The artifice of fishing is displayed not only in the delusion of the fish, but to some extent in the delusion of the fisher also. Let him but have the power of persuading himself that the boy in him has never grown up, or better, let it be so without his knowing it, and the world is his oyster".
H.T.Sheringham, Coarse Fishing
"We may individually prefer one style of fishing to another, but collectively we despise none, if only it aims at the capture of good fish in a manner that befits the sporting angler". H T Sheringham yet again. What a man he was, and he also fathered a fine England striker lol. Joking apart a lot of these old quotes bear close study and reflection...
Doc, if you are a BB fan, there is a book available called "Best of BB" which I bought a few years ago - let me know if you would like editor, publisher etc. BB saw the quote you mention about "The wonder of the world..." on an 18th century gravestone in the Lake District and was sufficiently inspired by it to include it in all his books afterwards. Not surprising - it's a wonderful short quote.
I have a few BB books such as Confessions.., Be Quiet.. and the Bedside Book. A best of book should be recommended to all. A great source of quotes, as is Sheringham and best of all, Izaak Walton. And so here's another one:
" We may say of angling as Dr Boteler said of strawberries, "Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did" and so, if I might be judge, God never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation than angling".
But there must be some good modern ones too...
I tend to agree with Paxo in the introduction to "Fish, fishing and the meaning of life". Where he says that while a lot of what is currently published in the UK comprises good technical advice, its literary or philosophical merit is very low. So don't expect memorable quotes unless purely technical writing liberally sprinkled with references to the writer's current sponsoring manufacturer turns you on ! Paxo rates contemporary American material rather more. A personal view is that anyone trying to write about fishing in that vein in the UK has been walking in Bernard Venables' shadow for many years and that much of the American stuff is overrated. "Trout bum" and the like really leaves me cold. The BB book is called "BB A Celebration" and Coch y Bonddhu books stock it ! See http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/omorgan/books/wfowl.html
LeeTebble
09-10-2001, 14:18
"Lord, suffer me to catch a fish so that even I,
when speaking of it afterwards may have no need to lie!"
"Visiting a prostitute is in the same league as fishing or football as a leisure activity"
Hilary Kinnell
Jim_Snags
09-10-2001, 15:01
My favourite that I have written in the front of my fishing diary is:
"Patient at morn, at evening patient still.
Peace, if not fish was theirs,
and peace is best"
John Le Gallienne.
MikeLyddon053698
09-10-2001, 17:26
As I sat there only the other day, fishing with the wind howling and the rain hammering on my brolly, cold, wet, hungry and fishless. I was reminded of one of my favourites quotes. It is, I think, by Fred J Taylor and is as follows....
"I will be glad when I am too old to enjoy this"
CarpManic
09-10-2001, 18:08
"Dont they ang on"
Matt hayes
Rivercarper
09-10-2001, 19:12
"Watch this puppy fly" Matt hayes on the Angling Times Barbel Video.
Rivercarper
09-10-2001, 19:14
" Work is the scurge of the fishing classes"
<blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr>
It's being here that is important boy not the catching
<hr></blockquote>
My Grandfather to me when I was 5 years old just before he passed away.
By a great old Northampton reservoir trout angler called Dick Shrive, and the one that gives all us fluff flingers hope; "Do nothing. Keep pulling. They don't know it's feathers"
rhornegold
10-10-2001, 10:57
The Trout
To fish fine and far off is the first princible rule for trout angling.
Charles Cotton.
A lot of the contributions to this thread seem to be moving towards the motto of the Flyfishers' Club - "Piscatum non solum piscator" or "There's more to fishing than catching fish"...
rhornegold
10-10-2001, 11:03
The Barbel
But best of all I love the Barbels because they roll like big brown and white cats upon the golden shallows and sing in the moonlight with the joie de vivre of June.
And because, so, they are all Thames to me and wild rose time and streams running down from the weir.
Patrick R. Chalmers.
rhornegold
10-10-2001, 11:23
Great little book, £1.00 from Oxfam shop last week.
From Rod and Line By Arthur Ransome.
Pride and Place,
There are coarse fish everywhere, except in the places where men have been allowed to save their pockets by poisoning the puplic water. But there are some counties in which, when men speak of fishing, coarse fishing is meant, counties in which roach and bream, carp and tench, perch and pike are not the tolerated second cousins, the poor relations of the trout and salmon, but have things all their own way and yield precedence to none.
rhornegold
10-10-2001, 14:03
Deceives The Eye
As we look at our mentor's float we could not at times see the faintest indication of a nibble and yet to our surprise a slight movement was made by his forearm, the short line would become taut and a roach would be fighting for it's life.
