[W]ether it's a brilliant job of fishing or just dumb luck, you'll now and then pull one off that you can't tell anyone about because it would sound too perfect and they would have to assume you most of it up. But whatever anyone thinks, you'll just have done something once thought impossible and that is the whole point of fishing.
Down at the core of every fisherman's heart is the belief that on any day, something wonderful and unlikely could be made to happen.
- John Gierach
When you boat into camp on a Friday evening with a week of nothing to do but fish, eat, and sleep, you can feel all your worries and anxiety leaving your body, and you are filled with gratitude.
[My guide] said the fishing was slow, but then guides endure so many clients who expect non-stop thrills that sometimes they lose sight of reality. In fact, this was perfectly good fishing for someone who still believes - in spite of a lifetime's of evidence to the contrary - that catching fish is pretty much unlikely.
- John Gierach
Anyone would go fishing thinking he'll catch something. It's when you go figuring you probably won't that you've crossed some sort of line. That's what winter fly-fishing can be about. I know it's possible to have glorious days in the winter - I've had a few - but slow to completely blank days are much more common and I've been a happier man since I've learned to live with that.
John Gierach
I'm not always this laid back, but we'd been out for several days, so the initial adrenaline rush had subsided. I've always enjoyed that moment on a trip when the long haul comes into view - plenty of water to fish, plenty of time - and it no longer feels like a suicide mission.
- John Gierach
Heading back to camp at sunset at 30 mph on dead calm after 11 hours of fishing.
You can be sure it was an excellent day of fishing (and catching)!
I could sit back on a bench off White Iron Lake, near Ely, MN. for along time.
The most surprising and weirdest fish I've caught was a spotted gar. This guy was about 30" long. I fooled him a plastic worm on a drop shot rig.They are not common in my area.
#fishing #flyfishing #bassfishing #walleyefishing #pike #fishingfriday
Yes, another #fishingfriday is coming up. You have a story or photos related to fishing Thanksgiving day or over Thanksgiving weekend? Share it!
When you see this you know it's going to be a very good day.
The perfect fishing cabin: simple and direct, vernacular architecture at it's firnest. A small step up from a tent. The door isn't tight or latched so the camp dog can visit any time.
The perfect fishing camp cabin is built by amateurs, has knotty pine walls and ceiling, windows that look over the lake, bare lights powered by ths camp generator, and a door that doesn't completely latch so camp dog can come in anytime to mooch something to eat or take a nap.
All you can do about mosquitoes is use bug dope, build smudge fires to try to smoke them out, and avoid unzipping your tent between eight in the morning and eight in the evening so you can at least sleep bug free. You can take inordinate satisfaction in squashing a single mosquito, even though it's only one of millions. You think I'll itch for a while but you're DEAD.
- John Gierach
Remember, #fishingfriday is coming up.
Have pictures from a trip, fishing related questions, quotes, fishing stories - even ones that stretch the truth?
Post them Friday with #fishingfriday and other fishing related hashtags.
Tight lines!
Yesterday I went fishing with my partner Buzz on his subdivision's private pond. The water temperature not have been more than the air temperature of 50.
Bass aren't really supposed to hit topwater lures when the water is that chilly. And yet they did for him.
He gave me spots to cast, where to cast, made sure I was retrieving at the right speed.
He caught fish and me using the identical presentation, zip.
... and suddelly they re-appeared!
Note: the three musicians sittin on the couch are all three bassists, so the one that is fishing is doing "bass fishing".
Night fishing isn't something a lot of us get into seriously. It takes the kind of dedication to actually catching fish that many of us don't have, but it should be done time to time, if for no other reason than it is there to be done-an easy adventure. If you ignore too many things like that you'll end up with a general dissatisfaction with your life. You'll go sour and you won't even know why. It will be because you never fished at night.
- John Gierach
