I know I'm a long way from greatness, but I am beginning to come at it in my own way. I can go through the basic motions pretty well, don't rely quite as religiously on specific fly patterns as I… — John Gierach Copy Share Image
From my own experience I can say that a bad back makes you hike slower, stove-up knees keep you from wading confidently, tendinitis of the elbows buggers your casting, and a dose of giardia can send you dashing to the… — John Gierach Copy Share Image
Fish sense, applied in the field, is what the old Zen masters would call enlightenment: simply the ability to see what's right there in… — John Gierach Copy Share Image
I used to like fishing because I thought it had some larger significance. Now I like fishing because it's the one thing I can… — John Gierach Copy Share Image
Something to think about: If you fish the wrong fly long and hard enough, it will sooner or later become the right fly. — John Gierach Copy Share Image
I still enjoy the company of most dogs more than that of most people, because dogs are capable of uncomplicated enthusiasm. — John Gierach Copy Share Image
I think I fish, in part, because it's an anti-social, bohemian business that, when gone about properly, puts you forever outside the mainstream culture… — John Gierach Copy Share Image
If people don't occasionally walk away from you shaking their heads, you're doing something wrong. — John Gierach Copy Share Image
Fishing in rainy conditions may make fisherman seem crazy to the great mass of unimaginative people, but then few fishermen care what they think — John Gierach Copy Share Image
We do have to think seriously about conservation now, although it is chilling to realize there are catch-and-release fishermen alive today who don't know… — John Gierach Copy Share Image
If we carry purism to it's logical conclusion, to do it right {fishing} you'd have to live naked in a cave, hit your trout… — John Gierach Copy Share Image
I don't really know how to tie a fly until I've tied a hundred dozen of them. — John Gierach Copy Share Image
It's an odd fact of life that whichever side of the stream you're on, two-thirds of the best water is out of reach on… — John Gierach Copy Share Image
They say you forget your troubles on a trout stream, but that's not quite it. What happens is that you begin to see where… — John Gierach Copy Share Image