Greville Fennell.
rhornegold
10-10-2001, 17:14
Roach Fishermen.
The efficient roach angler need never suffer from an inferiority complex, no matter what branch of fishing he may eventually take up.
My honest opinion is that salmon and trout fishing are simple by comparison.
From that Great Angler
Capt. L. A. Parker
rhornegold
10-10-2001, 17:31
The fishing fever is easy to contact (one gets a few fish and is oneself caught) and almost impossible to cure.
It is a life sentence.
The number of " backsliders" is next to nil.
" Faddist "
"I can't wait to buy a bamboo pole and a filament of line and a tube of breadcrumbs. I want to participate in this practice which allows a man to be alone with himself in dignity and peace. It seems a very precious thing to me".
John Steinbeck
PREACHER
11-10-2001, 08:03
Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a-fishing.
They say unto him, We also go with thee.
They went forth, and entered into a ship immediately; and that night they caught nothing.
John, XXI:3
"Some people are under the impression that all this is required to make a good fisherman is the ability to tell lies easily and without blushing; but this is a mistake. Mere bald fabrication is useless; the veriest tyro can manage that. It is in the circumstantial detail, the embellishing touches of probability, the general air of scrupulous-almost of pedantic-veracity, that the experienced angler is seen".
Jerome K. Jerome
"Angling may be said to be so like the mathematics, that it can never be fully learnt"
Izaak Walton, The Compleat Angler
PREACHER
11-10-2001, 09:20
Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook ? or
his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down ?
Canst thou put an hook into his nose ? or
bore his jaw through with a thorn ?
Job, LX:1, 2
What's the quote giving a definition of fishing as: A worm on one end of the line and a fool on the other!
The missus always likes that one.
Clive
"It was this big"
Me in the pub the other week.
Doctor Johnson that one, Clive. Obviously he didn't fish himself.
Boo's wife over a discussion of angling literature......"Total Carp.......More like Total Cr*p!"
"If people concentrated on the really important things in life, there'd be a
shortage of fishing poles".
Doug Larson
PREACHER
11-10-2001, 13:47
The Lord showed a great appreciation for fishermen while on earth and I
believe He referred to his disciples as fishers of men (Mt 5:19) because He
wanted them to do more than just haul in what they could catch. The real
joy in fishing is not just in catching the fish, but in playing the fish on the
line. This is why fishing can be either a sport or a very hard job. Once
the Lord has hooked us, He will not drag us in against our free will; He
plays us until we are in the boat with Him. For many men, the Lord's most
effective bait appears to be the apocalyptic scriptures. Had I reacted to
this new convert by quenching his spirit, I would have destroyed what was
coming into the light. So spaketh the Brothers of the Angle. Amen.
From a remarkable and quite long passage in a book by a non-angler, W.G. Sebald contemplates anglers on a Suffolk beach:
'They just want to be in a place where they have the world behind them, and before them nothing but emptiness.'
W.G.Sebald, The Rings of Saturn.
I really like this topic, it seems to me to get to the heart of things. Pity Farson was such a terrible bully, in the Hemingway mold, and made his son Dan's childhood a dreadful misery.
....leave only footprints....and take only memories....
"There is a very fine line between angling and standing by a river like a complete fool"
rhornegold
12-10-2001, 20:35
The real charm, the real rest cure of fishing lies in its comparative solitariness. To be able to say I have not talked for six hours, nor fingered money, nor caught trains, nor bored any of my fellows, nor lied, nor sinned, nor breathed used-up air, forms at least a comfortable confession which, when repeated day after day for some weeks, cannot but restore health and nerves to normal condition.
Raymond Hill.
rhornegold
12-10-2001, 22:43
No life so happy and so pleasant as the life of a well-governed angler, for when the lawyer is swallowed up with business and the statesman is preventing or contriving plots, there we sit on cowslip banks, hear the birds sing, and possess ourselves in as much quietness as these silver streams which we now see glide by us..
Izaak Walton.
Rivercarper
12-10-2001, 22:49
" Sod work I'm going fishing" Rivercarper 2001.
rhornegold
12-10-2001, 22:58
A fisherman is not properly a social animal.
There is no other kind of man who welcomes rain on holiday. There is no other kind of man who luxuriates in the fact that the whole of the moorland is a bog which holds water for weeks at a time. There is no other human being who can be perfectly happy five miles from home when he is wet through, tired out, hungry and carrying a bag, or creel, which weighs ten pounds. He is the only creature existing whose joy is an increasing burden, a heavy handicap.
Morley Roberts.
PREACHER
15-10-2001, 09:51
The fishers also shall mourn, and all
they that cast angle into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread
nets upon the waters shall languish.
Isiah 19:7-9
"The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but obtainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope"
John Buchan
"Fishermen are born honest, but they get over it"
Ed Zern
MikeLyddon053698
16-10-2001, 17:16
Old fishermen never die, they only smell that way.
PREACHER
17-10-2001, 07:46
And the LORD of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him
according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb: and as his rod
was upon the sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt.
The LORD will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and
with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst
not be healed.
And the LORD said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he
said, A rod.
Deuteronomy 28:26-28
" I fish therefore I am"
Me
''Its and eel...............its a f***ing conger eel.............''
Screamed loud enough to wake prisoners in Broadmoor by Jamie Smith - mental meal on the Copse Lake (RIP) - Nov 94'ish
One from my daughter...
"Mr Jeremy stuck his pole into the mud and fastened his boat to it. Then he settled himself cross-legged and arranged his fishing tackle. He had the dearest little red float. His rod was a tough stalk of grass, his line was a fine long white horse-hair, and he tied a little wriggling worm at the end."
Beatrix Potter, The Tale of Mr Jeremy Fisher
"The pleasant'st angling is to see the fish
Cut with her golden oars the silver stream,
And greedily devour the treacherous bait."
William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing
PREACHER
18-10-2001, 09:07
The fishermen will groan and lament,
all who cast hooks into the river; those who throw nets on the water will
pine away with thine rods,.
But now I will send for many carp fishermen " declares the Lord, "
and they will catch them. After that I will
send for many more, and they will cast and hunt them down on every brooke and
river and from the crevices of the rocks of the mere.
Wherefore, when I came, was there no
line? when I called, was there no rod to answer? Is my rod hand shortened at all,
that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? behold, at my rebuke
I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stinketh,
because there is no bait upon the water, and dieth for thirst.
But I will put hooks in thy jaws, and thine shall be mine,
and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales, and I
will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, and all the fish of thy
rivers shall stick unto thy scales.
And it shall come to pass, that
every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come,
shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because
these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing
shall live whither the river cometh. And so they all did lament, because
He had blanked again.
Coroleanus 24:7-14
rhornegold
18-10-2001, 13:26
Jamie's Requiem
Puir Jamie's killed. A better lad
Ye wadna find to busk a flee
Or burn a pule or wield a gad
Frae Berwick to Clints o' Dee.
And noo he's in a happier land-
It's Gospel thuith and Gospel law
That Heaven's yett maun open stand
To folk that for thier country fa'.
I sair misdoot that Jamie's heid
A croun o' gowd will never please;
He liked a kep o'dacent tweed
Whaur he could stick his cast o' flees.
For Jims had aye a poaching' whim;
He'll sune grow tired, wi' lawfu'flee
Made frae the wings o' cherubim,
O' castin' ower the Chrystal Sea...
I picter him a gloaming' tide
Steetin' the backdoor o' his hame
And hastin' to the waterside
To play again the auld auld game.
John Buchan.
PREACHER
23-10-2001, 16:07
Behold the fisherman; mighty are his preparations.
He riseth up early in the morning and setteth all his household in commotion.
He goeth forth full of hope, with companions like unto himself.
His labours are great; small indeed his rewards.
Late in the evening he returneth home smelling of strong drink; the truth is not in him.
What doth it profit a man if he have the patience of Job, and the wisdom of Solomon,
If in the end the fish are smarter than he is ?
The Parable of the Fisherman
"In contrast to the fishy wonders he may haul up, the angler is a lowly simpleton, hunched Rodin-still, possibly in the rain, probably inebriated, and invariably fishless". A light-hearted one from David Profumo whose writings on fluff-flinging in faraway parts I invariably enjoy. A few years ago (mid-80's ?) he also co-edited with novelist Graham Swift a book called "The Magic Wheel - an anthology of fishing in literature" which I read, but it's rather more aimed at the literary rather than the angling end of that spectrum.
"This is a BIG kipper"
Des Taylor pike fishing at Thorpe Park circa 1990
"This is a BIGGER kipper"
Des Taylor pike fishing at Thorpe Park circa 1990
"This is an EVEN BIGGER kipper"
Des Taylor pike fishing at Thorpe Park circa 1990
"And this is SOME kipper"
Des Taylor pike fishing at Thorpe Park circa 1990
"And that is a PROPER Thorpe Park kipper"
Des Taylor pike fishing at Thorpe Park circa 1990
"you know, i've often thought that going fishing is very much like making love to a beautiful woman. first of all, clean and inspect your tackle. carefully pull back your rod cover and remove any dirt or gunge which may have built up whilst not in use. then, extend your rod to it's full length and check that there are no kinks or any wear, particularly at the base, where the grip is usually applied. make sure you've got a decent float, the appropriate bait and that there's plenty of shot in your bag..."
Don't know if someone has already done this one;
Old fishermen never die, they just smell that way.
sjbullard
05-11-2001, 13:29
"So, did you catch [censored] all again?"
My wife every Sunday afternoon.
And to get this back on track...
"...There then occurred an incident that illustrates the uncanny nature of these fish [of carp]. My float, lying out in the middle of the pond, turned and sailed slowly in again to my very feet, towed by the monster who then in some manner freed himself, thus returning me my tackle with a sardonic invitation to try again. No other fish is capable of putting so fine a point on irony."
Arthur Ransome, Rod and Line
rhornegold
07-11-2001, 12:08
Close Season
Oft at the wintry fire,
Nursing our heart's desire,
Fondly we dream
Of joy in the breeze---
Singing birds on the the trees---
Flowers by the stream.
Thomas Tod Stoddart.
rhornegold
07-11-2001, 12:14
The All Rounder
If the sun's excessive heat
Makes our bodies swelter,
To an osier hedge we get
For a friendly shelter;
Where, in a dike,
Perch or Pike,
Roach or Dace,
We do chase;
Bleak or Gudgeon,
Without grudging;
We are still contented.
Jo Chalkhill
Quoted by Walton.
rhornegold
07-11-2001, 12:32
On Baits
I have mentioned cheese because I believe it to be the best summer bait. That which is old and rotten is most attractive, but it hardens in the water and should, therefore, be mixed up with a little butter. As a matter of fact, any cheese will do, and I rarely bother to get any special kind. A good red soapy American cannot be put to a better use....
It is the easiest possible thing to raise a stock of gentles in summer, but residents in town are advised not to make the attempt.
John Bickerdyke.
"Dont forget to smell the flowers" and "If you get to the bar before me mines a pint of larger" Rod Hutchinson.
daytimedave
10-01-2002, 21:46
no life,my honest scholar,no life so happy and so pleasant as the life of a well-governed angler`..
......izaak walton,the complete angler.
daytimedave
10-01-2002, 21:53
;and when the day dawns that provides you with more chances than you ever thought possible,think of me and smile.
work hard,play hard,give everything your best shot,and if you get to paradise before me,tell`em ritchie will have his usual.
..............ritchie macdonald
gb_carper
11-01-2002, 00:06
fishy fishy in the water come and see what gb's brought ya
by me and i dare say a few otheres
gb_carper
11-01-2002, 00:10
my grandad told me
a shilling with a hole in it is the best bait here boy
when i asked why
he replied
cos then they can go and buy there own dinner son
PREACHER
11-01-2002, 08:48
"When there are no fish in the lake, even the shrimp becomes great"
Mang Chong Sung Chiou [proverb], 1455
(an allegorical reference to the varying merits of not so big fish, depending on where they were caught)
riverwhy
11-01-2002, 12:48
blimey.. this thread has had everyone going through their angling libraries...
"calling fishing a hobby is like calling brain surgery a job"
my wife still doesn't understand that one...i forget who said it.. he was American
& an all time great credited to Fred J Taylor when fishing in bad conditions:
"I'll be glad when I've had enough of this!"
Thats the one Alan, brilliant! Glad when I have LOL
CarponlineEditor
11-01-2002, 13:05
What about the bloke who, when you walk round the corner into his swim has his rod all bent round and he then says 'Ive got one on mate!!' lol
Andy
Birds_Nest
11-01-2002, 13:18
"Watch out it could get deep here" My old man.. Up to his welly tops in the margins of a Northants pit.... Just before he found the deepening off ledge, the hard way...
How about Edward, that when catching a gudgeon said....
"It went like a rocket - god its a monster"
/images/forum/icons/smile.gif
That will live with me forever....
Bill.
bit late this but..
"a man who decorates his bivvy with flowers is either insane or knows something really scary"
dunno who it was..some made bloke commenting on my floral display !
G
Spike Milligan :
"Fishing is complete and utter madness."
Neil (happy to be mad)
Not a fishing quote but one I often quote to myself as I embark on another quest for big fish:
"Dare to fail"
Usually, later in the season, followed by:
"Nil carborundum illegittimi". (Latin, roughly translates to "Don't let the b*****ds grind you down" - has origins from the 2nd world war)
"Catching fish is a bonus, being there is enough" (or words to that effect).
Keith Jenkins in Carpworld.
"Eel anglers are hard!"
Mick Bowles on the banks of lake Bala, mid 80's.
Rivercarper
29-03-2002, 05:16
"I love this Bream fishing"
Adrian Smith holding a 33lb common.
John Wilson last night on Go Fishing "Can't think of how many times we've had 3s up today Nigel"! Cracked me up.
Cash
wilson again:
unforgivable wilson, unforivable...well if i net it i dont deserve it.
wilson when trying to net a pike as the landing net head spun.
wilson:
wooo hooooo........easy wilson easy...whooooooooo hoo hoooooooooooo......
playing a rainbow trout
Another Sheringham quote "No I'm not going to see Eileen again, Glenn."
Or this one from H.T.Sheringham. "A float, so pleasing in appearance, yet even more pleasing in disappearance."
Crayfisher
04-04-2002, 21:24
The Gods do not take from a man the time he spends fishing.
( not sure who wrote this )
Wilson again,"that just about takes the bloody biscuit.."when that pike he`s holding in the boat kicks free and snaps his rod on the way back in!!
Dai-wa
"I want fish from fishing, but I want a great deal more than that, and getting it is not always dependant on catching fish". From my all time favourite fishing book, A River Never Sleeps, published just after WW2 (I wasn't around at the time I hasten to add) by Roderick Haig-Brown, an expat Englishman from Dorset who settled in Vancouver Island on Canada's west coast.
"My arm hadn't ached so much since I was a spotty teenager"
Jack Prentice after catching a 22 lb 8 oz Kennet carp
LeeTebble
09-04-2002, 12:58
Congratulations DOC - youve just posted the 100th reply on the excellent thread that you started - give that man a prize!
I just remembered a couple of personal ones:
New Road Pit (Nutty Lane) Tench Fishing Circa 1994
First session of the season:
I'd just stuck 3 grains of Corn on my size 10 hook and my mate Gore enquires "What are you aiming to catch the Jolly Green Giant!" I then cast said grains into a tree and exclaim
"Hello Fishing Season!!!"
matt_scarbs
12-04-2002, 23:26
Atleast its better than blanking! (my dad trying to remove hook from finger)
Scarbs
huffythefirst
13-04-2002, 15:36
"no don't just pull it" - my dad, (on a very cold winters day)having sat on his glasses, removed my float from the tree several times, embedded the hook in his finger twice and attempting to remove the umpteenth tangle from my litle float set up. He was never an angler and doesn't understand how i started, as a matter of fact nor do I! But he always took me fishing and never complained. Thanks Dad!
(i was about 8 or 9 then, now i'm 20 and haven't regretted a moment, suprisingly my dad doesn't either...)
How about another Rod Hutchinson - "As big as a man" when describing THE Redmire giant (See also Casting at the Sun - "Sounded like a cow had fallen in")
Rob
Cooperman
17-04-2002, 13:34
I heard one last week, concerning the "Author" M.C. who has a problem with the word carp(s).
He was mentioned in a conversation about the Summerleaze Syndicate, and M.C. was described as "An on-going C**T", i can't think of a better description.
Cooperman.
It's back...
"Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed"
Alexander Pope
how could any of you miss this little snipet of wisdom...?
"if your to drunk to cast out chuck em in the edge"
rod or roger... ?
and not so much a fishing quote.... but relevent to all you (us !) guesters...
"he who dares rodney...he who dares"... !
A sad modern quote, said to me in the 1990s by a fly fisher in the period when Nigel Jackson was proprietor of Dever Springs fishery and pushing the envelope of selective breeding of huge trout...
"Why should I give a monkey's what the rainbow record is when I know the next time it goes will be when Nigel Jackson wants it to..."
Coming to carp fishing soon, I fear ?
"Yes dear, I am only going to roll a few boilies tonight!".....Mark Blake
and "He who sleeps with itchy [censored] wakes up with smelly fingers"............can't remember the originator of that one!
"Nowt so queer as fish".....me........1992.......
G
alco nick to me when discussing his quests on the reach (in slured speech)
"yeh dont know how it happened but Longreach turned me into a raving alcaholic" for those who know him..legend.
G
"We're going to need a bigger boat"
Richard Dreyfuss? Jaws - My favourite angling film.
"MY FAVOURITE ANGLING FILM "...........name another /forum/images/icons/smile.gif
G
The actual quote is
Follow your head
Follow your heart
And should you reach paradise before me
Mines a lager
"A River Runs Through It" c 1993 produced by Robert Redford. Some amazing shots of fly fishing for native rainbow trout in the Rocky Mountain states.
"Tip those glasses, strike that take,
....and hope to f### your line don't break!"
Rob Maylin
Director
17-08-2002, 01:11
Practice to be quiet. Izzak Walton.
"If he aint near your bait then he cant eat it !"
Pricey...21st century genius and poet
"on the North lake for sure"
Terry Hearn...sincere reply when asked one quiet winter night (for a laugh) where he recommended I fish on wraysbury if I wanted to catch Mary..lol
nearly there ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh f##k it! (crashing sound as fishing gear goes a flying)
me july 02 when just about to net a new pb carp when the pulled also in a winter league match when i lost a 1lb perch at the net i picked up £30 instead of £300 missed out on 1st by 12oz, 2nd by6oz, 3rd by3oz 4th by 1/2oz sick as a pig on both occosions
" [censored] that its to hot... ill be over later"
me... today
"I had no friends or relations who fished.As achild,the very existance of carp would never have become known to me had i not lived close to the pond . Yet those fish affected me like sparks on petrol"................
C.Yates. ...Could have been talking about me and Tooting Bec commons pond when i was seven .Great quote .
Regards Tad.
Not angling quotes but should be
"The dictionary is the only place that success comes before work"
"Failure is not a mistake. It is sometimes all one can achieve in the circumstances. The mistake is to stop trying."
The last one was similarly put by Neil Patterson, river fly fishing writer..."Failure isn't falling down. Failure is staying down".
And one that I have found to be true, from the great H T Sheringham on the merits of being an all rounder..."...personally I would counsel a man who wants to get the best out of his fishing to keep his roach rod in action as well as his split cane; to remember that what bought him such joy in his youth can still bring him joy in middle age".
Surrey Sam
07-01-2008, 06:42
"We may individually prefer one style of fishing to another, but collectively we despise none, if only it aims at the capture of good fish in a manner that befits the sporting angler". H T Sheringham yet again. What a man he was, and he also fathered a fine England striker lol. Joking apart a lot of these old quotes bear close study and reflection...
I quite agree.
TheArtist
07-01-2008, 11:52
"He has captured the essence of fishing with his art" - Arts review 2006
Ok its not a classic but its about me and it makes me proud!:clap:
Cyprinius
07-01-2008, 12:14
When I am no more
When all is gone
And I am but a memory
Greieve not for me
For I shall be
Where the willows
Meet the water
Brian Battinson
MikeLyddon053698
07-01-2008, 12:36
My all time favourite quote......"using a boat, nah thats cheating!!" :D
CarponlineEditor
07-01-2008, 12:59
Or.... No i am not baiting up, I am feeding the ducks..
Andy (BCSG)
If the sheets are short, the bed seems longer.....
Me 2008
MikeLyddon053698
07-01-2008, 13:05
Never trust a tube of Pringles :D
kevthornely
07-01-2008, 14:01
My favourite quote?
"Oh f***, it came off!" said with alarming regularity by one Kev Thornely!!!!!!
rhino135
07-01-2008, 14:05
not naming any names here but the funniest quote i heard.
"she'd make an ugly looking man!!"
"Live a life of memories - not dreams"
MikeLyddon053698
07-01-2008, 14:45
not naming any names here but the funniest quote i heard.
"she'd make an ugly looking man!!"
Hehehe......wasn't me.....honest ;)
" Our long vigil had begun, it continued until daybreak, and after.
The sun rose deep orange; its beams making the lake steam, nothing moved.
I was lost in a quiet world of grey, green and gold".
Great thread with some lovely quotes. HT Sheringham's generally being the most memorable.
Quite a telling contrast between the enduring literary and the throw away literal. :)
Mark
RobThomo
08-01-2008, 11:46
"Wilson again,"that just about takes the bloody biscuit.."when that pike he`s holding in the boat kicks free and snaps his rod on the way back in!!"
You beat me too it mate! One of my earliest TV angling memories and still makes me smile!
Will McGowan
09-01-2008, 16:45
"remember you only need the one bite"
Terry Hearn
and another very important one to remember i find...."man who goes to bed with itchy bum, wake up with smelly finger"
Chinese Proverb
Wilston res,
had a three inch lift earlier.
think i'll stay another few days.
that fishing legend and all round great man..Alan Wilson. RIP
Chris_Plumb
09-01-2008, 19:30
Oooh - where to start! Some good quotes already but few of MY favourites! This poem my the late Ted Hughes - STILL makes the hairs stand up on the back of my neck....
Pike
Pike, three inches long, perfect
Pike in all parts, green tigering the gold.
Killers from the egg: the malevolent aged grin.
They dance on the surface among the flies.
Or move, stunned by their own grandeur,
Over a bed of emerald, silhouette
Of submarine delicacy and horror.
A hundred feet long in their world.
In ponds, under the heat-struck lily pads -
Gloom of their stillness:
Logged on last year's black leaves, watching upwards.
Or hung in an amber cavern of weeds
The jaws' hooked clamp and fangs
Not to be changed at this date;
A life subdued to its instrument;
The gills kneading quietly, and the pectorals.
Three we kept behind glass,
Jungled in weed: three inches, four,
And four and a half: fed fry to them
Suddenly there were two. Finally one
With a sag belly and the grin it was born with.
And indeed they spare nobody.
Two, six pounds each, over two feet long
High and dry and dead in the willow-herb -
One jammed past its gills down the other's gullet:
The outside eye stared: as a vice locks
The same iron in this eye
Though its film shrank in death.
A pond I fished, fifty yards across,
Whose lilies and muscular tench
Had outlasted every visible stone
Of the monastery that planted them -
Stilled legendary depth:
It was as deep as England. It held
Pike too immense to stir, so immense and old
That past nightfall I dared not cast
But silently cast and fished
With the hair frozen on my head
For what might move for what eye might move.
The still splashes on the dark pond,
Owls hushing the floating woods
Frail on my ear against the dream
Darkness beneath night's darkness had freed,
That rose slowly towards me, watching.
I'll add a few more in the coming days!
C.
Chris_Plumb
10-01-2008, 20:31
I once tried to find out who first penned this...
"If you want to be happy for an hour; get drunk.
If you want to be happy for a day; get rich.
If you want to be happy for a week: get married.
If you want to be happy for a lifetime; go fishing"
Anyone know?
C.
Chris_Plumb
11-01-2008, 20:02
Classic piece of Sheringham tonight!
"So far as my experience goes, it is certain that good luck is the most vital part of the equipment of him who would seek to slay large carp. For some men I admit the usefulness of skill and pertinacity; for myself, I take my stand entirely upon luck. To the novice I would say: Cultivate your luck. Prop it up with omens and signs of good purport. Watch for magpies on your path. Form the habit of avoiding old women who squint. Throw salt over your left shoulder. Touch wood with the forefinger of your right hand when-ever you are not doing anything else. Be on friendly terms with a black cat. Turn your money under the new moon. Walk around ladders. Don’t start on a Friday. Stir the materials for Christmas pudding and wish. Perform all other such rites as you know and hear of. These things are important in carp fishing."
H.T. Sheringham Coarse Fishing (1912)
"The close season had 6 hours to run and it ran them in one". Tim Paisley (aka Matthew Black)
Chris that piece of Sheringham is awesome, can hear PFA now -dont start on a FRIDAY Beeeeeeep
Chris_Plumb
14-01-2008, 20:21
From Confessions of a Carp-fisher by "B.B." (1950)
"To him (the carp fisher), when he hears the heavy splash of some big questing carp, there comes a delicious shiver to visit his spine, running up and down it like the flicker of a serpent's tongue. And how many are the noises one hears beside the water at fall of night! Some can be guessed at and mental pictures formed of what manner of creatures they are - others leave one mystified. Nor is the water really still when the sun has gone. Ever and again a ripple passes through the reeds, something patters and squeaks, lily pads stir and shudder, hidden gleams come and go. It is an hour bewitched."
kenmundo
23-03-2012, 09:57
bump. another golden oldy.
Paul_the_Bailiff
23-03-2012, 13:18
"The water only came halfway up those ducks" Fred J. Taylor
Its not as big as i originally thought - John Wilson
soupdragon
23-03-2012, 17:31
Whats hits is history , whats missed is mystery - from steve harpers a line on the water .
and from mr yates
the gods do not take from a life the time one spends in fishing .
One from the great Paul Snepp of Johnsons fame, Cardinal 55 explodes into a fit of backwinding, rods bouncing up and down in the rests, casual drawer on his cigar and "Hello, i think i've got one interested" you had to be there :D
Chris_Plumb
23-03-2012, 19:29
Here's a passage I'd like to share with you from "Casting at the Sun":
"....I got to know the river so well I used to talk to it, engaging it in conversation on appropriate topics, subjects that were relevant to the various places we met. For instance,I could go down to a deep bend in the shade of a great ash tree and have a rewarding discussion about perch. During the long summer afternoons I would wade the streaming shallows and we ould gossip endlessly about dace. In the evening I would creep up to the glides between sunken lily beds where I knew the talk would always revolve around chub. In a slowly curling eddy I would ask questions with elderberry or breadflake and the river would reply with roach. Sometimes the river would give me a shock, suddenly shouting "Pike" as I reeled in a dace or a perch. Then I would shout back and we would have a blazing row, which usually left me with a broken line and the river in tears for one of its little fish."
Magic!
C.
rhornegold
23-03-2012, 21:01
Here's a passage I'd like to share with you from "Casting at the Sun":
"....I got to know the river so well I used to talk to it, engaging it in conversation on appropriate topics, subjects that were relevant to the various places we met. For instance,I could go down to a deep bend in the shade of a great ash tree and have a rewarding discussion about perch. During the long summer afternoons I would wade the streaming shallows and we ould gossip endlessly about dace. In the evening I would creep up to the glides between sunken lily beds where I knew the talk would always revolve around chub. In a slowly curling eddy I would ask questions with elderberry or breadflake and the river would reply with roach. Sometimes the river would give me a shock, suddenly shouting "Pike" as I reeled in a dace or a perch. Then I would shout back and we would have a blazing row, which usually left me with a broken line and the river in tears for one of its little fish."
Magic!
C.
Don't they say, talking to yourself is the first sign ?
Bob
bigupgazza2009
23-03-2012, 21:03
then from the water, almost two feet clear, a golden fish leaps out with unleashed joy,loud two-fould thud of massive tail' a sound i've known is carp since just a boy.
"Keep pulling - they don't know it's only feathers".
Excellent advice for the stillwater trout fisher from the great Dick Shrive.
How come you never catch anything like that dad?
Lee Laggans Daughter, whilst he was taking pictures for me! :)
Bream_Boy
26-03-2012, 18:36
Always liked this one by Rob Maylin.....
When success lies at your feet and all around you are in awe of your achievements, be modest.
As you lift your prize in eager arms and feel power within your hands, be gentle.
When all around you stand and watch as cameras click and flashguns burn, try to understand that not all feel as you; some will feel jealousy. Try to understand.
Love your lake and all it's inhabitants, not just the carp, for sure the lake was there before you were born and will remain long after you and your moment of glory are forgotton.
Accept failure with as much gusto as success, for it is certain that only a fine line seperates the two.
Feel happiness for your fellow angler when he too succeeds; even if you feel his success is not well deserved, surely if it is not he will have to wait for success again.
Celebrate others success along with your own, strive for success but not at the expense of others.
If you learn this simple lesson you will reach your paradise, the place that all great carp anglers come to meet as one.
If you see me there, my friends, mines a lager...
SirBwianHorwatioWumplebum
27-03-2012, 04:19
"I baited the hook with trembling fingers, (great bait trembling fingers)"
youngie3213
28-03-2012, 01:17
When I am no more
When all is gone
And I am but a memory
Greieve not for me
For I shall be
Where the willows
Meet the water
Brian Battinson
Always wondered where that came from, thanks mate, you know what book?
Arthur Ransome: Rod and Line
'A man who fishes habitually for carp has a strange look in his eyes. I have known several and even shaken hands respectively with the man who caught the biggest carp ever landed in England. He looked as if he had been in heaven and in hell and had nothing more to hope for in life, though he survived, and after six years caught an eighteen pounder to set beside the first.'
exiledbarbelman
29-03-2012, 18:42
Tim Six Rods Paisley....thirteen foot rods make me nervous
What a ******!
trunkles
01-04-2012, 20:13
I came,
I saw,
I hooked 'em.
BCSG mag 70's
in the words of john wilson, "shall we put it straight back" 10 minutes after landing it lmao
Cyprinius
02-04-2012, 00:05
Always wondered where that came from, thanks mate, you know what book?
I don't know if it was ever in a book Youngie. It appeared at the beginning of an article in an old Coarse Fisherman magazine about a very beautiful and very private estate lake that Brian received permission to fish.
It touched me deeply and I have quoted it on the cards and flowers for two dear angling friends who have sadly passed away. I've never come across a more fitting passage for a departed angler.
From The Secret Carp by C. Yates:
“The nice thing about sedentary carp fishing, as opposed to active carp fishing, is that it allows you almost limitless time to abandon your conventional head in favour of more novel modes of perception.”
Amen to that!
youngie3213
06-04-2012, 17:22
[QUOTE=Cyprinius;1896562]I don't know if it was ever in a book Youngie. It appeared at the beginning of an article in an old Coarse Fisherman magazine about a very beautiful and very private estate lake that Brian received permission to fish.
Thanks, that must be where I first saw it as well, used to get Coarse Fisherman mag in late 70s and 80s, still in loft somewhere all in folders!
Agree also with sentiment, a sad but perfect passage for those who have passed on. Thanks again.
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